NBA scores: Stephen Curry closes out Rockets, Warriors are last undefeated team

The Warriors move to 5-0 by downing the now 6-1 Rockets, while 6-1 Memphis falls for the first time on a Brandon Knight game winner.

by Tim Cato

Nov 9, 2014, 1:16 PM UTC

Troy Taormina-USA TODAY Sports

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NBA schedule and results: Warriors knock off Rockets, remain undefeated

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The Warriors are the best team in basketball -- record-wise, at least.

With a 98-87 win Saturday night, Golden State handed the 6-1 Rockets their first loss while improving their unblemished record to 5-0. Houston tied the game twice in the fourth quarter, but Stephen Curry scored 14 of his game-high 34 points in the frame to seal the win.

Houston was missing Dwight Howard with flu-like symptoms, and without his inside presence, the offense gravitated outside. Like, way outside. The Rockets shot 42 -- FORTY TWO -- 3-pointers while making only 10, led by James Harden’s 1-for-11 from deep. Only 17 other times in NBA history has a team attempted 42 or more triples in a game, according to basketball-reference.com. Of course, all 17 of those teams made at least 13 of their attempts.

Howard's absence was a factor, but more credit for Houston's inaccurate barrage should go to the ferocious Warriors defense that now ranks No. 1 in the league with an 89.4 defensive rating, according to NBA.com. The effects of a healthy Andrew Bogut can't be understated, and Golden State gets even tougher to score on when Andre Iguodala and Shaun Livingston sub in off the bench.

Houston, No. 2 in the league with a 92.5 defensive rating, held Curry to 11 first-half points, but it was only a matter of time until he found his rhythm. Especially in the second half, we were witnessing peak Curry. Like this:

And especially this:

The Warriors now have wins against the Rockets, Clippers, Blazers and Kings while sporting a league-best average margin of victory that's just under 15 points per game. As long as they stay healthy, this defense with Steph Curry leading the offense is a scary, scary thought for the rest of the league.

3 other things we learned

Are Chris Paul & Co. finally getting it together? It hadn't been a pretty start to the season in Los Angeles. The Clippers won three of their first five games, but struggled to beat the Lakers, a Durant- and Westbrook-less Thunder and were blown out by the Warriors. But down nine at half, the Clippers finally put together a solid half despite only five points from their bench. Of course, a large part of their success came from J.J. Redick's ridiculous 30 points on 11-of-13 shooting, which isn't exactly a sustainable plan of attack.

Here’s one mind-blowing stat: Chris Paul has 52 assists this year. He’s only turned the ball over five times.

With Ricky Rubio out, young Timberwolves get their chance. Starting at point guard for your Minnesota Timberwolves: Zach LaVine! With Rubio unfortunately missing up to eight weeks with a badly sprained ankle, LaVine got the nod and finished with a quiet five points on five shots, six rebounds and four assists in a 102-92 loss to Miami. It wasn't much, but watching the development of him and other young players in Minnesota should be fun to watch at the very least. If we're lucky, we'll get a lot of plays like this in the next few weeks (Andrew Wiggins' first NBA dunk, by the way).

Anthony Davis saves the Pelicans. With a 10-point lead and 5:15 remaining, New Orleans should have had the game wrapped up well before the final seconds. But it never quite works out like that when playing the Spurs, and suddenly, the Pelicans were down by a point. Good thing they had Anthony Davis (and a solid defensive possession in the ensuing 6.6 seconds to prevent the Spurs from retaking the lead).

Play of the Night

The Memphis Grizzlies have a very good defense -- No. 2 in the NBA coming into the night, in fact. But Brandon Knight carved it up quicker than a butcher on Thanksgiving, and the Bucks handed Memphis its first loss of the season. Woo, parity!