Point guard Stephen Curry scored a top 36 points, and despite Jimmy Butler III’s injury, the Golden State Warriors led 2-1 in the first round of the National Basketball Association (NBA) playoff series in San Francisco with a 104-93 visit innings (NBA).

Warriors’ Gary Payton II saved nine of his playoff career-high 16 points, and later saved his 16 points, blowing up five 3-pointers, making up his 17-point majority. The first playoff starts for the rookie Rookie Quinten, who grabs a game-high 12 rebounds for the seventh seed Warriors, can lead 3-1 in the Western Conference Best Series in another game Monday.

“This series, it would be beautiful without a match,” Curry said Saturday night after the ABC broadcast game. “You just have to grind it. We want to know, we want to score 22 points. How will you score? You just stick with it and do the right game.”

The Warriors learned after warming up before the game that Butler would be unable to walk due to a hip bruise in Houston’s second game.

“Everyone stepped up playing for Jimmy,” Curry said. “Hopefully he’s back soon.”

After the Rockets brought the Warriors 18 points to 18 in the first quarter, Gore State beaten 49-46 at the break and competed fiercely in the second half in the last nine in the second quarter.

Dillon Brooks had 5:47 minutes left with 3-pointers, leading the Rockets 84-83 ahead of Payton, who scored no points in the Warriors’ second game, shockingly took over the game.

Payton looked into the stands in his Hall of Fame, scored a layup to win the lead with a 5:27 mark, and then added another layup to the individual 9-point run, a 3-point and a dunk, opening a 92-86 lead with a 3:42 mark.

“Everyone has confidence. That’s the beauty of our team,” Curry said. “Gary is incredible – using the top of the doubles, getting into the paint, ending on the rim, the corner three, obviously the defense…he’s around. He’s also part of the 2022 championship team. He knows what it is.”

Curry bottomed out his fifth 3-pointer and Payton added a dunk to the stretch to help Golden State drive visitors to the Bay.

Curry’s 30-point night was the 60th point of his playoff career. He also found seven rebounds and a maximum of nine assists.

“Every time we play him, we don’t get him 3 points. We have to know that,” said Fred Vanvleet of Houston. “He’s one of the great men of all time. I think our coverage was a bit slow tonight. Some of the switches, some of the bodies, are rising from what we have to the fading of the last game.”

Curry and Hield each drilled five 3-pointers to help Golden State beat the Rockets 42-33 from outside the arc.

Draymond Green contributed 7 points, 8 rebounds, 4 assists, 2 steals and 3 blocks to the cause, while Brandin Podziemski added 10 points.

Alperen Sengun scored 15 points and 11 rebounds when Vanvleet was the second-seeded Rockets at 17 points. Brooks scored 13 points, Jabari Smith JR scored 12 points, and Amen Thompson scored 11 points. Jalen Green scored with 9 points, 6 rebounds and a team-high five assists.

Nuggets slam dunk on buzzer

In early Saturday night’s game, Oklahoma City’s Thunder took Shai Gilgeous-Alexander’s 38 points as a driving force, allowing the Memphis Grizzlies to beat the Memphis Grizzlies 117-115, completing a 4-0 sweep in their NBA Western Conference playoff series and becoming the team to enter the second round in the first round.

The Cleveland Cavaliers were on the verge of moving forward, defeating the Miami Heat 124-87 to tie the Eastern Conference Series 3-0.

The Denver Nuggets upgraded its Western Conference Game with a stunning 101-99 victory over the Los Angeles Clippers and sealed on the final buzzer by Aaron Gordon.

Nikola Jokic’s air balloon was knocked down and Gordon jumped out, grabbed the ball, and released his dunk before the red light came onto the rebound. Replay comments upheld the ruling, and the rim allowed Denver to compete in the seventh Western Conference Series even in both games.

“You could say it was a lucky play, but Aaron is a big sport,” said interim Nuggets coach David Adelman. “He ran into the ball very early. I can’t tell if it’s good. I’m preparing to work overtime…

“One day it will be on NBA TV and I’m glad we won the game. I’m glad it will be on Nuggets Day instead of Clippers Day.”

Jokic scored 36 points, 21 rebounds and 8 assists as the fourth seed Nuggets bounced back with a 117-83 slam in Game 3.

Kawhi Leonard scored 24 points and 9 rebounds, while Norman Powell scored 22 for the fifth-seeded Clippers.

“It’s really big for us,” Gordon said. “We did what we came here to do, and that was to gain a home advantage.”

Game 5 was held in Denver on Tuesday.