Stephen Curry led the Golden State to a comfortable victory against the Houston Rockets as the NBA playoffs got underway – but the Warriors suffered a slight scare when their star guard sat out most of the second half.
Curry started in fine form, scoring 24 points in the first half as the Warriors continued their regular-season dominance, but he rolled his ankle shortly before the interval.
The NBA’s reigning MVP sat out most of the third quarter and all of the last in Golden State’s 104-78 victory, and is uncertain for the second game of the seven-match series, although the 28-year-old said he expects to be fine to play on Monday.
Golden State broke the Chicago Bulls’ record of 72 wins during the regular season and are looking for their second straight championship.
Elsewhere in the Western Conference, the Oklahoma City Thunder thrashed the Dallas Mavericks 108-70.
Russell Westbrook returned 24 points and 11 assists as the Thunder recorded their biggest playoff victory since moving to Oklahoma in 2008.
In the first playoff games in the Eastern Conference, the Atlanta Hawks clung on to beat the Boston Celtics 102-101.
Atlanta lost a 19-point lead but managed to recover and take a 1-0 lead ahead of Tuesday’s game two.
Jeff Teague scored 23 points and had 12 assists for the Hawks, with Isaiah Thomas scoring 27 points in a losing effort for Boston.
The Toronto Raptors suffered a seventh straight playoff loss as they were beaten 100-90 at home by the Indiana Pacers.
The second-seed Raptors, who were swept by the Washington Wizards in the first round last year, had just 14 and 11 points respectively from star guards DeMar DeRozan and Kyle Lowry.
Paul George poured in 33 points for Indiana.
