SAN FRANCISCO — Stephen Curry returned from a 27-game absence and scored 29 points in 26 minutes Sunday, but Alperen Sengun’s go-ahead layup with 11.1 seconds left lifted the Houston Rockets to a 117-116 win over the Golden State Warriors. The loss spoiled Golden State’s late rally and extended Houston’s winning streak to six while sharpening the playoff pressure on both teams, April 5.
Steph Curry return energizes Warriors, but Houston lands the last blow
Houston got the bigger night in the standings even if Curry owned the spotlight. Kevin Durant scored 31 points with eight rebounds and eight assists in his first game back in San Francisco as a Rocket, while Sengun finished with 24 points and Jabari Smith Jr. added 23, according to Reuters’ game report. The victory pushed the Rockets to 49-29 and kept them within one game of the Los Angeles Lakers and Denver Nuggets in the race for the Western Conference’s No. 3 seed.
Golden State had enough support to make the finish sting. The box score shows Brandin Podziemski scored 18 points, Gui Santos had 15, Gary Payton II added 14 and Draymond Green finished with 12 assists, while Curry shot 11 of 21 from the field and 5 of 10 from 3-point range in his first action since Jan. 30. The defeat dropped the Warriors to 36-42 and left them clinging to the Western Conference play-in picture.
The final sequence made the night feel crueler than the margin. As detailed in the Associated Press game story, Payton briefly put Golden State ahead in the final 20 seconds before Durant found Sengun for the decisive basket, and Curry’s last 30-footer under heavy pressure would not fall. It was still a jolt for Chase Center: Curry came off the bench in a regular-season game for the first time since March 7, 2012, and nearly dragged Golden State all the way back.
That is what made the closing minutes so revealing. Houston stayed poised after watching a 15-point third-quarter cushion shrink, and Golden State looked instantly more dangerous once Curry started bending the defense again. The Warriors did not just get shot-making back; they got rhythm, pace and belief. But against a Rockets team that has found its balance at the right time, that still was not enough.
Long road back adds context to the loss
Curry’s return also closed a recovery story that had stretched well beyond the Warriors’ original hopes. In an April 3 Reuters report, Curry was set to come back after missing 27 straight games with patellofemoral pain syndrome, or runner’s knee, and associated bone bruising in his right leg. Long before that clearance, a Feb. 19 Reuters report said an MRI on his right knee had come back clean even as pain and swelling kept him out of practice and scrimmages.
That context matters because Golden State went 9-18 during Curry’s absence and slid toward the bottom of the play-in bracket. Sunday’s loss did not erase the value of his return, but it did underline the math: the Warriors now need Curry’s comeback to translate quickly, not just emotionally. Houston, meanwhile, left with the cleaner ending and the clearer upward path.
For one night, the Warriors looked revived and still walked away with a loss that felt heavier than one point. Curry’s return changed the energy in the building and the shape of the game. Sengun’s finish changed the result.
