4:40PM Monday
March 25, 2013

The Golden State Warriors own a one-half game lead over the Houston Rockets for sixth place in the Western Conference.

That advantage would be larger if they could figure out a way to beat the Rockets.

The Warriors try to bounce back from an embarrassing defeat and avoid being swept in the four-game season series Sunday night in Houston.

Golden State (37-30) has historically had trouble against the Rockets (36-30), and even though it's a better team this year - in position to make the playoffs for just the second time since 1994 - those problems have lingered.

With a 94-88 home defeat to Houston last Friday, the Warriors lost for the 17th time in the last 19 matchups. They held the Rockets to 36.5 percent shooting after allowing point totals of 140 and 116 in the first two meetings, but had their own offensive problems, shooting 37.9 percent.

Golden State had similar offensive woes against Chicago on Friday. It missed its first 11 shots from 3-point range and fell behind by as many as 36 in a 113-95