Warriors at Rockets: Golden State takes eight-game winning streak to Houston, home of the West's No. 2 scoring defense

Golden State lost its first three games of the season and has not lost since. The eighth straight win, Monday's 138-87 rout of New Orleans, completed a perfect six-game homestand in San Francisco. What follows is a different test: five consecutive road games, starting Wednesday at Toyota Center, where Houston is 5-1 and has held Oklahoma City to 98 points and Boston to 93. Both teams are 8-3 and sit in the top six of the Western Conference.

• Competition: NBA 2026-27 regular season.
• Game: Golden State Warriors at Houston Rockets (NBA game ID 0022600225).
• Tip-off: Wednesday, Nov. 11, 8:30 p.m. CT in Houston (9:30 p.m. ET, 6:30 p.m. PT); Thursday, Nov. 12, 02:30 GMT.
• Venue: Toyota Center, Houston.
• Season series: first of four regular-season meetings; the second is Dec. 30 in San Francisco.

Eight wins and an offense with several outlets

During the streak, Steve Kerr's Warriors have averaged 123.6 points and allowed 106.8. Stephen Curry, who has played nine of the 11 games, is averaging 30.6 points, according to the box scores, on 42-of-92 shooting from three-point range, and has missed one of his 76 free throws. On Monday he needed only 21 minutes to score 25.

A second tier of scoring has formed around him. Rookie Yaxel Lendeborg, a starter in all 11 games, is averaging 21.4 points and 7.2 rebounds and has made 27 of 61 threes; he had 23 points on 8-of-10 shooting against the Pelicans. Brandin Podziemski adds 16.8 points a game and scored 25 that night. Draymond Green rarely looks for his own shot — 2.8 points a game — but is handing out 7.6 assists. Golden State had 37 assists on Monday and went 21 of 44 from three.

At 120.4 points per game, the Warriors have the league's second-highest scoring offense, behind only the Lakers. But the streak has been built largely at home: six of the eight wins came at Chase Center, and the team has not played on the road since winning in Minneapolis on Oct. 28. Golden State is 2-2 away from home.

Houston steadied itself against Denver

Ime Udoka's Rockets started 7-1, then dropped two in a row — 117-107 to Minnesota and 102-99 in Phoenix, where they shot 38% from the field. They recovered on Monday with a 110-100 win over the Nuggets despite 38 points from Jamal Murray and 25 points, 16 rebounds and nine assists from Nikola Jokic. Kevin Durant finished with 23 points, 12 rebounds and eight assists and went 10 of 10 at the line; Alperen Sengun had 20 points, 12 rebounds and eight assists. Houston won the rebounding battle 51-39.

Sengun is the hub of the team, averaging 21.3 points, 9.1 rebounds and 7.8 assists. Durant, who won titles with the Warriors in 2017 and 2018, is averaging 21.0 points and has attempted 88 free throws in 11 games. Jabari Smith Jr. adds 17.0 points and has hit 30 of 67 threes, Amen Thompson contributes 14.9 points and 6.7 rebounds, and Fred VanVleet runs the offense with 13.2 points and 5.6 assists.

The Rockets' identity is at the other end. They allow 106.4 points per game, the second-lowest figure in the West behind Oklahoma City, and their only home loss came against Minnesota.

Injury report

Neither team had submitted its injury report for this game when the NBA updated its report at 8:15 a.m. ET on Tuesday, Nov. 10; the league requires it the day before a game. The most recent official designations for both come from the report issued Monday, Nov. 9, at 10 p.m. ET, and refer to the games they played that night.

Golden State Warriors (report for Monday's game against New Orleans)

• Jimmy Butler III: out — right ACL repair surgery.
• Moses Moody: out — left patellar tendon repair surgery.
• Kristaps Porzingis: out — not with team.
• Gary Payton II: out — left knee inflammation.
• Will Richard: out — torn ulnar collateral ligament in left thumb.
• Gui Santos: available — left knee tendinitis; he started.

Houston Rockets (report for Monday's game against Denver)

• Steven Adams: out — right soleus strain.
• Clint Capela: out — right ankle sprain.
• Oscar Tshiebwe: out — illness.
• Quadir Copeland and Julian Phillips: out — two-way players in the G League.

Adams, Capela and Tshiebwe are all big men. Capela has not played since Oct. 31, and without him, Adams and Tshiebwe, Udoka had none of Sengun's usual backups against Denver; Sengun played 35 minutes. For Golden State, Porzingis' absence leaves the frontcourt to Green, 40-year-old Al Horford and Charles Bassey, who had 12 points and 10 rebounds in 18 minutes on Monday.

Three areas to watch at Toyota Center

The Warriors' ball security. Golden State is committing 16.5 turnovers a game, and opponents have turned them into 20.2 points a night. Against New Orleans the Warriors cut that to 11 turnovers. Houston averages 8.5 steals and has Thompson, Tari Eason and Marcus Smart on the perimeter; forcing mistakes would be its most direct route to easy points and to slowing the league's No. 2 offense.

Houston on the offensive glass. Even without their backup centers, the Rockets are pulling down 13.1 offensive rebounds a game; they had 15 against Denver, five by Sengun. A frontcourt as thin as Kerr's would need to rebound as a group to avoid giving up second chances.

Curry away from San Francisco. The guard played only 21 minutes on Monday and, like his opponent, comes in on one day of rest. Udoka could rotate Thompson, Eason and Smart onto him; how Lendeborg and Podziemski respond when the defense loads up on Curry would show how much of the offense of the past two weeks travels with the team.

How to watch Warriors at Rockets

• Venue: Toyota Center, Houston.
• Date and time: Wednesday, Nov. 11, 8:30 p.m. CT (9:30 p.m. ET); Thursday, Nov. 12, 02:30 GMT.

United States — Wednesday, Nov. 11, 9:30 p.m. ET / 6:30 p.m. PT

• TV: ESPN nationally, according to the NBA's official schedule. The league also lists Space City Home Network in the Houston market and NBC Sports Bay Area in the Warriors' market.

United Kingdom — Thursday, Nov. 12, 2:30 a.m. GMT

• Streaming: NBA League Pass.
• TV: the game is not on Sky Sports' published NBA schedule.

Australia — Thursday, Nov. 12, 1:30 p.m. AEDT (Sydney, Melbourne) / 12:30 p.m. AEST (Brisbane) / 10:30 a.m. AWST (Perth)

• Streaming: NBA League Pass.
• TV: broadcast not yet announced.

After Houston, the Warriors go on to San Antonio, New Orleans, Dallas and Memphis. Toyota Center will show whether the streak was also a product of Chase Center.