The Houston Rockets have avoided a 4-0 series sweep in the NBA Western Conference finals against the Golden State Warriors by winning a high-scoring game four at Toyota Center.
The hosts flew out of the blocks as they opened up a 23-point lead in the first quarter by putting up 45 points to tie an NBA playoff record.
Golden State cut that lead to 10 by half time, but they could never quite complete the comeback as the Rockets ran out 128-115 winners.
The visitors suffered a scare midway through the second quarter when newly-crowned MVP Stephen Curry landed on his head and had to leave the game.
The point guard went through concussion tests and was cleared to return to the game after missing 12 minutes of action.
The runner-up in the MVP voting, James Harden, scored a playoff career-high 45 points on his own, including 7-11 from three-point range.
Houston recovered from a 3-1 deficit to win the Conference semi-final match with the Los Angeles Clippers, but no NBA team has ever bounced back from going 3-0 down in the playoffs.
Game five is back in Golden State on Wednesday night.
Pascal Lemesre
