Early in the fourth quarter when the Warriors were down 77-74, Curry crossed up Brooks and launched a three-pointer. After Curry released the shot, Brooks, who was right up in Curry's grill, seemed to swipe at his bandaged right hand (Curry has been dealing with thumb injury since January).

SAN FRANCISCO – Facing the league’s most physical and handsy defense without his fearless co-star, the Warriors asked 37-year-old Steph Curry to put the offense on his shoulders in the third game of Golden State’s Western Conference playoff series with the Houston Rockets.

After two games and a half games of battling Houston’s lumbering, earth-bound giants in what seemed to be a constricting box, Steph Curry and the Warriors finally broke loose. Without an injured Jimmy Butler, a hot-shooting Buddy Hield gave Curry the oxygen he needed to breathe — and score 36 points — against the Rockets.