STEPHEN CURRY dazzled from long range and drove to the hoop from every angle with flair and fire. It took a tweaked ankle to slow him down and get him out of the game.

    Curry scored 24 points before leaving with an ankle injury as the Golden State Warriors beat the Houston Rockets 104-78 on Saturday in their playoff opener.

    Draymond Green added 12 points and 10 rebounds as top-seeded Golden State carried momentum from setting the all-time wins record Wednesday night with No. 73 into a testy playoff opener some 60 hours later.

    Game 2 in the best-of-seven series is tonight at Oracle Arena, and Warriors coach Steve Kerr said Curry is questionable for that one.

    The Warriors topped the Michael Jordan-led Bulls of 1995-96, then immediately made one thing clear: That mark will mean nothing if they don’t bring home back-to-back titles to the East Bay.

    James Harden scored 17 points and didn’t have a free throw attempt for cold-shooting Houston, held to six field goals in the first quarter of the rematch from last year’s Western Conference finals, won by Golden State in five.

    Curry, who made an NBA-record 402 3-pointers in the regular season and 8 for 13 with five 3s, grabbed seven rebounds while playing all of about 20 minutes. Thompson scored 16, Marreese Speights matched his playoff high with 12 points, while Andre Iguodala dished out seven assists.

    With Beverley smothering Curry’s every dribble, they became tangled up with 6:31 left in the first quarter. Curry kept his dribble while going down to his left knee before their arms got entwined and led to shoving. Beverley immediately received a technical then, after a review, Curry also received one.

    Perhaps the early start — 12:30 p.m. local time — contributed to both teams’ cold shooting out of the gate.

    The teams combined to miss their first seven shots before Curry’s 3-pointer at 9:41. Houston missed its initial six before Howard’s dunk and three-point play at 8:24.

    Golden State beat Houston for the 13th time in 14 counting last season’s playoffs, with the lone defeat coming in Game 4 of the West finals at Houston last May 25.

    Now, Golden State’s lone focus is the 15 remaining victories it needs to repeat after capturing the franchise’s first title in 40 years.(SD-Agencies)