Warriors, Rockets meet for second time this week

When the Houston Rockets visit the Golden State Warriors on Friday night, it will be a rematch of a game that had far greater significance three days earlier. When the clubs dueled in Houston on Tuesday, the Warriors were embarking upon arguably their most difficult back-to-back of the season. The Warriors risked losing critical ground to the San Antonio Spurs in the race for top seeding in the Western playoffs when the back-to-back began, but they dispatched the Rockets and Spurs with relative ease, winning 113-106 at Houston and then 110-98 at San Antonio.