The Golden State Warriors defeated the Houston Rockets 105-103 at Chase Center on Friday, avoiding straight losses.

In his career, Stephen Curry made his first-ever game-winning buzzer-beater by draining a 2-point jumper one step inside the key in the last second to take the Warriors to victory.

"It felt great," Curry said. "The way the whole last 48 hours have been with the way we played grinding out last night, going overtime, losing, the disappointment with that and then coming into this game, the back and forth, just grind-it-out mentality we had, the resilience we showed to give ourselves a chance the second half was impressive. It reminds you to keep the big-picture perspective on what we're trying to do."

Having gone 6-21 in field goals (FGs) and 4-13 in 3-pointers, Curry had a freezing night at home. Though he delivered 12 assists, he kept missing triples in the last few minutes, which almost cost the Warriors Friday's game.

Fairly speaking, Curry did not recover from the weariness of playing almost 44 minutes in their loss against the Indiana Pacers on Thursday. The Warriors lacked Klay Thompson, Draymond Green and Andre Iguodala against the Rockets, leaving Curry to carry the duties of both scoring and orchestrating.

The Rockets are not a strong defensive team, but they have more than enough young men with great energy and athleticism. Their preference of switching on defense also gave Curry a headache.

The Rockets committed 10 steals in Friday's game and forced 17 turnovers by the opponents before exploiting these mistakes to score 29 points. More importantly, the Rockets were surprisingly patient in the last few possessions on offense. Even Christian Wood, who has been criticized for being unwilling to pass the ball, managed to make one extra pass to create open 3-pointers for his teammates.

Though the Rockets are still at the bottom in the Western Conference with a 14-33 record, the more their young players learn to play like they did on Friday, the faster the team's rebuilding can be.

Jokic's fourth straight triple-double couldn't save Nuggets

The Memphis Grizzlies beat the Denver Nuggets 122-118 at Ball Arena on Friday, securing their 13th win in the past 15 games.

Ja Morant shot at 15-26 in FGs to get 38 points, six rebounds and six assists for the Grizzlies. He was almost unstoppable when he drove below the free-throw line, going 13-18 with floaters, middle-range jumpers, layups and dunks. More importantly, Morant kept a clear head despite his boiling hands. The Nuggets cut their trail to four points (115-111) in the last minute. Morant broke into the paint in the next possession with Aaron Gordon following him closely, Nikola Jokic standing between him and the hoop, plus Will Barton diving to deflect him.

When Morant passed the ball in the air to open Jaren Jackson Jr. in the left corner, the scene reminded many of Derrick Rose between 2008 and 2011. Having raised his average points from 19.1 to 24.7 this season, Morant has been one of the leading candidates in the competition for the Most Improved Player (MIP) Award. But Kendrick Perkins and Stephen A. Smith on ESPN both agreed that Morant is an eligible NBA Most Valuable Player (MVP) competitor with his performance today.

"I was able to get to my spots on the floor, which I excel at," Morant said. "And once I get to my normal spots, it's pretty much buckets."

Nikola Jokic dropped 26 points, 11 rebounds and 12 assists, the fourth consecutive triple-double and the 11th one in total this season for the Nuggets on Friday night. All five of the team's starting-lineup reached double-digit points. However, every time the Nuggets' had to hand the floor to the bench squad, the game became nothing but a disaster as they were overwhelmed by their Grizzlies counterparts in both points (34-17) and rebounds (21-7).

The Nuggets signed DeMarcus Cousins on a 10-day contract on Friday. The team will need whatever limited help he can provide because that's how short-handed they have been this season.

Harden, Irving take Nets to straight wins

The Brooklyn Nets defeated the San Antonio Spurs 117-102 at AT&T Center on Friday for the second win in a row.

James Harden put down a triple-double of 37 points, 10 rebounds and 11 assists after scoring double-digit points in each of the last three quarters.

"(Harden) got into his groove," Nets guard Patty Mills said. "He felt where he could make an impact on the game. Got into the paint, obviously shot it well and as well from the 3. When he has that variety, he gets it going pretty quickly and pretty easily."

Despite his excellent performance, his team only led 79-74 before Q4. Kyrie Irving sealed the deal for the Nets by contributing 15 of his 24 points in the last quarter.

"James kind of yelled at me," Irving recalled. "It's not a negative yell, but he yelled at me, 'Kai, get the f***ing ball!' in the third quarter after he scored [12 points] in the quarter. I kind of took that personal. I just wanted to come out in the fourth quarter in an aggressive mindset and just play within the flow of the offense."

Since Kevin Durant won’t be back in four to six weeks due to an MCL sprain, the Nets will need Harden to shoulder more leadership and Irving to contribute more when he can appear in the games on the road.

Other games on Friday (away teams come first):

Oklahoma City Thunder 98-121 Charlotte Hornets

Los Angeles Lakers 116-105 Orlando Magic

Los Angeles Clippers 102-101 Philadelphia 76ers

Miami Heat 108-110 Atlanta Hawks

Toronto Raptors 109-105 Washington Wizards

Chicago Bulls 90-94 Milwaukee Bucks

Detroit Pistons 101-111 Utah Jazz