The Houston Rockets defeated the Golden State Warriors 126-121 after overtime for their first win in Game 3 of the Western Conference NBA playoff series at the Toyota Center on Saturday. GSW's Stephen Curry played one of the worst playoff games in his career.

Having returned to their home court trailing 2-0 in the series, Houston could not afford to lose Game 3 and they learned a lesson from the lost Game 2: to invest more in rebounds. In Saturday's game, not only Houston led in total rebounds (55-35), they also grabbed 17 offensive rebounds which led to 18 second-chance points. The team's two starting inside men, Clint Capela and P.J. Tucker, had 11 and 12 rebounds respectively.

The Rockets continued their sharp shooting from the 3-pt line by making 18 three-pointers with a 3-pt rate of 42.86 percent. They also led in paint points 52-40, thanks to the team's concentrating fire on Golden State's rim at the beginning of the game. Eric Gordon was the Rockets' unexpected mover in offense with his 30 points and seven three-pointers. Of course, James Harden was the team's biggest hero not only for his 41 points, nine rebounds and six assists, but also for the 15 points he claimed in the third quarter and the more valuable seven points in the overtime.

However, most players of the Warriors did well enough. Though they let the Rockets gain a head start in rebounding, the Warriors managed to force 13 turnovers and turned most of them into scored points, leading 25-9 in turnover points. The defending champions also gave a good response from the 3-pt line by burying 14 shots there.

Draymond Green continued to improve his performance in the playoffs as he dropped a triple-double of 19 points, 11 rebounds and 10 assists. His combination of protecting the rim and orchestrating GSW's offense is a reminder of his peak in 2016. The other veteran of the team, Andre Iguodala, wasn't to be ignored either. While defending Harden, Iguodala also delivered several exciting dunks and made three key three-pointers.

Of course, there was also Kevin Durant who again put down 46 points like the reaper he was in the playoffs. His 17 points in the third quarter helped Golden State stay in touch in the game and then Durant claimed 10 straight points at the start of the fourth quarter to help his team regain the lead after trailing for two quarters.

The truth is that both the Rockets and the Warriors deserved a win on Saturday. The reason that the Warriors did not make it 3-0 was Stephen Curry, who must be held responsible for Saturday's loss.

Curry missed 10 layups, that's right, layups, not shots, and four of them were open, as no defender could be seen in two meters. Of the three-pointers he missed, three of them were, again open shots. Furthermore, when he finally earned a 3-pt foul, Curry, whose career free throw rate is over 90 percent, missed two shots on the line, right when Golden State need points to catch up. There was the laughing-stock of that missed open dunk in the last 20 seconds of the game, by the way. Before that, Houston just expanded their lead to five points (126-121) via a floater by Harden. Simply speaking, Curry's failed dunk cost his team the last opportunity to catch up.

It's true that everyone makes mistakes but not everyone is Stephen Curry. He is a two-time NBA MVP, three-time NBA-champion and on his way to the third consecutive championship with the Warriors. Their opponents again were the Rockets, the team that almost knocked them out in last year's playoffs. So Curry is not allowed to make mistakes like this in such games, especially after the same errors cost them the championship in 2016. No need to mention again how humiliating it was to be defeated after leading 3-1 in the NBA Finals.

From coach Steve Kerr to Draymond Green and Iguodala, Curry's teammates did not blame him for his disastrous performance in Game 3. Even Curry himself seemed optimistic at the postgame press conference and maybe that's his problem; he was probably not hungry enough for victory. Well, Houston have shown their desire to win and Curry at least should prove that he cares about the result.