Curry leads Warriors past Rockets in play-off opener

OAKLAND, California — Stephen Curry dazzled from long range and drove to the hoop with fire and flair, scoring 24 points before tweaking his ankle as the Golden State Warriors beat the Houston Rockets 104-78 on Saturday in their NBA play-off 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 play-off opener.

On the opening day of play-offs, Indiana’s Paul George led the Pacers to victory at Toronto, Oklahoma City routed Dallas, and Atlanta clung on to beat Boston by a point.

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 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.

Game 2 in the best-of-seven series is Monday at Oracle Arena, and Warriors coach Steve Kerr said Curry is questionable for that one. He will be re-evaluated Sunday.

Indiana’s Paul George scored 33 points in the Pacers’ 100-90 win at Toronto.

Monta Ellis had 15 for the Pacers.

Jonas Valanciunas fouled out after setting a Raptors’ play-off record with 19 rebounds while All-Star guards Kyle Lowry and DeMar DeRozan both struggled. Lowry made 3 of 13 field goal attempts while DeRozan made 5 of 19. The pair went 1 for 10 from 3-point range and 8 for 15 at the free-throw line.

Toronto dropped to 0-8 in the first game of an opening-round play-off series.

Oklahoma City dominated Dallas in a 108-70 victory.

Russell Westbrook had 24 points and 11 assists while Kevin Durant added 23 points for the Thunder, who recorded their largest victory margin in a play-off game since moving from Seattle before the 2008-09 season, and allowed the lowest point total the franchise has conceded in a postseason game.

Dallas scored its fewest points ever in a play-off game, and its .298 field-goal percentage was the worst ever in a postseason game for a franchise that has existed since 1980.

Dirk Nowitzki led the Mavericks with 18 points.

Game 2 will be Monday in Oklahoma City.

Atlanta’s Jeff Teague stymied another big Boston comeback, taking matters into his own hands in the closing minutes to lead the Hawks to a 102-101 win.

Teague scored 23 points and doled out 12 assists, making sure Atlanta maintained the home-court edge after the gritty Celtics rallied from a 19-point deficit.

With the game tied 88--88, Teague worked the pick-and-roll to set up a lay-up for Al Horford. The Celtics missed and the Hawks again got the ball to Teague, who found Paul Millsap alone under the basket for a dunk that pushed Atlanta to a 92-88 lead with 2:56 remaining.

The Celtics had a chance to tie in the final minute, but Evan Turner missed an open 3-pointer.

Game 2 in the best-of-seven series is Tuesday in Atlanta.