OAKLAND Blake Martinez Packers Jersey , Calif. — Two veteran coaches had a similar message for their teams on the eve of Game 4 of the Western Conference finals between the Houston Rockets and Golden State Warriors on Tuesday night.

"It starts 0-0," Warriors coach Steve Kerr said of Game 4. "It doesn't matter if we won (the previous game) by one or 41."

In fact, the Warriors did win Game 3 on Sunday by 41 points, 126-85, to take a 2-1 lead in the best-of-seven.

The margin of victory not only was the largest in Warriors postseason history, but the margin of defeat also was the biggest ever for a team that won 65 or more games in the regular season.

Stephen Curry, who had missed 17 of his 20 3-point attempts in the first 10 quarters of the series, sent the Warriors' home crowd into a frenzy by making 4 of 5 in the second half Sunday en route to 35 points.

It was a performance that brought back memories to Kerr of the Boston Celtics' Danny Ainge.

"I don't remember what I had for breakfast, but I remember what Danny Ainge said 30 years ago," Kerr warned. "They won a playoff game by 40, and he said, 'This is not the Tour de France. You don't start with a big lead because it's not based on time or how much you won by.'

"It's the NBA Dallas Goedert Eagles Jersey , so it's 2-1 (in the series). So doesn't matter what happened (Sunday). We have to be ready for a great team that's going to come out like they did in Game 2, attacking, hair on fire and taking the force to us, and we have to be ready for that."

The Rockets' margin of defeat Sunday was almost identical to the number of fewer points scored by Eric Gordon, P.J. Tucker and Trevor Ariza in Game 3 than in Game 2.

Key members of the James Harden/Chris Paul supporting cast — Gordon, Tucker and Ariza — combined for 23-of-33 shooting and contributed 68 points to a 127-105 series-evening home win in Game 2.

On Sunday, they went a combined 8 of 24 and 23 points in the blowout loss.

Rockets coach Mike D'Antoni wasn't singling out anyone when he assessed the Game 3 performance.

"We didn't bring our best game," he observed. "But I'm hoping for the best (in Game 4). I hope we play great and them bad. Never know."

The loss was the Rockets' fourth of the postseason. They rebounded with wins after each of the first three, romping by an average of 20.7 points.

This time, they'll be up against a Warriors team that has won an NBA-record 16 straight playoff games at home.

D'Antoni went as far as to say the pressure is on the Warriors, who would hand the home-court advantage back to Houston with a loss in Game 4.

"I hope so," Kerr reacted to his rival's statement. "We're much better when the pressure's on. He's right. We're at home Cheap Derwin James Jersey , so if they win, they have home-court advantage. So, yeah, pressure's on us. It's kind of on them, too."

Three years after going undrafted out of Drury College, Trevor Richards has earned his first major league win.

Richards pitched six effective innings to lead the Miami Marlins to a 3-1 victory over the San Francisco Giants on Tuesday night.

"It's great, it's good to get that one out of the way," Richards said. "It's been too long so it's good to get it done."

Richards (1-3) allowed two hits in his seventh major league start. The 25-year-old right-hander struck out two and walked three.

"He's been a good story, he's thrown the ball well," Marlins manager Don Mattingly said. "Obviously Pitcher of the Year last year in the minor leagues, really good reports on his makeup and how he works, competes Jarvis Landry Jersey , and pays attention so it's good to see guys like that have success."

Richards walked the first two batters of the game before settling in.

"I got a little too excited for the game, a little amped up and lost mechanics," Richards said. "I was able to settle down and keep going."

Brandon Crawford's groundout in the first inning drove in the only run for the Giants, who had just three hits.

"Three hits, that's not going to work," manager Bruce Bochy said. "We had a hard time getting guys on base and just getting something going. That's the ballgame."

Kyle Barraclough pitched a perfect ninth for his fourth save in six chances. He has not allowed a run over his last 14 games and a career-best 13 2/3 innings.

JT Riddle had a two-run double for Miami, and Starlin Castro had two hits and knocked in a run.

"Just enough," Mattingly said.

San Francisco right-hander Chris Stratton (7-4) worked out of a bases-loaded jam in the second inning, but ran into trouble in the third when he again loaded the bases. This time, Castro singled in Derek Dietrich and Riddle followed with a two-run double to right field.

"I let it get away from me there," Stratton said. "I thought I made some really good pitches. Give them credit."

Stratton then retired his final 13 batters. He allowed four hits in seven innings.

RIDDLE'S BIG HIT

Riddle's two-run double gave him his first multi-RBI game of the season and eighth of his career.

"(Stratton) left me a fastball over the middle of the plate after I had swung through two," Riddle said. "I was a little late on those so I was thinking he might come back with another one Blake Martinez Jersey , he did, left it over the middle, and I put a pretty good swing on it."

TRAINER'S ROOM

Giants: 1B Brandon Belt (appendix) is expected to join the team in Los Angeles later this week after making progress from emergency surgery on June 2. "He soft-tossed in Arizona, threw, did quite a bit of baseball activities," Bochy said. "Tomorrow he'll take regular batting practice so that's the big step. If he feels fine doing that, then we're getting close on him."

UP NEXT

Giants: LHP Andrew Suarez (2-4, 5.06 ERA) will start the third game of the series on Wednesday in his hometown for the first time in front of a number of family members and friends.

Marlins: LHP Caleb Smith (5-6, 3.70) is 5-4 with a 2.70 ERA over his last nine starts.

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