The Golden State Warriors have demolished the Houston Rockets in game one of their NBA Western Conference Playoffs, but the 26-point victory was tarnished with an ankle injury to reigning league MVP Stephen Curry.
Curry, who has a history of serious ankle injuries, went to the locker room late in the first half after rolling his right ankle.
He attempted to play in the third quarter, but was forced to return to the locker room again and couldn't convince Warriors coach Steve Kerr to let him return.
Kerr said Curry was in doubt for Monday's game two in Oakland.
Curry disagreed.
"Right now I don't see any scenario where I will be out," Curry told reporters.
The Warriors won 104-78 on their home court on Saturday despite Curry and Australian centre Andrew Bogut, who had five fouls, sitting out most of the second half and the Rockets attempting to out-muscle the defending champions.
"I didn't like the way he was moving when he went back out for the third quarter," Kerr said of Curry.
"He wanted to stay in, but he wasn't moving well and we weren't going to play him regardless of what happened."
The Warriors began the playoffs just as hot as they finished their record breaking 73-win season on Wednesday.
The game was physical, with Curry in an early push-and-shove incident with Houston defensive specialist Patrick Beverley that earned both players technical fouls.
Instead of rattling Curry, the reigning NBA MVP went on a shooting spree with 24 first-half points including five-from-seven from three-point range.
Curry was hounded in last year's NBA Finals by Cleveland's Aussie guard Matthew Dellavedova, which drew the ire of the Warriors at the time.
Beverley did not.
"I didn't see anything dirty," Kerr said of Beverley's play.
Bogut's statistics of two points, one block and seven rebounds did not appear impressive, but he helped keep Houston's eight-time All-Star centre Dwight Howard to 14 points and intimidated the Rockets' top scorer James Harden from driving to the basket.
Harden, who averaged 29 points in the regular season, had just 17 against the Warriors.
In other NBA Finals action Oklahoma City executed a demolition job on the Dallas Mavericks to win 108-70.
Kevin Durant had 23 and Russell Westbrook scored 24 but the real story was how inefficient the Mavericks were on offence.
Dirk Nowitzki (18) was the only starter to score in double figures as fellow starters Wesley Matthews (7), Salah Mejri (1), J.J Barea (2) and Deron Williams (2) combined for just 12 in total.
In the Eastern Conference the resurgent Indiana Pacers nabbed a vital 100-90 road win over the Toronto Raptors as Paul George poured in 33 points for the Pacers.
The Raptors held Toronto stars DeMar DeRozan and Kyle Lowry to 14 and 11 points respectively.
Rounding out the day one winners were the Atlanta Hawks, who defeated the Boston Celtics 102-101.
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