The Houston Rockets had a night to forget as they suffered a 41-point humiliation at the hands of the Golden State Warriors in Game 3 of the Western Conference Finals.

The Rockets came into the contest on a high after thumping the Dubs in their previous outing but they were blown away at Oracle Arena in a whopping 126-85 loss which sees them now trail 2-1 in the series.

This proved to be a defeat of historic proportions for Houston as it was their biggest in the playoffs in franchise history.

It was also the largest playoff defeat by a team who had won at least 65 games in the regular season.

They proved to be no match for the Warriors from start to finish and had a nightmare offensively. The Texas-based outfit couldn't buy a bucket for large stretches of the game as the home team ramped up its defence to another level.

Houston shot just under 40 percent from the field and committed 20 turnovers. Their offensive struggles led to them losing focus defensively as they allowed Golden State to shoot 53 percent from the field and 40 percent from three-point range.

At various points in the game, head coach Mike D'Antoni couldn't hide his anger at the way his team was playing.

He was hugely critical of their performance in his post-game press conference, calling his players "soft".

"It's just one thing led to another," D'Antoni said, per ESPN's Tim MacMahon. "Played soft, actually. I mean, you can't do that with these guys. These guys are good."

It was a damning assessment by the Rockets head coach but James Harden agreed with him.

"[D'Antoni is] right," said Harden. "We weren't as aggressive as we needed to be. We started off the game pretty solid, and then we let them gain some confidence to end the first quarter. But just defensively, they didn't feel us, and it showed tonight."

The MVP favourite led Houston with 20 points and nine assists but had a horrible night defending Stephen Curry who scored most of his 35 points when guarded by him.

Chris Paul added 13 points but Houston's All-Star backcourt duo shot just 12-of-32 combined.

"We've got to be better," said Paul. "I think we've got to come out more aggressive. We were letting them hit first, you know what I mean?"

The Rockets must win at least one game in Oakland if they are to win the series and it really has to come in Game 4 as overturning a 3-1 deficit would be an improbable task.

"They gave us a haymaker and we went down," D'Antoni said. "Again, we have short memories, have to. It's 2-1, and we've got to get one up here. This next one, we've got to go get it."

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