OAKLAND, Calif. -- The Golden State Warriors believe in their strength in numbers.

Those numbers are so strong, even Stephen Curry's knee injury turned into an addition by subtraction Wednesday night.

The Warriors didn't skip a beat without their star point guard, routing the Houston Rockets 114-81 to finish off a 4-1 triumph in the first round of the Western Conference playoffs.

The defending NBA champs will move on to face either the Portland Trail Blazers or Los Angeles Clippers.

If the Trail Blazers, up 3-2 in the series, can finish off the injury-ravaged Clippers at home Friday night, the Western semifinal best-of-seven would start Sunday in Oakland.

The Warriors almost surely will be without Curry for most, if not all, of the second-round series after he sprained the medial collateral ligament in his right knee during Game 4 against the Rockets on Sunday.

The next Warriors opponent was sent a message Wednesday night: This record-setting club can be awfully good without him.

"This is something we haven't seen in a long time," Rockets interim coach J.B. Bickerstaff said after his team's season-ending defeat. "When Steph goes down, they raised their level of play, because one of their brothers has fallen. That's very unique in this league. It's special, and it's special for all of us to get a chance to watch."

Golden State improved to 4-2 without the reigning NBA Most Valuable Player by winning the series clincher against the Rockets. Veteran Shaun Livingston stepped into Curry's starting role and contributed 16 points on 7-for-8 shooting during the one-sided victory.

Ten of Livingston's points came on 4-for-4 shooting and a pair of free throws in the first quarter, during which the Warriors scored the first eight points and suffocated every Rocket not named James Harden en route to a 37-20 lead.

"We know how much he means to this team," Livingston said of Curry. "When he's not out there, we have to pull together. It takes the whole team, and it starts with defense."

Harden had 18 points in the first quarter, hitting six of eight shots. Meanwhile, his teammates never made a hoop in the 12 minutes, going 0-for-15 from the field and 0-for-7 from 3-point range.

Dwight Howard's two free throws provided the only Houston scoring other than by Harden in the period.

"We did not want to go back to Houston," Warriors guard Klay Thompson said of the driving force in the fast start. "We pride ourselves in not losing here, so it was a fun night."

Harden finished with a game-high 35 points to go with six rebounds and a team-high six assists, but it wasn't nearly enough to overcome a balanced Warriors attack.

Thompson led Golden State with 27 points, burying 10 of 14 shots and seven of 11 3-point attempts.

The Warriors finished 13-for-31 (41.9 percent) from beyond the arc, outscoring the Rockets 39-18 from long range despite taking two fewer attempts. Houston went 6-for-33 (18.2 percent) on 3-pointers, with Harden making three of seven tries.

Draymond Green contributed 15 points and team highs in rebounds (nine) and assists (eight) to the win, which was Golden State's 42nd in 44 home games this season.

Andre Iguodala had six points and six assists, and Brandon Rush was good for 15 points off the Warriors' bench.

"Everybody contributed," Warriors coach Steve Kerr said. "It's good obviously going into the next series, which will be more difficult. It's good to have a few games under our belts without Steph. It's good for our guys' confidence."

Thompson agreed.

"We're not going to be satisfied just with this series," he said. "We're not going to stop pushing. We're going to be all that much better when Steph gets back."

Howard dominated the backboards with a game-high 21 rebounds. However, he missed 10 of 13 shots and finished with just eight points.

Houston's starters other than Harden shot a combined 8-for-33 (6-for-27 on 3-point attempts) and totaled 19 points.

Michael Beasley had 11 points off the Houston bench, but he got little help from the Rockets' reserve crew. The other Houston backups combined to miss 21 of their 27 shots and totaled 16 points.

The Rockets shot just 32.3 percent from the field, including 28.3 percent (13-for-46) in the first half while falling behind by as many as 22.

Bickerstaff said the club's early vacation was a result of a poor regular season, not necessarily a postseason failure.

"This isn't about one game. This is about the opportunity we've had the entire year," he said. "We forced it to come down to this game. We forced it to come down to us being the 8-seed.

"We hope this was a learning experience. We didn't do enough this year. That puts us in the 8-seed and puts us in a very difficult position to play against the best team in the history of basketball. For me, that's the bigger picture."

The Warriors, who made 54.9 percent of their field-goal attempts, led by as many as 33 points in the third quarter and 34 late in the game.

NOTES: Despite absorbing their most lopsided loss of the year, 137-105, at Portland on Feb. 19, the Warriors went 3-1 against the Trail Blazers during the regular season, with the wins coming by an average of 20.3 points. Golden State went 4-0 against the Los Angeles Clippers, but no victory was by more than 16. ... Wednesday's Game 5 took place exactly 11 months after the Warriors eliminated the Rockets in Game 5 of the Western Conference finals last season. ... Golden State won Game 5 in all three series in which it was contested last year en route to the NBA title. ... The Warriors' Steve Kerr received the NBA Coach of the Year award in a pregame ceremony. ... Kerr acknowledged that the Los Angeles Lakers requested permission to talk to Warriors assistant coach Luke Walton about their head-coaching opening. The Warriors have granted the Lakers permission, Kerr said, as long as any conversation occurs between series.