HOUSTON -- Stephen Curry delivered another awe-inspiring shooting display and the Golden State Warriors pushed the Houston Rockets to the brink of elimination in the Western Conference finals with a 115-80 victory on Saturday night in the Toyota Center.

The Warriors took a commanding 3-0 in the best-of-seven series. The Rockets will host Game 4 on Monday night looking to avert a sweep.

Keyed by a suffocating first-half defensive effort, the Warriors piled on in the third quarter and Curry helped them pull away. He scored 40 points, including 19 in the third quarter on 7-of-10 shooting from the field and 4-for-4 from 3-point range.

After the Rockets put a slight dent into their 25-point halftime deficit with a 7-1 spurt to open the third quarter, Curry snuffed the life out of Houston with a barrage of baskets off penetration and from behind the arc.

But by that point, the Rockets were already on life support because of their inability to solve the Warriors' defense. Golden State smothered Rockets guard James Harden, dominated the glass and took all the momentum Houston carried with it from Oakland.

"The crazy thing is we played so well defensively and took care of the ball, but we still didn't shoot particularly well as a team," Curry said. "We can take another step as a team, which is what we're going to try to do next game now that we've see that we can go through a half and have one turnover and play solid basketball."

After scoring just three points in the Warriors' 30-point first quarter, Curry handled the offense when the Rockets feigned a rally. He drilled a 3-pointer, converted two impossible scoop shots on drives to the basket and nailed a corner 3 after a scramble under the basket resulted in the ball finding him.

That spurt pushed the Golden State lead to 76-50, and just for good measure, Curry added two more treys and a driving layup as the Warriors led 92-61 entering the fourth quarter.

The Warriors shot a pedestrian 45.4 percent from the field as All-NBA guard Klay Thompson totaled 17 points on 6-of-16 shooting and forward Harrison Barnes missed all nine of his shots and failed to score. Forward Draymond Green (17 points, 13 rebounds) and center Andrew Bogut (12 points, 12 rebounds) managed double-doubles.

Golden State, however, dominated defensively, limiting Houston to 29.3 percent shooting from the field in the first half, including 2 of 13 on 3-pointers.

Harden, dynamic in close losses in Games 1 and 2, missed seven of eight shots before the intermission against well-orchestrated double teams. Center Dwight Howard, who has 12 of his 14 points by the break, was the Rockets' lone double-digit scorer before halftime.

"We just can't stop believing, no matter how hard it gets," Howard said. "We've got to continue to fight. It's the only way. We can't quit."

The Warriors set the tone defensively, stifling Harden and their length thwarting complementary shooters.

"I think it probably ranks up there with Game 4 in Memphis where we knew our backs were against the wall, that we had to come out and turn it up defensively, and we did," Green said, comparing the win with the Warriors' 101-84 victory at Memphis.

"Coach (Steve Kerr) talked about it before the game. He said, 'Hey, we need to turn the defense up like we did in Game 4 in Memphis,' and we were able to do that tonight."

With Harden unable to get to the basket, the Rockets were flummoxed. They mustered just 37 points at the break and slowly lost their resolve defensively, undone by the Warriors' early superior ball movement.

Golden State committed just one turnover (an offensive foul on Barnes with 9:49 left in the second quarter) yet compiled 15 assists in the first half.

Nothing worked for the Rockets, and after enjoying so much success in Oakland, their resolve was shaken. When Curry got hot in the third quarter, the Rockets were left without much hope.

"They outworked us. They outworked us," said Harden, who scored 17 points on 3-of-16 shooting from the field. "They killed us on the glass (60-39). If you give a team like that, especially offensive rebounds, kick-out 3(-pointers), it builds their confidence.

"We were playing downhill trying to catch-up basically the entire game."

NOTES: After Rockets C Dwight Howard played 40 minutes in Game 2, coach Kevin McHale appears to have moved beyond any concern over the left knee sprain that Howard suffered in the series opener. "I was glad to hear that he felt pretty good after playing him a lot of minutes the other night," McHale said. "We're going to play him as much as we can." ... Warriors coach Steve Kerr handed F Harrison Barnes the defensive assignment on Rockets G James Harden late in Game 2, and Kerr remains committed to utilizing the depth of his wing defenders to deter Harden. "With any great player you don't want to give him the same guy every time down," Kerr said. "That means you mix up coverages, you changes matchups. It's one of the strengths of our team. So we can mix and match a little bit."