OAKLAND, Calif. -- After 47 minutes and 58 seconds Thursday night, the Golden State Warriors finally figured out a way to stop Houston Rockets star James Harden.

Sandwich him.

Guards Stephen Curry and Klay Thompson teamed to strip the ball from Harden as time ran out, saving the Warriors' 99-98 win over the Rockets in Game 2 of the Western Conference finals.

Curry finished with 33 points, six assists and one difference-making defensive play as the Warriors took a 2-0 lead in the best-of-seven series.

Game 3 is Saturday in Houston.

"We talked about it in the huddle ... be ready for the attack," Curry said of a sequence that began with the Warriors in possession, leading 99-98, with 33 seconds to go.

Rockets center Dwight Howard, who played Thursday despite sustaining a bruised left knee early in Game 1, forced Warriors small forward Harrison Barnes to miss a layup, which Harden rebounded with almost 10 seconds to go.

Instead of calling for a timeout, Harden advanced the ball into the frontcourt, where he twice ran into the Curry-Thompson double-team.

The first time, with about five seconds to go, he passed to Howard about 25 feet from the basket.

After immediately getting the ball back with two seconds left and still 30 feet from the hoop, Harden had nowhere to go, and fumbled the ball away as time expired.

In the end, Harden kicked himself for not at least getting up a desperation shot.

"It's frustrating to give the game away like that," he said. "Ten times out of 10, we'll take that play. It's still frustrating when I know I could have at least got a shot up."

Asked if Harden would have been better off calling a timeout in order to script a potential winning finish, Houston coach Kevin McHale agreed with his start guard.

"When we got the rebound, someone fell down for them ... and someone was out of bounds," McHale said. "I could draw up a lot of plays, and it wasn't going to be one guy lying on his back and one guy out of bounds, so I just let him go."

Harden, who nearly singlehandedly gave Houston an improbable win with a late flurry, poured in a game-high 38 points to complement 10 rebounds and nine assists for the Rockets, who also will host Game 4 on Monday.

Howard played 40 minutes and accumulated 19 points and 17 rebounds after giving the thumbs-up on his knee about a half-hour before tipoff.

The Warriors countered with a 14-point, eight-rebound, four-assist, five-block game from their big man, Andrew Bogut, who was held scoreless in Game 1.

"It was a total reversal from Game 1 when the game went small," Warriors coach Steve Kerr said. "This was more of a street fight, more of a traditional game involving big guys protecting the rim and hard fouls and blocked shots."

The Warriors took a 77-75 lead into the final period, and they extended it to 98-90 on a 20-footer by Curry with 1:39 to go.

That was when Harden produced the frantic finish.

The left-hander sandwiched two sets of two free throws around a dunk, and then he lobbed to Howard for a jam, getting the Rockets within 99-98 and setting up the final sequence.

"We battled back, and I'll take our best player on a broken floor any day of the week," McHale said of the finish. "We're not going anywhere. We're just going to keep on standing here and swinging. That's what we do."

Thompson added 13 points, and forward Draymond Green had 12 points, eight rebounds and seven assists for Golden State, which improved its postseason home record to 6-1.

"We're right where we need to be," Kerr said of the 2-0 lead. "Now we head to Houston. But every game is probably going to be like this one."

Power forwards Terrence Jones (12 points) and Josh Smith (10) also scored in double figures for the Rockets, who lost for the fifth time in seven postseason road games.

"They did what they had to go," Harden said. "They won two games at home. We're going back home to get two games."

The teams played to a 55-55 halftime tie, with Houston overcoming an early 17-point deficit.

NOTES: Warriors PG Stephen Curry made five 3-pointers in the game, giving him 57 in the postseason. He needs one more to tie the NBA record for a single postseason, set by Indiana Pacers SG Reggie Miller in 2000. ... Rockets SG James Harden scored 30-plus points for the fourth time in Houston's 14 playoff games. ... Curry and Harden learned earlier in the day that they were selected to the All-NBA first team. Curry was a unanimous choice, and Harden was named on 125 of the 129 first-team ballots. Golden State SG Klay Thompson landed a spot on the All-NBA third team. ... The NBA announced that Curry was fined $5,000 fine for flopping during a 3-point shot attempt late in Game 1. ... Warriors coach Steve Kerr acknowledged at his pregame press conference that assistant coach Alvin Gentry is a candidate for the New Orleans Pelicans' head-coaching vacancy.