It was Golden State’s 14th win without a loss, one short of the best season start first established by the Washington Capitols of 1948-49 and equaled by the Houston Rockets in the 1993-94.
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Stephen Curry led Golden State with 27 points and four steals.
Pelicans 104, Spurs 90: Ryan Anderson scored a game-high 30 points and Anthony Davis added 20 and 18 rebounds to power the New Orleans Pelicans to a 104-90 upset victory over the San Antonio Spurs at Smoothie King Center. “It scored 25 points on eight field goal attempts, shredding the spirited Los Angeles resistance by making the right play, repeatedly”. Green’s 3-pointer beat the buzzer and left the Warriors trailing 91-85 heading into the fourth.
“The good thing”, he said, “is we have three easy games coming up”. Chicago is a good team. “It’d be a huge accomplishment (to set the record for best start) because doing something that hasn’t been done in the history of the league is special. Our guys showed why we are a championship team”.
Getting 23 points, seven rebounds and seven assists from Butler, the Bulls retained the upper hand for much of the first three quarters.
It helped the Warriors case that Bulls point guard Derrick Rose was ruled out before the game. They rallied from a 17-point deficit in Oakland earlier this month and came out with an inspired performance for most of their match-up Thursday.
Nikola Mirotic added 18 points, 10 rebounds and five assists in his best game since November 9 in Philadelphia. Golden State did so with its third tough game in four nights, too. Chicago was held to just 39.8 percent.
The Bulls’ fifth-ranked defense will be thoroughly tested against Golden State’s top-ranked offense. But the Warriors, fresh off a comeback in Los Angeles the night before, defied that logic and dispatched the Bulls last night after digging themselves an early hole.
The Warriors fell behind by many as 23 points in the second quarter while Paul was resting, but they did get a glimmer of hope. There were 13 lead changes and 15 ties. During last year’s meetings between the guards, Curry dominated Paul and delivered one behind-the-back move that left his rival tied up in knots – an image that lives on in highlight reels.
Thompson’s train of thought: They’re so bad that the Warriors won’t take them seriously. And Hinrich scored nine of his 17 points in the first 6 minutes before fouling out late, pestering Curry throughout.
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A Curry 3-pointer cut the deficit to 68-54 at halftime. Curry had missed a three, but Thompson hustled to grab the rebounds before shoveling it to Curry who stepped into the triple. Green made the layup possible with his great feed to a cutting Curry.
