However, Stephen Curry did what Stephen Curry always does.
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Golden State is three games into a seven-game road trip.
Kyle Lowry made six three-pointers and scored a career-high 41 points for Toronto, which has dropped 3 of 4. How the two All-Star point guards get to those similar results couldn’t be any more different. The reigning NBA MVP took over the personal duel and the game.
In Chicago, Nicolas Batum scored 12 of his 24 points in the fourth quarter to lead Charlotte to the win. Get a glimpse of his rigorous pregame shooting routine and it becomes slightly more understandable. The list of guards to win multiple MVPs is a short one: Michael Jordan, Magic Johnson, Steve Nash.
The beauty in the Warriors is that they want the attention on Curry because it relieves pressure from everybody else.
Curry was supported by Warriors team-mates Klay Thompson (26 points) and Draymond Green (16 points, nine rebounds). “It seems like he gets 40 points quietly”.
Is Patterson back? While Patman is still struggling with his shot as he went 0-2 from 3, and 2-5 overall from the field, he still had an impact on the game. “Kyle Lowry is the leader of that team and he’s tough as nails, never backing down from anybody”. And while it’s encouraging and incredible to see Lowry playing at this level, it’s equally worrisome for the Raptors, who are seemingly unable to consistently provide Lowry with the scoring and minutes backup he’ll need moving forward.
Guard DeMar DeRozan made one of two free throws to cut the lead to one.
“You can tell teams have been giving us their best shot”, Thompson said. Lucas Nogueira made a big impact on the game with 14 points and some clutch defensive plays late. Terrence Ross, take notes my man. Despite his poor shooting Patterson competed hard defensively as a pick-and-roll and switch defender, and also grabbed 10 boards.
“They are 21-0 for a reason”, Raptors coach Dwane Casey said. He had 16 points and two assists in the first quarter and 15 points and three assists in the fourth.
And while we can all talk about how the Raptors came close twice against this team and still lost…we would be foolish not to remind ourselves of how truly dominant this Warriors squad has been this season.
If you ask anybody connected to the Warriors, however, it sounds like they’re just getting warmed up.
Golden State’s stunning streak continues – the Warriors are now one win shy of equaling the 2007-08 Houston Rockets’ run of 22 straight – and Curry continues to leave everyone in his wake in awe. They were averaging almost 30 assists per game before Saturday because they’re willing to make the extra pass.
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“There’s no words to explain, he just has everything, you know”, said ex-Raptor Leandro Barbosa, a great friend of Steve Nash, who Curry appears to have evolved from. “But when we’re out there on the floor, we’re very confident and very comfortable”. While a loss is a loss, and we’ve seen this movie before, it’s at least encouraging to note that the Raptors (I’ll restrict the temptation to call them the Toronto Lowry’s) are fighting hard and staying competitive.
