Golden State suffered a scare in the second quarter when Curry left the court clutching his face following a collision with DeMarre Carroll’s shoulder after hitting a layup, forcing the Warriors to burn a 20-second timeout. To put in perspective how hard it will be for the Warriors to match the 1995-96 Chicago Bulls record of 72 regular season victories, Golden State will have to win 50 of its final 60 games. Stephen Curry’s one-handed runner off the glass in transition evened the score at 76 with 2:10 left in the third.
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The Golden State Warriors extended their unbeaten run this season to 22 games after they crushed the Brooklyn Nets 114-98 on Sunday.
“It’s pretty purposeful just trying to see if I can get some room and figure out a way to impact the game”, Curry said.
Curry scored 16 points to lead Golden State to a 32-21 first-quarter lead. Great players don’t become great overnight.
“I think they are a great team that plays to their level”, Hollins said.
Taking a look at Basketball-Reference’s fantastic game-finder feature (a must-have for the stat geek), it was the fourth time two players went for 40 and seven in the same non-overtime game since 1985-86.
Wade had 44 points and nine dimes (along with eight rebounds) on a night the Heat were without All-Star center Shaquille O’Neal (because Michael Doleac was only a slight drop off). The Warriors shoot 43.8 percent from three-point range as a team this season (!), and also rank first in holding opponents to under 30 percent three point shooting. “When he needs to, he can, and when he doesn’t need to, he takes a back seat to those other guys”.
Stephen Curry scored 28 points, Draymond Green racked up 22 points, nine rebounds and seven assists, and Klay Thompson had 21 points as the Warriors improved to 4-0 on their seven-game trip.
“We’re always one little run away from putting the game away, so we know that, and that’s why we constantly encourage our guys to be on the attack”, Walton said. Lopez missed a point-blank shot at the end of regulation and the Warriors went on to win, 107-99, in overtime. He scored 28 points on 11-of-17 shooting. Andrew Bogut (back) and Harrison Barnes (left ankle) sat out.
“But it won’t be a disappointing effort if we don’t get there because there are so many talented teams in this league”.
Nets: With owner Mikhail Prokhorov in attendance, the team opened a six-game homestand, its longest since moving to Brooklyn in 2012.
The Warriors will take their current streak on the road for three more games against the Indiana Pacers, Boston Celtics and Milwaukee Bucks before returning home next Wednesday. After a missed three by Bojan Bogdanovic, Curry lobbed an alley-oop from three-point territory to Festus Ezeli, who slammed it down for an 81-78 lead.
Toronto led 98-95 when their forward Luis Scola made two free throws with just over four minutes to play in the fourth, but Curry tied it with a three-pointer.
“We will rely on our depth as we go into Brooklyn”, Curry said.
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Warriors interim head coach Luke Walton said of the Warriors’ confidence, “It helps”. “Him and his family used to come down and stay at my dad’s San Diego house and we’d hang out with his kids, and now it’s kind of fun to be coaching against him on the other side”.
