Houston snapped a four-game skid by overrunning Utah and winning 93-91 after having been 15 points down midway through the third quarter when James Harden lit up en route to 30 points.
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“Their record speaks for itself”, said Hornets point guard Kemba Walker, who had 22 points. “It was a pleasant surprise”.
San Antonio won despite being without starting point guard Tony Parker due to right hip soreness. “I wasn’t going to put him back out there at first, but he was pretty adamant about it”. “You guys didn’t warn me!” Curry’s fourth 3-pointer of the game pushed the Warriors’ lead in the third to 76-55.
The Warriors rarely lose those battles. “So many weapons, so many options”.
Thompson finished with 36 points (12-of-22 FG, 6-of-12 3FG, 6-of-6 FT) in 34 minutes to pace the Warriors.
“I’ll keep treating it and keep playing”, Curry said. “We want to get it all out of there and go from there”. The injury kept the Golden State Warriors superstar out of two games at the end of December, and he had to leave Saturday’s game early, too.
“We got good shots, we got the shots we wanted”, he said. “It’s a long season. It happens in this league”. Charlotte shot 44.2 percent from the floor. “We could have done a better job of that”, Scott said.
The Lakers did give the Warriors something to think about briefly when they cut the lead to 10, 50-40, with 5:37 left in the half. “He just moves without it, and once he gets the ball, within a second that can be three points”. But Thompson answered with a layup and a 3-pointer to restore the lead to 71-65 and start a 12-0 run that put Golden State in control.
Thompson has quietly found his way back into the All-Star conversation, and the timing couldn’t be any better as the halfway mark of the season quickly approaches.
It was a night of impressive numbers for Golden State.
Green had 13 points, 15 rebounds and 10 assists. No other team has reached that mark more than six times…. Green became the first player in franchise history to post three straight triple-doubles since Tom Gola in 1959-60 in Wilt Chamberlain’s rookie season.
Golden State Warriors forward Jason Thompson dunks against the Los Angeles Lakers during the first half of an NBA basketball game in Los Angeles, Tuesday, Jan. 5, 2016.
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Today’s clash is a battle of first versus last in the Western Conference as the 32-2 Warriors look to make it four wins from four starts against their 8-27 Californian rivals this season. For the second game in a row, the Warriors’ decision to play PG Stephen Curry (calf) came after his pregame warmup…. It was the second game in two days for the dubs who easily beat the Charlotte Hornets on Monday 111-101.
