Category: Golden State Warriors

Curry’s 51 Points Key Warriors Comeback Over Dallas

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By Matthew T.F. Harrington

The Golden State Warriors (39-8) overcame a sluggish start Wednesday night against the Dallas Mavericks, turning an early 24-4 deficit into a 128-114 win at Oracle Arena. Warriors All-Star Stephen Curry torched the Mavs for 51 points, including 27 in the third quarter to key a Golden State comeback.

Curry picked up his half-century of points over 36 minutes, nailing a Golden State record 10 threes while going 16 of 26 from the field. Klay Thompson pitched in 18 points, while Marreese Speights and Leandro Barbosa chipped in 14 apiece of the bench.

Chandler Parson led the Mavs with 24 points while Tyson Chandler added 21. The Mavericks (33-18) were playing without Rajon Rondo, absent with an orbital bone injury sustained in Dallas’ previous game.

After trailing 24-4 just under halfway through the first, the Warriors to finish out the quarter on an 21-18 run for a 42-25 deficit. A 33-20 second period put the Dubs within four at 62-58. Backed by Curry’s 27 points, the Warriors took the 101-98 edge in the third then closed out the Mavs on a 27-16 final frame.

Up next for the NBA-leading Warriors is a date with a team that has mirrored Golden State. The Dubs travel to face the Atlanta Hawks, a team that just had it’s 19 game win streak snapped, in a battle of the best in each conference.

The Warriors Continue to Win

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by Jerry Feitelberg

The Golden State Warriors got off to a slow start Tuesday night as the played the Sacramento Kings in Sacramento. The Kings (17-29) started Darren Collison, Rudy Gay, Ben McLemore, Derrick Williams and All-Star Center DeMarcus Cousins hoping to somehow beat the Warriors and prevent the Warriors from sweeping the 4 game season series. The Kings got off to a hot start and behind Ben McLemore’s eleven points took an early 20-10 lead. The Warriors then went on a 19-2 run behind the great play of the second unit. Key players were Andre Iguodala, David Lee. Mo Speights, Leandro Barbosa and Shaun Livingstone and the first period ended with the Warriors holding a seven point 29-22 advantage.

The Warriors behind great defense and great hustle of the second unit extended the lead to 37-22 before Sacramento could right the ship and hope to get back into the game. At this point in the game, the Warrior bench had produced 24 points as compared to just 8 from the Kings’ bench. Again, it was good defense, hot shooting, great passing and strong contributions from the bench. The half ended with Golden State leading 63-42. The Warriors had 22 assists and just 4 turnovers in the first 24 minutes of play..

The Warriors increased the lead to 25 early in the 3rd period. Andrew Bogut had contained DeMarcus Cousins all night but Bogut had to sit down as he committed his fourth foul early in the 3rd period.

Cousins went to work on Mo Speights and the Kings clawed their way back and cut the deficit to just 11 near the end of the period. The Warriors led by 14 as the start of the fourth period and the second unit took control of the game. Speights, Iguodala, Lee and Barbosa continued their strong play and the Warriors won by 22 as the final score was 121-99.

The Warriors’ Steph Curry played 29 minutes and had 23 points and 9 assists. Klay Thompson scored just 14 but the bench was led by Mo Speights who had 17 points, 8 rebounds and 3 assists. Andre Iguodala pitched in with 17 points, 4 rebounds and 1 assist while Leandro Barbosa’s numbers were 12 points,3 rebounds and 5 assists. Andrew Bogut had 6 points, 5 rebounds and 2 blocked shots as the Warriors swept the season series from the Kings and have beat them 8 straight times.

After the game coach Steve Kerr said " that was a great win and the guys on the bench came in and just took over."

The Warriors return to Oakland Wednesday night to face the Dallas Mavericks at 7:30PT and then go on a four game road trip before the All-Star break with stops in Atlanta, New York, Philadelphia and Minnesota. Don’t forget to stay warm guys and good luck on the trip. Thw Warriors are now 38-8 for the season.

Warriors cruise to win over Kings

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AP Photo/Rich Pedroncelli

By Robert Steward

SACRAMENTO–

The Golden State Warriors ran their winning streak to four against the Sacramento Kings Tuesday night with a 121-96 victory. While Klay Thompson did not come close to a repeat performance the last time the teams met on January 23rd, when he scored an NBA-record 37 points in the third quarter, hitting 9 three-pointers en route to scoring 52, the result was the same: another Golden State victory. Sacramento, fresh off snapping an eight-game losing streak at Indiana this past Saturday, jumped out of the gate quickly and lead 7-0 with only 2 minutes gone in the game. They eventually stretched it to their biggest lead of the game at 20-10 with 6:05 left in the quarter. The Kings’ Ben McLemore had the hot hand in the early going, hitting 4 of his first 5 shots, including 3 of 4 from 3-point land. After that, however, Golden State completely took over the game, going on a 19-2 run, including 15 consecutive points to finish the quarter leading 29-22. Sacramento missed its last 8 shots in the quarter, while the Warriors heated up from the floor and shot 58% for the quarter compared to the Kings 36%.

Sacramento’s woes continued into the second quarter as they missed their first two shots and turned it over 3 straight times. Meanwhile, Golden State ran off the first 8 points of the quarter before the Kings’ Jason Thompson ended the 23-0 Golden State run with a jumper at the 9:37 mark to make it 37-24, Warriors. But the high-scoring Warriors came right back with a 3-pointer by Leandro Barbosa and then got a lift off the bench from Marreese Speights, who hit 5 of 8 from the floor in the quarter, including scoring 8 straight points. Sacramento’s DeMarcus Cousins was repeatedly chirping at the referees, no doubt frustrated by the lack of fouls he believed should have been called on the Warriors, who were certainly physical with the Kings’ big man in the middle. Golden State continued to light it up from the floor throughout the quarter, grabbing their biggest lead of the half, 63-40, right before the quarter ended with Sacramento trailing, 63-42. Golden State maintained their hot shooting, finishing at 58% for the half, while the Kings were only shooting 37% from the floor. The Warriors also dominated the Kings in the paint and on fastbreak points, outscoring the Kings, 32-14 and 24-8, respectively.

Golden State opened up the third quarter much like the second quarter, going up 69-44 following a 3-point shot by Harrison Barnes. But Sacramento made a brief run at that point, with McLemore and Rudy Gay hitting back-to-back 3-pointers, followed by a jumper by Darren Collison to cut the deficit to 17, at 69-52. But, as was the case throughout the game, anytime the Kings even threatened to get remotely close, the Warriors had an answer every time. Golden State’s Klay Thompson hit a 3-pointer to end Sacramento’s run and shortly thereafter the Warriors had pushed their lead back up to 78-56. Sacramento then did their best to make it a game, going repeatedly to DeMarcus Cousins in the low post and Rudy Gay began to heat up. A 17-7 run by Sacramento, fueled by Cousins and Gay scoring 15 of the 17 points, cut the lead to 12 at 85-73 with 2:36 left in the quarter. The Warriors’ Andre Iguodala ended the run with a trey and the Warriors closed out the third quarter leading 94-80. Gay scored 14 in the quarter, while Cousins scored 11.

The Warriors hammered away at the Kings on the boards in the 4th quarter, outrebounding the Kings, 16-6 in the quarter. The Kings were still in striking distance, trailing 101-86 with 8:44 left before Golden State ran off 12 points in a row to open up their biggest lead of the game at 113-86 with 5:31 left, essentially ending any hopes of a Kings comeback. For the game, Golden State outrebounded Sacramento, 49-34, while also dishing out 33 assists to the Kings’ 17. A balanced scoring attack and a deep bench played dividends for the Warriors tonight, as they had 5 players in double figures, lead by Stephen Curry with 23. Iguodala and Speights both chipped in 17 off the bench, with Thompson scoring 14 and Barbosa contributing 12 points, also off the bench. The Kings were led by Cousins, who had his usual strong game, finishing with 26 points and 11 rebounds, to go with 4 blocked shots. Gay had 20 points, while McLemore and Darren Collison both scored 18 apiece. Strangely enough, McLemore, who started strong and made 4 of his first 5 shots in the opening 6 minutes of the game, took only 4 more shots for the duration of the game, making 2. Golden State improved to 38-8 overall, while the Kings fell to 17-30.

Up next for the Kings will be the Dallas Mavericks, as they come visit Sleep Train Arena on Thursday night at 7pm.

 

 

That’s Amaury’s News and Commentary: Super Bowl XLIX the dumbest play; plus Amaury’s latest in baseball news

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by Amaury Pi Gonzalez

PHOENIX–With 26 seconds left on the clock the dumbest play I have ever seen in a Superbowl, as well as many millions, 114.4 million to be exact(a new SB record). At the end it was a great show overall, great half time, and this is exactly what the NFL needed this time. It has not been a good season for the NFL, with all the scandals, players arrested, domestic violence, but as pure entertainment, and that is what the Superbowl is all about, I have to give it a nine, out of a perfect ten score. The commercials this year, were not as great.

”I made the decision. I said, `Throw the ball,”’ coach Pete Carroll said. ”Nobody to blame but me.” We cannot criticize coach Carroll for speaking the truth. But we can definitely criticize him for his judgment at the time. Marshawn Lynch rushed 24 times for 102 yards and a touchdown and caught a 31-yard pass in the Seahawks’ Super Bowl 49 loss to the Patriots. However, he was not anyplace to be seen when with a few minutes remaining in the game, Wilson three the interception that sealed the defeat of the Seahwaks, and prevented them to repeat as Superbowl champions.

The call from coach Carroll towards the end of the game in regulation, was one of the worse I can remember in a Superbowl. Tom Brady who won the Most Valuable Player(as I predicted in a previous column)said after the victory “It’s been a long journey. It’s just a great win. We left it all on the field.” Brady, born San Mateo by winning his third MVP in a Superbowl ties his idol 49er great Joe Montana with four Super Bowl wins. “I was a huge fan of Joe Montana” says Brady. Marshawn Lynch who prior to the pass interception by Wilson the ball to the half-yard goal line said he was not surprised of the pass, in his words: “it is a team sport”. But deep inside everybody and their grandmother, have to be thinking that Lynch probably said “what then hell?”

Tom Brady is 37 years old, owns a bunch of NFL records, with no plans of retiring, there is little doubt that if he wins another Super Bowl, he will be considered the greatest quarterback ever in NFL history.

All clear: In Oakland, an investigation by the city’s Public Ethics Commission has found there was no violation of city election last year when Councilwoman Rebbeca Kaplan accepted two campaign contribution checks from Oakland A’s co-owner Lew Wolff… Miguel Tejada is now playing baseball in the Mexican Summer league with the Pericos de Puebla team, the ex-Athletics shortstop is 40 years old…All In: The Los Angeles Dodgers are having some drastic changes inside their Spanish broadcast, veteran play by play man Jaime Jarrin will continue in the Spanish radio booth(he has been there since the late 1950’s)and his son Jorge Jarrin, who during the past couple of years was doing the Dodgers Sports Telecast in Spanish will join Jaime on radio, while Pepe Yniguez, play by play radio, and Fernando Valenzuela, commentary radio, are moving from radio Spanish to do 150 Dodger games on Spanish television for Time Warner-Cable. Manny Mota will continue as commentator for 30 games on Spanish television, while Valenzuela will work the other 130 games… Anaheim: For the fifth year in a row the LA Angels will broadcast all home games from Angels Stadium on Fox Sports West/Spanish with José Mota, commentary and yours truly at play by play; this production airs in the LA area and also in Arizona and Nevada on other cable companies. I will also handle half of a 72 game home schedule in Spanish for the A’s on KIQI 1010AM radio(Bay Area) and three other affiliates on the network…SABR: Society for American Baseball Research held their 2015 annual meeting of the Lefty O’Doul San Francisco/Sacramento chapter at famous Ricky’ Bar and Sports Lounge in San Leandro, they have a group of members getting ready to travel to Cuba to watch baseball in the island…NBA: Will this be the second time the Warriors win a title? I was there as a sports reporter here in the Bay Area when they won their first and only championship during the 1974-75 season, it is about time for the Warriors, to go “all the way”, it has been 40 years, but the record for longer time without winning a Championship in the Bay Area still belongs to the World Champion Giants, they moved to San Francisco from New York in 1958 and won their first World Series in The City in 2010, if you are counting, that was 52 years…Dominican Republic: The Commissioner’s Office and the MLB Players Association jointly announced on Monday that they will partner with the United States government to focus on education in the Dominican Republic.The program, with the help of the U.S. Agency for International Development, will focus on education, supporting children with disabilities and combating domestic violence..Changing jobs: Omar Minaya ex-New York Mets General Manager left his job as Senior Vice President of the San Diego Padres, to become a special adviser to the Major League Baseball Players Association. Minaya, born in Dominican Republic, became the first ever Hispanic General Manager in Major League Baseball.

Amaury Pi Gonzalez is the Spanish radio voice for the Oakland A’s and is the Angels Spanish TV voice and does News and Commentary each week on http://www.sportsradioserivce.com

Warriors’ Kerr named West’s top coach of the month

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By Joe Hawkes-Beamon

OAKLAND — Golden State Warriors Head Coach Steve Kerr was named the NBA’s Western Conference Coach of the Month for January, the league announced Monday. Kerr guided the Warriors to an NBA-best 12-3 mark for the month, becoming the first Warriors head coach to win Coach of the Month honors since Don Nelson in April 2007 and joining Nelson (April 2007 & February 1989) and George Karl (March 1987) as the only coaches in Warriors history to receive the monthly accolade (the NBA began giving out the award in 1982-83).

The news was first reported by CSNBayArea.

Golden State led the NBA in points per game for the month (116.2), field goal percentage (.485) and point differential (+14.0).

January also saw Golden State extend it’s franchise-best 19 game home winning streak (Nov. 13 – Jan. 25), and All-Star reserve Klay Thompson won his third Western Conference Player of the Month Award.

After snapping a two-game losing streak Saturday with a 106-87 victory over the Phoenix Suns at Oracle Arena, the Warriors return to the hardwood Tuesday to take on the Kings in Sacramento.

Warriors shake off slow start, sink Suns

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By Joe Hawkes-Beamon

OAKLAND — Stephen Curry finished with 25 points and Klay Thompson scored 22 points to help the Golden State Warriors stop a two-game losing streak with a 106-87 win over the Phoenix Suns Saturday night at Oracle Arena.

“We got back to our style of basketball,” said Curry, who combined with Thompson shot 19-for-30 from the floor. “We we’re slumping a little bit and wasn’t playing well, so this was big for us.”

Harrison Barnes added 13 points and eight rebounds, Leandro Barbosa scored 14, and Andre Iguodala finished with 12 points for Golden State (37-8), who shook off a sluggish start where the missed their first 10 shots of the game.

Daymond Green fell one point short of a double-double, scoring nine points and grabbing 11 rebounds. During one timeout, Green was heard telling teammates, “we got to get our focus back and play better.”

Phoenix jumped out to a 40-28 lead midway through the second quarter, but rallied to close out the frame to take a 52-51 lead into halftime and never looked back.

After finding themselves down by 12 to Phoenix, Golden State outscored the Suns 78-47 the rest of the way that proved to be difference.

Golden State’s 15-2 run midway through the fourth quarter proved to be the difference for the Warriors, who got back into the win column.

“Great effort by our guys tonight,” said Warriors head coach Steve Kerr. “The defensive effort in the second half was tremendous. We closed out on the shooters, got into passing lanes, got back on track.”

Golden State shot 46 percent from the floor (40-for-87), while holding one of the NBA’s best scoring teams to well under their 100 points per game average and 36 percent shooting (33-for-91).

The Warriors had seven players with two or more assists led by Curry’s seven.

Phoenix did get the best of Golden State on the glass, outrebounding the Warriors 52-44.

“We have great passers on our team,” said Barbosa. “It helped the team and we were able to get the ball moving and played better tonight.”

Markieff Morris had 17 points and 11 rebounds and Eric Bledsoe finished with 16 points for Phoenix (28-21) just fell apart in the second half.

Goran Dragic scored 10 points and Isaiah Thomas added 13 points. Phoenix shot 35 percent on 3s (9-for-26).

The Warriors improved to 22-2 at Oracle Arena this season. With a 12-3 record in January, it was Golden State’s best January since the 1974-75 season.

Golden State heads up to Sacramento Tuesday to take on the Kings.

 

 

The Jazz upsets the Warriors

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by Jerry Feitelberg

The Golden State Warriors, still smarting from the loss to Chicago Tuesday night, travelled to Salt Lake City to square off against the lowly Utah Jazz. The Jazz , with a record of 16-30 before start of play, had other thoughts and stunned the Warriors 110-100 in a game that wasn’t as close as the score might indicate. The Jazz led wire to wire and the Warriors probably played their worst game of the year. The Jazz out rebounded, out hustled, defensed better and would not the Dubs get their running game going and had and answered every challenge that the Warriors threw at them.

The first period set the tone for the game. Utah took a 13-8 lead halfway through the first period.

The Warriors were cold and could score just nineteen points. It was the lowest scoring first period all year for the Warriors. The Jazz increased the lead to eleven at the end of the first half 56-45. Steph Curry finally knocked a three point shot late in the first half to end an 0 for 20 drought going back to the Chicago game. The Jazz continued to play well and the Warriors were hampered by sloppy ball handling and they were hoping to get their offense going and to stop the Jazz on defense. They could no neither. The Jazz had a 99-83 lead with 5:41 to play. The game got a little closer when Leandro Barbosa entered the game. Barbosa scored sixteen points in 13 minutes of action but it was too little,too late as the Warriors lost their second game in row for the third time this year.

Notes- Steph Curry was the only potent force in the Warrior lineup as he scored thirty-two points and had seven assists and three steals. Klay Thompson, who had been very hot, was cooled off and he scored just twelve points and had two rebounds. The only other Warrior in double figures was Barbosa.

Andrew Bogut played twenty-three minutes but all he could produce was four points, four rebounds and four assists. He may have been feeling the effects of the flu as he sat out the Chicago game.

David Lee, Harrison Barnes, Draymond Green and Andre Iguodala just couldn’t get their games going

as the loss was very ugly.

Stars for the Jazz were forward Gordon Hayward who had twenty-six points and fifteen rebounds Trevor Booker and Trey Burke, coming off the bench had seventeen points, seven rebounds and three assists and Burke had fifteen points and seven assists.

The Warriors were out rebounded 55-41 and the Jazz dominated both the offensive and defensive boards. The Warriors shot 43% from the floor but the Jazz was slightly better 44.7%.

After the game, Warrior coach, Steve Kerr, said" it’s hard to win. You need energy and focus and we didn’t have it. They(the Jazz) are a hungry and young team and they took it to us."

The Warriors are now 36-8 for the year and return home to the Oracle Arena to face the Phoenix Suns

Saturday night at 7:30pm PT.

Bulls snap Warriors’ 19-game home winning streak in OT

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By Joe Hawkes-Beamon

OAKLAND — For the first time in 19 games at Oracle Arena, the Golden State Warriors know what it feels like to lose.

Derrick Rose’s step back jumper with 7 seconds in overtime lifted the Chicago Bulls to a 113-111 victory over Golden State Tuesday night, snapping the Warriors’ franchise record 19-game home winning streak.

Rose finished with 30 points 13-of-33 shooting, seven rebounds, and 11 turnovers (1 assist). According to Elias Sports Bureau, Rose is the first player in NBA history to have at least 30 points, 10 turnovers, and 1 or fewer assists in a game.

Klay Thompson’s running bank shot with 2.9 seconds left rimmed out, sending Golden State to only their second home loss of the season. Not to mention it was Golden State’s first loss in 15 games to the Eastern Conference this season.

Chicago took a 107-105 lead after Kirk Hinrich drilled a 3 from the right side with 15.8 seconds left in the fourth quarter.

Then with 1.4 seconds remaining, Warriors’ power forward Draymond Green out-jumped Bulls’ big men Joakim Noah and Pau Gasol to tip in a missed Andre Iguodala desperation 3 that tied the game at 107, forcing overtime.

“We wanted to compete with those guys,” said Rose after the game. “They are a great team that competes and we were able to stay with them and keep the game close, which helped us get the win.”

Gasol finished with 18 points and 16 rebounds, Noah scored 18 points and 15 rebounds.

Nikola Mirotic scored 12 points, while Taj Gibson and Aaron Brooks each scored 10 points off the bench for Chicago (30-17), who got back into the win column after losing to the Miami Heat 96-84 in Chicago Sunday.

With Andrew Bogut coming down with flu-like symptoms shortly before tipoff and Marreese Speights inserted into the starting lineup, Chicago bullied a depleted Warriors’ frontcourt, out-rebounding Golden State 61-48.

“Their frontline was tough tonight,” said Warriors head coach Steve Kerr. “It was a great game, fun game. There were times we felt like we had the game but, they [Chicago], worked. We scrapped and clawed, but we didn’t get it done.”

Kerr was right, Golden State didn’t get it done tonight against a Bulls team that clapped down defensively on Golden State.

After shooting 61 percent from the field in the first quarter (12-for-23), Golden State had trouble putting the ball in the basket finishing 48-of-113 (42 percent).

“We looked tired…after such a hot start in the first quarter, but just couldn’t get

The NBA’s No. 1 3-point shooting team couldn’t buy a bucket in the second half, shooting 0-for-13 from behind the arc after shooting 6-of-11 from deep in the first quarter.

Golden State shot 9-of-33 (27 percent) on 3s.

Thompson scored 20 of his game-high 30 points in the first half, Stephen Curry scored 21 points and dished out nine assists, but the “Splash Brothers” shot 9-of-32 in the second half and in overtime.

Thompson added 10 rebounds, and Curry had nine assists.

David Lee had one of his best games of the season, scoring 17 of his 23 points in the third quarter. Lee shot 10-for-17 from the floor.

“I thought we had a stretch in the fourth quarter where we didn’t score and they picked it up,” said Lee, who also had nine rebounds and six assists. “I thought we fought hard, but just came up short tonight.”

Golden State dominated the fast break, outscoring the Bulls 31-8, and forced 21 turnovers into 22 points.

At 36-7, Golden State are still playing at a high level, but you can’t win them all. The Warriors close out their five-game homestand at 4-1, bringing their home record to an NBA-best 21-2.

Golden State get back on the court Friday night in Utah.

Game Notes

  • The Warriors announced on Monday that the team plans to wear a special Chinese New Year uniform. The uniform, which will be worn for Golden State’s home game against the San Antonio Spurs on Feb. 20, has “Warriors” is spelled out in Mandarin on the uniform’s front, and the sleeve features a goat, the animal the Chinese attribute to this upcoming year. The jersey also features red and yellow piping. Red is the color associated with good luck, while yellow is connected to wealth and happiness.”The meaning of a warrior certainly translates into the Chinese culture well as they are very familiar with what being a warrior means,” said Rick Welts, the team’s president and chief operating officer. “I think they’d be hard-pressed to make a similar connection to the Lakers.”
  • The 2015 NBA All-Star game reserves will be announced Thursday, and Klay Thompson is expected to be named a reserve. Thompson was named the Western Conference Player of the Week for the third time this season on Monday.
  • First 10,000 fans At Oracle Arena received the tallest bobblehead (10”) in Warriors franchise history Tuesday of former center, Manute Bol.Bol played for the Warriors for three seasons (1988-90, 1994-95). In his first season with Golden State in 1988-89, Bol led the league with a team-record 345 blocks while also demonstrating a rare shooting touch for a man his size, converting on 20 three-pointers. The Sudanese star averaged 3.34 blocks per game in his career, the second-best mark in league history, and ranks 15th on the NBA’s all-time blocks list with over 2,000 career rejections. Bol’s son, Chris Bol, was in attendance to honor his father, who passed away on June 19, 2010.

 

 

Warriors Squeak Past Celtics Thanks to Thompson’s Encore

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By Matthew T.F. Harrington

What would Klay Thompson do for an encore after dropping 37 points in a quarter Friday night? The All-star hopeful didn’t quite replicate the matching and drop 40 over 12 minutes, but he did produce a game-high 31 points to lead the Golden State Warriors to a 114-111 win over the Boston Celtics Sunday at Oracle Arena.

One game after setting the NBA points record in a quarter against the Sacramento Kings, Thompson hit 11 of 19 field goals (including three three-pointers) over 32 minutes to help the Dubs (36-6) extend their home winning streak to 19.
Thompson didn’t shoulder the burden alone. Fellow Splash Brother Stephen Curry picked up his 15th double-double, scoring 22 while dishing out 11 assists. Andrew Bogut joined curry for a double double-double, scoring 13 while pulling down a game-best 13 rebounds.

The Celtics (15-27) rode a near double-double from Jared Sullinger to remain in contention against the NBA’s best. The former Ohio State Buckeye worked the Warriors defense for 26 points but came a rebound shy of double-digit totals. Guard Evan Turner produced an efficient shooting night, hitting 7 of 12 attempted shots from the floor for 19 points.

After taking a 3-2 lead, the Warriors never trailed in the first quarter, but couldn’t extend the lead more than seven points, ultimately settling for a 30-23 first quarter edge. The second quarter was more of the same with the tenacious Celtics hanging around to trail 56-49 at the half.

The Warriors appeared to be putting their potential draft lottery-pick bound opponents away, staking out as much as a twelve-point lead after an Andre Iguodala layup put the Warriors ahead 86-74, closing out the quarter ahead 89-77. The Celtics made the Warriors sweat it out though, scoring 34 fourth-quarter points to the Warriors 25, pulling one possession away from a chance to tie.

With a victory nearly stolen, the Warriors now face a tough test in the visiting Chicago Bulls. If the Warriors want to make it 20-straight at home, they’ll have to top the Central Division’s best Tuesday night at Oracle Arena.

Warriors ground Rockets, win 17th straight at Oracle

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By Joe Hawkes

OAKLAND — The Golden State Warriors continue to make winning in the NBA and over the Houston Rockets an easy

Klay Thompson scored 27 points and Stephen Curry finished with 22 points and 10 assists as Golden State established a new franchise record with their 17th consecutive home win with a 126-113 victory over Houston Wednesday in front of the 102nd straight sellout at Oracle Arena.

Golden State completed the four-game sweep over Houston this season, which hasn’t been done since the 1973-74 season.

Draymond Green had 18 points and six rebounds and Harrison Barnes finished with 11 points as Golden State shot 50 percent from the floor (49-for-98), while holding the Rockets to just 42 percent shooting (37-for-87).

“We got the best fans in the league,” Green said. “They make it tough for teams to come and try to beat us.”

Marreese Speights and David Lee finished with nine points off the bench for Golden State. Lee reached the 10,000-point career milestone in the process.

Andrew Bogut also finished with nine points, but recorded 10 rebounds and five blocks while playing 22 minutes.

The Warriors utilized a 26-6 run in the second quarter to push their lead to 62-42 at halftime.

Tempers flared in the third quarter when Curry ran after Rockets’ forward Trevor Ariza bumped the Warriors’ point guard.

“I got a technical for nothing,” said Curry. “Softest technical I’ve ever gotten. I thought it was a cheap shot, even if he didn’t meant it, that’s how I felt at the time.”

Ariza was assessed a technical in fact, Houston had four technical fouls called against them, two of them on forward Josh Smith who was ejected in the third quarter for arguing with referee, Tre Maddox.

Both teams finished even in total rebounds (46), while Golden State finished with the edge in assists (26-23), and Houston leading the turnover battle (19-16).

Golden State was lights out from beyond the arc, shooting 13-for-29 on 3s (44 percent). Houston shot 13-for-32 from downtown (40 percent).

“I thought we played well tonight, but we could’ve ended the game better,” said Warriors head coach Steve Kerr. “We didn’t close the game like we normally do, but we had a big lead so we were able to ride it out.”

Golden State biggest lead was 30 points.

Houston (29-14) just didn’t seem to have it again against Golden State Wednesday night.

Outside of James Harden’s game-high 33 points, Corey Brewer (20 points) and Jason Terry (14 points), no other Rockets players scored more than nine points.

Center Dwight Howard finished with seven points and 11 rebounds while battling foul trouble. Howard also picked up a first quarter technical and was clearly frustrated for the remainder of the game.

“They play hard, and fast,” said Houston head coach Kevin McHale. “They make you make plays, they defend, and they pressure you. Give them credit for playing a great game.”

Golden State (34-6) joins just 10 teams since the NBA-ABA merger in 1976 to win 34 of their first 40 games of the season. At 19-1, the Warriors sport the best home record in the league.

“Teams are going come in a give their best effort,” Bogut said. “We’ll bring our game and continue to play hard and tough.”

The Warriors continue their five-game homestand Friday night with their I-80 brethren, Sacramento Kings visiting Oracle Arena.