Curry, well-rested Warriors outrun dragging Spurs

By Joe Hawkes-Beamon

OAKLAND  — Stephen Curry finished with a game-high 25 points and 11 assists, and fellow Splash Bros. Klay Thompson added 20 points as Golden State picked up right where they left off pre-All-Star Break with a 110-99 victory over the San Antonio Spurs Friday night to improve to 24-2 at Oracle Arena this year and 43-9, both NBA-bests.

Curry’s second quarter technical foul ignited the Warriors, who finished the second quarter on a 21-11 run to take a 62-55 lead at halftime and never looked back.

Golden State avenged their 113-100 home loss to the Spurs back on Nov. 11 with a full team effort, including shooting a blistering 51 percent (17-for-33) from behind the three-point arc.

Harrison Barnes scored 16 points and five rebounds, while Andre Iguodala finished with 14 points including knocking down 4-for-6 from downtown.

“The ball movement was tremendous tonight,” Iguodala said of the Warriors, who outscored San Antonio 23-10 on fast break points.

Draymond Green and David Lee each finished with 11 points. Green finished tied with Iguodala and Andrew Bogut for a team-high six rebounds.

Kawhi Leonard and Aron Baynes each scored a team-high 12 points for San Antonio (34-21), who dropped their second straight road game post-All-Star break. San Antonio lost 119-115 to the Clippers in Los Angeles Thursday night where Leonard shot 1-for-11 from the floor.

Baynes finished with a game-high 11 rebounds.

Boris Diaw had 11 points, while Marco Belinelli had nine points for the Spurs, who shot 60 percent in the first half, but cooled off in the second half finishing with 48 percent from floor.

San Antonio controlled the points in the paints, 44-40, and shot a better free throw percentage than Golden State (15-for-20 75 percent for Spurs to 11-for-18 61 percent for Golden State) but the Spurs couldn’t buy a bucket from three-point range, shooting 6-for-19 (31 percent).

Tony Parker, who was harassed by Curry’s defense the entire night, finished with just two points and six assists.

Tim Duncan scored just eight points after a 30-point effort in Los Angeles.

The Warriors hit the road for a six-game stretch through the Eastern Conference, starting Sunday in Indiana.

 

 

Parker, Spurs handle Warriors

By Joe Hawkes-Beamon

OAKLAND –Klay Thompson returned to the starting lineup after missing his first game with a sore hand scoring 29 points but it wasn’t enough as the San Antonio Spurs followed up a victory Monday night in Los Angeles over the Clippers, with a 113-100 victory over the Golden State Warriors in front of a sellout crowd of 19,596 at Oracle Arena on Tuesday night.

“The hand was sore, but credit to the training staff for working me hard the last few days to get me right,” said Thompson. “It felt good to be back out their, but it just didn’t click tonight…the turnovers are killing us, but we got to cut it down. We got too much talent not to get up shots.”

Harrison Barnes scored 11 of his 22 points in the first quarter to go along with eight rebounds, while Marreese Speights chipped in with 11 points to lead the Warriors off the bench.

Stephen Curry added 16 points on 7-of-18 shooting from the floor, including 0-of-7 from 3-point range, snapping a streak at 75 games in which Curry made at least one 3-pointer. Overall, Golden State shot 38-of-70 (54.3%) from the floor, but it were the 20 turnovers that continues to plague the Warriors.

“I thought we executed for the most part…but we need to take care of the ball better,” said Warriors head coach Steve Kerr. “The Spurs played their best game of the year tonight.”

It was Golden State’s fourth straight game with at least 20 turnovers this season, and are averaging 22.5 turnovers per game, which leads the NBA.

Tony Parker finished with 28 points and seven assists, Kwahi Leonard scored 19 points and six rebounds for San Antonio, who dominated Golden State in the paint, outscoring the Warriors 48-28. The Spurs only committed eight turnovers the entire game.

Tim Duncan scored 12 points and grabbed 13 rebounds, while Manu Ginobili added 17 points off the bench for San Antonio (4-3), who continue their four game California swing when they return to Los Angeles Friday to take on the hapless 1-6 Lakers, before finishing up in the capital city against the surprising 5-3 Sacramento Kings on Saturday.

After winning their first five games to open the season, Golden State (5-2), has dropped their last two games, but will look to get back on the winning note as they will continue their three-game home stand Thursday with the Brooklyn Nets coming to Oracle.

Game Notes

* One week after Klay Thompson won the NBA Western Conference Player of the Week after averaging a league-leading 29.7 points per game for games played on Tuesday Oct. 28 through Sunday Nov. 2, the other member of the “Splash Brothers” won the same award the next week as Stephen Curry was named Western Conference Player of the Week for games played on Wednesday Nov. 3 through Sunday Nov. 9. Curry averaged an NBA-tying 30 points per game, to go along with 4.7 3-pointers made,  seven assists per game, and six rebounds per game.

*The Golden State Warriors have waived guard Nemanja Nedovic, the team announced today.

As a rookie in 2013-14, Nedovic appeared in 24 games and posted averages of 1.1 points, 0.5 assists and 0.6 rebounds in 5.9 minutes per contest. The 23-year old guard spent 15 games with the Warriors’ D-League affiliate in Santa Cruz, tallying 14.9 points, 4.2 assists and 2.5 rebounds in 28.5 minutes. He did not appear in a game for Golden State this season.

Turnovers doom Warriors, fall to Spurs 104-102

By Gabe Schapiro

The Golden State Warriors (14-13) fell just short against the savvy San Antonio Spurs (21-5), 104-102, Thursday night, at Oracle Arena. San Antonio was without their big-three of Tim Duncan, Tony Parker, and Manu Ginobli, but still made it work. Golden State got some strong performances, but as a unit played poorly, and ultimately couldn’t overcome their own mistakes. On the night they turned it over a whopping 24 points, which the Spurs converted for 31 points. A familiar face, former Warrior Marco Belinelli, led San Antonio with 28 points off the bench.

The night didn’t start off so poorly. After the first quarter the Warriors held a 23-18 lead. They weren’t playing great, but they were getting it done. From there, however,  the miscues started to snowball.

San Antonio came back with a great second quarter, at one point going on a 19-4 run to steal back the lead. They had grabbed the momentum and rode it through to the end of the game. Heading into halftime they had comeback to take a two-point lead.

The Spurs extended their lead to eight-points heading into the final frame. The Warriors started scratching their way back into the game, and it looked like they were setting up for another classic late-game comeback. With 28 seconds remaining Stephen Curry sunk a huge three-pointer to tie the game up at 102-102. San Antonio ended the comeback hopes with a sloppy but successful last possession, which ended with a Tiago Splitter rebound and put-back to take the two-point lead. The 104-102 score would stick, as a Curry 32-foot heave with less than two seconds left was no where close to hitting.

Curry would finish with his 12th consecutive 20+ point effort, contributing a double-double with 30 points and 15 assists. On a more negative note he also did have five turnovers.

David Lee was great on the offensive end, posting a game-high 32 points and 13 rebounds.

Andrew Bogut was very strong down low. He scored eight points, hauled in 18 rebounds, and blocked three shots.

For the Spurs Kawhi Leonard finished with a double-double, 20 points and 11 rebounds. Patty Mills also had a strong game, with 21 points, five rebounds, and three steals.