The Golden State Warriors’ Draymond Green (No 23) in action against Sacramento Kings at the Oracle Arena in Oakland, California. (Dan Honda/Bay Area News Group/TNS)
Agencies
Los Angeles
The unbeaten Warriors rolled to their 18th consecutive victory Saturday night, a 120-101 home win over the Sacramento Kings as Curry scored 19 points and Draymond Green had his second straight triple-double.
Little-used reserve Brandon Rush scored a season-high 16 points and Green added 13, 12 assists and 11 rebounds for the defending NBA champion Warriors (18-0), who improved the best start in league history and have won 22 regular-season games in a row dating to last season.
“This team’s confidence level is high,” Green said. “We believe we can fight through anything.”
Golden State won its final four games last season before going on to win its first championship in 40 years. Its current winning streak matches the third-longest in NBA history, equalling the 22 straight wins by the 2007-08 Houston Rockets.
The reigning Most Valuable Player who leads the NBA in scoring at 32.6 points per game, Curry looked like he was headed for another explosion as he scored 17 points in the first quarter. But he was quiet thereafter, sitting out the fourth quarter and matching a season low from November 22 at Denver as his teammates did most of the work.
“Anytime you can stay fresh and do it in winning fashion, it’s fun,” Curry said. “I don’t mind resting.”
The shorthanded Kings trailed just 30-29 after one period, but strong play from backup big men Marreese Speights and Festus Ezeli gave Golden State a 56-46 halftime lead. Rush came in having scored just 24 points in 64 minutes this season. He started in place of forward Harrison Barnes, who injured his ankle in Friday’s win at Phoenix.
In the first four-plus minutes of the third quarter, Rush scored 14 points. He drove for a dunk before draining four three-pointers to help widen the margin to 75-52. The Kings got no closer than 18 points thereafter.
“You just gotta stay ready all the time. You never know what can happen,” Rush said. “I had to step right in and play some big minutes and I was able to knock down some shots.”
“It was amazing,” Green said. “We see it all the time in practice. It was great to see him get an opportunity and be ready.”
The Warriors begin a seven-game road trip Monday at Utah. Their next target is the 27-game winning streak by Miami in the 2012-13 season. “We want to start off strong and hopefully get some momentum,” Curry said. “It’s gonna be a good test for us. We’re excited about it.”
Klay Thompson scored 15 points, Speights added 13 and Ezeli 11 with 11 rebounds for the Warriors, who made 16-of-30 from the arc. Rudy Gay scored 20 points for the Kings, who again played without injured All-Star centre DeMarcus Cousins and have lost five of seven.
“I don’t know if I’ve ever seen a better shooting team or a better passing team in my whole career,” Kings coach George Karl said.
Mavericks halt three-game skid after Nuggets go cold
A stone cold third period from the Denver Nuggets allowed the Dallas Mavericks to flip the contest and record a 92-81 victory on Saturday to snap a three game losing streak.
After shooting better than 50 percent from the field in the first half and taking a 52-48 lead over the Mavericks into halftime, the Nuggets couldn’t buy a bucket in the third quarter. They went scoreless in the first 8:55 of the quarter and finished with just two field goals and five points.
It turned a promising start into a sixth consecutive loss as Dallas (10-7) used the 25-5 quarter to get the much needed win at American Airlines Center.
“It was big for us, especially to win at home,” Mavs guard Raymond Felton said.
“We’ve been travelling a lot—that’s how the schedule is, that’s how it goes sometimes—so to get this win at home was really big for us, behind those three losses on the road. We’re back on the road tomorrow with tough teams.”
Denver’s five points set a Dallas franchise record for the lowest total in a quarter by an opponent. The Nuggets, outscored 16-0 in the opening eight minutes while going 0 of 15 from the floor, ended the quarter two of 19 shooting, including one of eight from beyond the arc, with nine turnovers.
“We play great in stretches. We went three quarters tonight, but that third quarter was decisive -- 25-5,” Nuggets coach Michael Malone said.
“Turnovers—you can’t go on the road and beat yourself. We talked about that at halftime. We had 10 turnovers at the half. We wound up having 22 turnovers for 19 points, and nine of those were in the third quarter.
“So when you are struggling to score, you cannot beat yourself by turning the ball over that many times.”
The Nuggets’ 81 points was a low by a Mavs opponent this season.
Dallas point guard Deron Williams hit four three-pointers and led all scorers with 22 points, his second-highest scoring game of the season. Center Zaza Pachulia had 16 points and 12 rebounds, and forward Dirk Nowitzki finished with 13 points and seven rebounds. Felton contributed 12 off the bench.
Forward Darrell Arthur paced Denver (6-11) with 16 points. Guard Will Barton had 14 points off the bench and Danilo Gallinari, who typically has big games against the Mavs, finished with 12 points.
