Warriors on cusp of history after defeating Nuggets
Golden State tied the best start to a season in NBA history by beating the Denver Nuggets 118-105 on Sunday, moving to 15-0.
“It’s a huge accomplishment coming off a championship and taking care of business 15 straight times to start the season,” Curry said. “You couldn’t ask for a better start, obviously.”
The Warriors have not avoided talking about their record-setting start, choosing to acknowledge it often as the wins piled up.
“Maybe two games ago it became a real conversation in the locker room,” Curry said. “Now that we’re at 15 let’s get 16.”
The Warriors matched the start of the 1948-49 Washington Capitols and the ‘93-94 Houston Rockets. The Warriors can break the record when they played at home against the Los Angeles Lakers on Tuesday.
The Warriors are on the cusp of history without head coach Steve Kerr, who is recovering from two offseason back surgeries. Interim coach Luke Walton has kept in constant communication with Kerr and credits his system for the success.
“All we’re doing is following his leadership,” Walton said. “I’m just glad to not be letting my boss Steve down.”
Darrell Arthur, who started because forward Kenneth Faried was out with a sprained left ankle, led Denver with a season-high 21 points. Danilo Gallinari and Will Barton had 19 points each and Emmanuel Mudiay had 17 and eight assists for the Nuggets (6-8).
“Darrell was terrific,” Nuggets coach Michael Malone said. “He comes out 9-of-12, 21 points, eight rebounds. Darrell stepped up and had a heck of a game.”
Looking tired
The Nuggets wanted to be the team to stop the streak, but could not keep up with the reigning champions.
“Personally, I cared a lot,” Mudiay said. “I wanted to stop the streak just because I hate records being set on me or any of my teammates.”
Curry took just 16 shots for his season low in points, but the Warriors did not need the MVP to hand the Nuggets their third straight loss. He scored nine points in the third quarter when the Warriors extended their halftime lead to 91-79.
Elsewhere, Oklahoma City came back from a double-digit deficit in the third quarter to edge Dallas, and Toronto clamped down early on the Los Angeles Clippers stars and had a comfortable win.
Golden State’s Klay Thompson scored 21 points for the Warriors, who surpassed the ‘57-58 Boston Celtics for the best start by a defending champion.
Thompson hit a 3-pointer with 2:08 remaining in the second quarter and Golden State never trailed again. The reserves built up a sizeable lead and allowed Stephen Curry to rest the entire fourth quarter. Curry had 19 points, the first time this season he hasn’t reached 20.
Darrell Arthur had 21 points for Denver, which has lost three straight.
Oklahoma City’s Russell Westbrook had 31 points and 11 assists, hitting two key baskets in the final 63 seconds, to lead the Thunder past Dallas 117-114, halting the Mavericks’ six-game winning streak.
Westbrook broke a 113-113 tie with a jumper with 1:03 left. Zaza Pachulia made 1 of 2 from the free-throw line to pull the Mavericks within a point before Westbrook’s 5.5m jumper with 24 seconds left capped the scoring.
Serge Ibaka had 16 points, nine rebounds and a key late blocked shot for Oklahoma City, which was without star forward Kevin Durant (injured hamstring) for the sixth straight game.
Deron Williams led Dallas with 20 points, but missed an 5.5m and had his layup attempt blocked by Ibaka on consecutive possessions, and Wesley Mathews’ last-second off-balance heave from 3-point range came nowhere close to the basket.
Toronto kept Blake Griffin and Chris Paul scoreless for the first 20 minutes, setting up a 91-80 win against the Clippers.
DeMar DeRozan had 21 points and DeMarre Carroll scored all his 21 points in the first half for the Raptors, who shot a poor 37 per cent from the field but made up for it by forcing 19 turnovers.
J.J. Redick scored 17 points for Los Angeles, which is 2-7 in its past nine game after starting the season 4-0. The only other time they were under a .500 winning percentage during Doc Rivers’ two-plus seasons as coach was after his first game on the job.
New Orleans’ Anthony Davis capped a 32-point, 19-rebound performance with a tiebreaking 3 in the final minute to lead the Pelicans past Phoenix 122-116.
Brooklyn’s Brook Lopez had 23 points and 10 rebounds and Jarrett Jack scored 13 of his 22 points in the fourth quarter to steer the Nets to a 111-101 win against Boston.
Portland beat the Los Angeles Lakers for the sixth straight time, winning 107-93 on the road behind Damian Lillard’s 30 points and career-high 13 assists.
