Warriors’ Curry, Durant on fire
TORONTO: Stephen Curry and Kevin Durant had 30-point games to fire the Golden State Warriors to a fifth consecutive victory on Wednesday in a 127-121 win over the Toronto Raptors.
Reigning NBA MVP Curry finished with 35 points and seven assists after the Warriors held off a furious late fightback from Toronto to claim the win.
The Warriors appeared to be cruising to victory after opening up an 18-point lead in the fourth quarter.
The Raptors however gradually reduced the deficit to six points with a minute left after a three-pointer from Terrence Ross.
The Warriors hung on to improve to 9-2 while the Raptors fell to 7-4 after their second straight defeat.
Durant finished with 30 points, nine rebounds and six assists. Klay Thompson ended with 14 points while Draymond Green (11 points) and Andre Iguodala (10) also made double digits.
DeMar DeRozan led Toronto’s scoring with 34 points, the ninth time in 11 games that he has scored at least 30. Kyle Lowry weighed in with 24 points while Jonas Valanciunas added 12 points and eight rebounds.
Warriors coach Steve Kerr said the game had effectively been won in the second quarter, when his team outscored Toronto by 32-15 to forge a 66-53 lead at half-time.
“The second quarter was great, one of the best quarters we have played,” Kerr said.
“That’s probably the only quarter we’ve played tonight the way we want to play. Defence was good, we didn’t foul. We rebounded, and that was obviously the key to the game, that whole stretch. Draymond (Green) was brilliant. The whole quarter, I thought he was great.”
RESULTS: Philadelphia 109 Washington 102, Orlando 89 New Orleans 82, Indiana 103 Cleveland 93, Boston 90 Dallas 83, NY Knicks 105 Detroit 102, Atlanta 107 Milwaukee 100, Oklahoma City 105 Houston 103, Golden State 127 Toronto 121, Denver 120 Phoenix 104.