Thompson, Curry outshine Westbrook
LOS ANGELES: Klay Thompson and Stephen Curry outshined Russell Westbrook as the Golden State Warriors romped to victory against Oklahoma City on Monday (Tuesday in Manila), while James Harden produced another heroic display to hand Houston a dramatic win over Denver.
The Warriors improved to 56-14 with the win as the Thunder fell to 40-30.
The Houston Rockets cemented their grip on third place in the Western Conference standings with a thrilling victory over the Denver Nuggets.
Harden settled the duel 125124 with a last- gasp coast- tocoast layup after pouncing on a loose shoot from Nuggets guard Jameer Nelson.
It wa s the final act of another virtuoso display from Harden, who finished with 39 points as the Rockets improved to 49- 22.
“I was running so fast, I felt like Usain Bolt,” Harden said of his electrifying late break effort that clinched victory with 4.2 seconds on the clock.
Harden’s heroics left Rockets coach Mike D’Antoni singing the Houston star’s praises.
“He gives you an example every night,” Rockets coach Mike D’Antoni said of Harden, one of the leading candidates for season MVP.
“If something’s better out there, I’ve never seen it and I’ve been around. I’m old and I’ve been around and never seen anything better.”
Harden also had 11 assists while reserve Eric Gordon weighed in with a useful 18 points, which included back-toback three-pointers at the start of the fourth quarter to give Houston the lead.
In the Eastern Conference, Boston scored a bruising 110-102 win over Washington to remain comfortably in second place overall behind Cleveland.
Isaiah Thomas scored 25 points for the Celtics as Boston improved to 45- 26 to stay in front of third placed Washington (42-28) in the standings.
Thomas admitted there was little love lost between the teams following a fractious encounter.
“Those guys don’t like us, we don’t like them, that’s what it is,” Thomas said.
The two teams’ three previous meetings this season had been dogged by physical altercations and trash-talking.
Monday’s encounter was no different, with players regularly exchanging barbs throughout.
“We knew it was going to be one of those games. We knew it,” said Thomas.
“With that team, it’s always going to be a physical game, always going to be trashing talking and things like that.”