Curry, Thompson carry Warriors
Stephen Curry and Klay Thompson each finish with seven 3-pointers as the Warriors won their seventh straight game.
ORLANDO, Fla. — The noon Eastern Standard Time tipoff was more than a little challenging for Stephen Curry and the Golden State Warriors. At first, anyway.
Tied at halftime, the Warriors woke up. Curry and Klay Thompson each finished with seven 3-pointers and the Warriors won their seventh straight game, beating the Orlando Magic 118-98 on Sunday.
This was the first Eastern time zone noon tip for the Warriors since 1995, when they lost by 34 points in Orlando.
“It just challenges you mentally,” Curry said of the early start. “We were talking about it in the locker room before the game. It is early, but it doesn’t matter what time the game is, we have go out and get a win.”
Curry had 14 points as the Warriors outscored Orlando 4224 in the third quarter. He didn’t play in the fourth period.
Curry went 7 for 13 on 3s and scored 27 points while Thompson as 7 for 9 from behind the arc and had 21 points. The Warriors shot 19 of 42 overall from 3-point range while the Magic went 7 for 28.
After trailing by 11 in the first half and committing a dozen turnovers, the Warriors went into the break even at 50.
“Third quarter was great,” Warriors coach Steve Kerr said. “It seems to be the time when we pick up our defense and it translates into some transition hoops and 3-pointers.”
Kevin Durant added 15 points for the Warriors, Zaza Pachulia had 14 and JaVale McGee added 13.
Elfrid Payton led Orlando with 23 points. Nikola Vucevic, Jeff Green, C.J. Watson and Bismack Biyombo each had 12.
Mavericks 122, Lakers 73
DALLAS — Dirk Nowitzki and the Dallas Mavericks had something to prove on Sunday following two straight tough losses.
Coming off a three-point effort in an overtime loss on Friday,
Nowitzki scored all 13 of his points in the first half and Dallas gave the Los Angeles Lakers the worst loss in their history, 122-73.
“We didn’t show up to play,” Lakers coach Luke Walton said. “It’s embarrassing for us as a team and for us as an organization. The effort just wasn’t there tonight, which I don’t understand.”
The 49-point defeat just edged Los Angeles’ two previous worst losses at 48 points, most recently 123-75 at Utah on March 28, 2016.
The Mavericks’ winning margin was the third-largest in their history.
It was Dallas’ 13th straight win over the Lakers, who have lost
six of their last seven games overall. After a season-best three-game winning streak, the Mavericks had blown a ninepoint halftime lead at Miami on Thursday and lost to Utah on Friday.
Nowitzki was 1 for 13 against the Jazz, including a missed 3-pointer that would have tied the game in overtime.
“I looked sluggish the other night on that back-to-back,” Nowitzki said, “but took a day off yesterday, didn’t do anything. Felt a lot better today.”
The game was close for 10 minutes, with Dallas leading 2322 before the Mavericks scored the next 15 points to blow it open. Nowitzki had seven points during the run. He played just 20 minutes. Justin Anderson led seven Mavericks in double figures with a game-high 19 points in 16 minutes, his most playing time since Dec. 27.
Timberwolves 111, Nuggets 108
MINNEAPOLIS — Karl-Anthony Towns had 32 points, 12 rebounds and seven assists and hit the go-ahead shot with 42.5 seconds to play to lead Minnesota over Denver.
Towns hit 13 of 19 shots and also had four blocks and Andrew Wiggins scored 24 points in Minnesota’s fourth straight home win. Shabazz Muhammad scored 20 points off the bench and the Wolves rallied from nine points down midway through the fourth quarter for the win.
Gary Harris scored 22 points and Nikola Jokic had 18 points and eight rebounds for the Nuggets on the second night of a back-to-back. Wilson Chandler and Jamal Murray added 17 points each for Denver, which played without Emmanuel Mudiay because of a sore back.
Kris Dunn had 10 points and nine assists for the Wolves while starting for Ricky Rubio, who missed the game to attend his grandmother’s funeral.
Suns 115, Raptors 103
TORONTO — Eric Bledsoe scored a career-high 40 points and had 13 assists and Phoenix handed Toronto its third straight loss.
Bledsoe was 11 of 17 from the floor, including 4 of 7 from 3-point range, and Devin Booker added 20 points as the Suns won their second straight road game following Saturday’s win at New York.
The victory also completed a season sweep of the Raptors for the first time since 2013-14 and improved Phoenix to 11-6 against Eastern Conference teams this season.
DeMar DeRozan had 22 points for Toronto and Jonas Valanciunas added 16 points and 12 rebounds for his 17th double-double of the season. It’s the first time the Raptors have lost three straight since Nov. 6-10, 2015.