Wounded Warriors hit back, rout Suns
Thompson drops 43 in big Golden State win
LOS ANGELES: The Golden State Warriors bounced back with a vengeance from their first defeat of the NBA season, routing the Phoenix Suns 128-103 on Wednesday.
Klay Thompson scored 43 points including 27 in a third quarter in which the Warriors led by as many as 40.
Golden State, the reigning NBA champions, saw their historic 24-game seasonopening winning streak halted by the Milwaukee Bucks on Saturday.
But three days’ rest and a return to their home floor in Oakland saw the Warriors back to their winning ways.
It took the Warriors some time to fire. They trailed 42-38 eight minutes into the second quarter before a 21-4 scoring run put them in charge.
“We were real sloppy in the first quarter,” Thompson said. “We made the adjustment.
“My teammates know when I’m in a zone like that and try to get me the ball. When I’m in a groove all I need is a little space to get my shots up.”
Stephen Curry, Thompson and Draymond Green combined to make eight straight shots, including five three-pointers, in the second-quarter flurry.
Curry finished the game with 25 points and seven assists in only 30 minutes on the floor.
“When Klay gets going,” said Curry, “there’s nothing better to watch.”
Thompson, who improved on his prior season-best of 39 at Indiana eight days ago, was playing just his second game since spraining his right ankle late in that win over the Pacers.
He scored 12 when Golden State lost 108-95 in Milwaukee.
The Warriors will get another crack at Milwaukee when t hey host t he Bucks today.
The Bucks have lost the first two games of their Western road trip, falling to the Los Angeles Lakers on Tuesday and dropping a 103-90 decision to the Los Angeles Clippers on Wednesday.
Meanwhile, Dwyane Wade scored 28 points to lead the Miami Heat to a 104-98 victory over the Nets in Brooklyn, hours after a sore and swollen tongue forced him to miss his team’s morning shoot-around.
“I wasn’t worried about it, I knew I would play basketball,” said Wade, who connected on 13 of 17 attempts from the floor to lead five Heat players in double figures.
The Heat won their third straight, and Wade himself bounced back from a tough three-of-16 shooting night on Monday in his team’s victory over the Atlanta Hawks.
“You never know in this game,” Wade said. “I had so many great shots the other night and couldn’t get them to go down.”
As for the mouth trouble that Heat coach Erik Spoelstra said made Wade sound “like he had a bunch of marbles in his mouth”, Wade said he didn’t know the cause.
“I really can’t explain it,” he said, adding that he planned to consult a doctor back home in Miami.
Across town in Manhattan, Arron Afflalo scored 29 points and made all eight of his free throw attempts in the last two minutes to help the New York Knicks to a 107-102 victory over the Minnesota Timberwolves.
Knicks forward Carmelo Anthony scored a double-double of 20 points and 15 rebounds, falling one assist shy of a triple-double.
Knicks rookie Kristaps Porzingis scored 11 points with six rebounds and a seasonhigh seven blocked shots.
Derrick Rose set an early tone, scoring 10 of his 10 of his 19 points in the first quarter of the Chicago Bulls’ 98-85 victory over the Memphis Grizzlies.
Shooting guard Jimmy Butler led the Bulls with 24 points and centre Pau Gasol chipped in 10 points and 14 rebounds to help Chicago to a victory over his brother Marc Gasol’s Grizzlies.
Marc Gasol is now 9-12 in games against his older brother, but said it’s “always cool” to play him.
“We just have so much respect for each other and the game. We both expect our team to win, and when we don’t accomplish that, it’s obviously a little more frustrating to not only lose, but to lose to your brother.”