Chef Curry and Warriors Still Cooking Opponents

18 Nov, 2015

Stephen Curry scored seven of his game-high 37 points in the final 88 seconds to help a sloppy Golden State Warriors overcome 20 turnovers and remain unbeaten with a 115-110 win over the Toronto Raptors on Tuesday.

“We can play better than this,” Curry told reporters after the league’s sole remaining undefeated team improved to 12-0 on the season and tied a franchise record for consecutive regular-season wins with 16 dating back to the last campaign.

“We hold ourselves to a high standard. Everybody likes to learn lessons and win,” he added of a hard-fought victory that was also Golden State’s 25th straight at home during the regular season.

The Warriors, who trailed 98-96 with 5:54 to play, had moved 106-103 ahead before Curry buried a 15-footer to create a five-point cushion with 1:28 to go.

Golden State did the rest of its scoring at the foul line, with Curry making five of six and power forward Draymond Green two in a row to keep Toronto at arm’s length down the stretch.

“We’ve gotten away from playing four solid quarters of basketball,” Warriors interim coach Luke Walton said.

“We played a great first half tonight. But in the third quarter, I just felt like we let them get into a rhythm and build some confidence.”

The loss was the Raptors’ second straight to open a five-game road trip.

“Our guys played well enough to win,” Toronto coach Dwane Casey said. “We have something good going. We play like that in any game, we’re going to give ourselves a chance to win.”

In a game stalled to a snail’s pace by 54 foul calls and 66 free throws, Casey thought one call and one non-call down the stretch doomed his team.

The non-call occurred on a driving basket by Toronto shooting guard DeMar DeRozan with 38.7 seconds remaining. The hoop brought the Raptors within 109-108 but Casey was hoping for an extra free throw opportunity that might have tied the score.

“There’s a lot of contact in there,” the coach said. “I’ve got to look at it again.”

Then, after blocking a Curry layup attempt on Golden State’s next possession, Raptors point guard Kyle Lowry was called for an offensive foul when he got entangled with power forward Draymond Green while setting a screen with 15.4 seconds left.

“I don’t know if it was a screen or it was two guys getting tangled up,” Casey said. “Again, I’ve got to look at it to see.”

Four subsequent free throws by the Warriors iced the win.

Reuters

Image Golden State Warriors Twitter

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