Kerr fastest to 250 wins after Warriors top Spurs

Steve Kerr became the fastest coach to 250 wins in NBA history Saturday night, getting the better of old pal Gregg Popovich in the Golden State Warriors' 122-105 victory over the San Antonio Spurs in Oakland, Calif.

Zaza Pachulia scored 10 of his 12 points in a runaway third quarter on his birthday, helping the Warriors build a 16-point lead en route to their second straight win.

LaMarcus Aldridge and Kyle Anderson had 20 points apiece for the Spurs, who played without Kawhi Leonard (torn quad), Tony Parker (back tightness), Rudy Gay (bursitis in right heel) and Dejounte Murray (sprained left ankle).

The victory allowed Kerr to reach 250 career wins in just 302 games, 44 faster than Phil Jackson's previous record.

Kerr has lost just 52 times in his career. Popovich, his former coach, had 152 losses when he recorded his 250th win against, coincidentally, Golden State in 2002.

Kerr, who won two championships as a player with the Spurs, increased his head-to-head advantage over Popovich to 7-5.

Klay Thompson made five of his six 3-point shots to account for a majority of his game-high 25 points for the Warriors, who beat the Spurs for the second straight time this season.

The Western Conference rivals meet two more times in the next 15 days.

Stephen Curry scored 17 points, while Draymond Green had game-highs in rebounds (eight) and assists (11) to go with 17 points for the Warriors, who recorded the 2,700th win in franchise history.

Only the Boston Celtics, Los Angeles Lakers, Philadelphia 76ers, New York Knicks and Atlanta Hawks reached the milestone faster than the Warriors.

Pachulia, celebrating his 34th birthday, hit four of his five shots and all four of his free throws while accumulating 12 points in just 15 minutes.

Manu Ginobili dropped in 13 points, while Derrick White pulled a team-high seven rebounds to complement 11 points for the Spurs, who were playing the second game on their annual "Rodeo Trip."

The Spurs, who clobbered Phoenix 129-81 on Wednesday night to begin their stretch of six straight on the road, don't play another home game until hosting New Orleans on Feb. 28.

Popovich, the winningest active coach in the NBA, fell to 60-18 all-time against the Warriors.

The Spurs shot 62.5 percent in a 37-point first quarter. They led by as many as 12 points before Green helped the Warriors turn the tables in the second period, scoring nine of his 19 points as Golden State went up 58-55 at halftime.

Golden State never trailed in the second half.

source: news.abs-cbn.com

Curry scores 32 as Warriors rally past Knicks

Stephen Curry bombed in four 3-pointers in the third quarter as the Golden State Warriors rallied from a halftime deficit with a 37-point explosion en route to a 123-112 victory over the New York Knicks on Tuesday night in Oakland, Calif.

Curry finished with eight 3-pointers and 32 points, helping the Warriors win for a 10th straight time this season in the next game following a loss.

The Warriors were beaten 116-108 at Houston in their previous game Saturday.

Michael Beasley had 21 points and Courtney Lee 20 for the Knicks, who were playing without star Kristaps Porzingis, out due to a sore left knee.

Before the game, Porzingis was named to his first NBA All-Star team when the reserves for the Feb. 17 contest were announced. Golden State's Klay Thompson and Draymond Green also earned spots as reserves, joining previously selected starters Curry and Kevin Durant.


The Knicks led by as many as 10 points in the first quarter and held a 60-58 halftime advantage before Curry propelled the Warriors toward their seventh straight win over New York.

Golden State's Zaza Pachulia had seven of his 13 points in the third quarter and Green six of his 12, helping Golden State take as many as a 14-point lead before coasting home.

Durant contributed 14 points and a game-high 14 assists to the win before getting his league-leading fourth ejection for arguing a call late in the contest.

In recording the 10th win in their last 12 games, the Warriors shot 55.4 percent from the field and 43.3 percent (13-for-30) on 3-pointers.

Enes Kanter had 16 points and a team-high nine rebounds, Jarrett Jack added 13 points and Tim Hardaway Jr. 11 for the Knicks, who lost their second straight.

Lee missed his first free throw of the game, snapping his streak of consecutive makes at 52. The run equaled Curry's NBA season-best streak from earlier this year.

New York fell to 2-3 on the fifth of seven stops on their 12-day trip brought about by the Grammys taking over Madison Square Garden in preparation for Sunday's show.

The Knicks lost despite shooting 51.8 percent from the field.

source: news.abs-cbn.com

NBA: Warriors survive Game 1, as Spurs lose Kawhi Leonard

Steph Curry scored 40 points and Kevin Durant added 34, and the Golden State Warriors rallied to beat the San Antonio Spurs 113-111 in Game 1 of the Western Conference finals in Oakland on Saturday.

The Spurs were comfortably ahead until Kawhi Leonard was forced to exit the game when he hurt a previously bum left ankle.

But even without San Antonio's best player, the Warriors couldn't put the Spurs away easily.

While Durant accounted for 12 points in the 4th quarter as Golden State clawed its way back into contention, the Warriors needed Curry's offensive heroics in the final 2 minutes to close the deal.

In that stretch, the 2-time MVP scored 7 points, including a triple to tie the game at 106-all and the game-winning floater to make it 113-110 with 9 seconds left.

The Warriors are now 9-0 in the playoffs.

It was a wasted opportunity for the Spurs, who had the Warriors on the ropes until bad luck got in the way.

Leonard hurt his left ankle early in the 3rd quarter -- first, when he stepped on a teammate's foot near the Spurs bench, then again when Zaza Pachulia got under him on a dubious play. He left the game for good with the Spurs ahead 78-55 and a little more than 4 minutes into the 2nd half.

Leonard had 26 points and was perfect from the line (11 of 11) before heading to the dugout. It was the same ankle he sprained in the West semifinals against Houston that forced him to miss the series clincher in Game 6.

The Pachulia play set social media on fire.


Did Zaza Pachulia purposely slide his feet underneath Kawhi Leonard to injure his ankle?https://t.co/tjs7AIFvr3 pic.twitter.com/CjYo01YfcT 

— Sports Illustrated (@SInow) May 14, 2017

What Zaza Pachulia just got away with doing just makes me sick. So that's how Golden State has to win now.

— Skip Bayless (@RealSkipBayless) May 14, 2017

Kawhi was already hurting when Pachulia KO'd both him & the Spurs' chances in this series -- which were apparently better than I'd thought.

— Max Kellerman (@maxkellerman) May 14, 2017

That was absolutely filthy from Pachulia.

— Royce Young (@royceyoung) May 14, 2017

Zaza Pachulia just robbed us of what would've been an epic series. Boo.

— Charles Tiu (@charlestiu) May 14, 2017

Without Leonard, the Warriors took less than 3 minutes to cut the deficit down to single digits.

The Spurs tried to hold down the fort for as long as they could, but the Warriors with all their weapons proved too much to handle.

A basket by Durant in transition finally put the Warriors in front 101-100 at the 4:09 mark of the 4th, the first time Golden State took the lead.

LaMarcus Aldridge finished with 28 points, but missed a number of key shots in the 4th including the potential game-tying 3 in the dying seconds.

source: news.abs-cbn.com

Durant back as Warriors overpower 76ers

LOS ANGELES -- Kevin Durant returned from injury with a bang on Monday, scoring 27 points as the Golden State Warriors overpowered the Philadelphia 76ers 119-108.

Durant, who missed the Warriors previous game with a bruised left hand, showed no sign of lingering after-effects to help power the Dubs to their fourth straight victory.

The Warriors, who are already assured of a place in the playoffs, improved to a league best 50-9 after rattling up their seventh win in eight games.

Klay Thompson added 21 points for Golden State while Zaza Pachulia scored a season best 16 points.

Draymond Green chipped in with 14 points, 11 rebounds and five steals.

But it was a rare off-night for Stephen Curry. The Warriors star contributed a respectable 19 points but drew a blank from three-point range, missing all 11 of his attempts.


It was only the third time in 211 games Curry has failed to connect with at least one three-pointer.

The Warriors eventually pulled clear against an under-powered Sixers team early in the fourth quarter, moving into a 99-87 lead.

The Sixers fought back however when Golden State's David West was called for a flagrant after a clash with Dario Saric.

Saric drained two free throws before Nik Stauskas scored to cut the Warriors lead to 99-91 with just under eight minutes left.

But that was the cue for a sustained scoring run by the Warriors, with West making three assists in quick succession to help Golden State into a 106-92 lead with just under six minutes to go.

It capped a day of disappointment for the Sixers who earlier revealed that rookie center Joel Embiid -- the team's top scorer and rebounder -- faced an indefinite layoff due to a knee injury.

source: news.abs-cbn.com

Nowitzki makes the difference for Mavs

LOS ANGELES -- Dallas forward Dirk Nowitzki, 37 years old and with more than 1,300 NBA games under his belt, is still the Mavericks' go-to guy.

The German veteran scored a game-high 29 points on Sunday as the Mavericks edged the Minnesota Timberwolves 93-87 in Minneapolis, taking up the slack on a night when many of his teammates struggled offensively.

"He's a guy that's prepared himself for greatness virtually every night," Mavericks coach Rick Carlisle said of Nowitzki.


"One of the things we want to try to do is take some of the burden off of him, but there's nights like tonight where it's unavoidable."

Dallas forward Chandler Parsons added 14 points and center Zaza Pachulia scored 13, but it was Nowitzki's scoring touch that made the difference.

He hit four of seven three-point attempts, while the rest of the Mavs were a combined two of 13 from beyond the arc.

Nowitzki finished the game 12-for-22 from the floor and pulled down seven rebounds in 31 minutes.

It was his fourth straight 20-point effort and his 13th such game this season.

"The guys kept coming to me," Nowitzki said. "Defensively, it was a good effort tonight. We didn't have a lot of guys who were shooting the ball especially well, but I thought defensively we kept battling."

Second-year guard Andrew Wiggins led the Timberwolves with 21 points.

Dallas led by six at halftime and closed out the third quarter with an 18-4 scoring run.

The Timberwolves trimmed the deficit to 85-82 late in the fourth quarter, but Nowitzki converted a three-point play with 1:30 remaining, and Dallas held on.

- Streaking Clippers -

The Los Angeles Clippers had to work overtime to stretch their winning streak to nine games with a 114-111 victory over the short-handed New Orleans Pelicans.

Point guard Chris Paul scored 25 points with 11 assists and five rebounds for the Clippers, one of seven Los Angeles players to score in double figures.

The Pelicans were without top scoring forward Anthony Davis, who was still nursing a sore back two days after diving into the stands after a ball.

But they held a 106-105 lead with 2:42 left in overtime before Wesley Johnson and Paul made back-to-back three-pointers to give Los Angeles a five-point lead. Luc Mbah a Moute and Johnson then made three of six free throws to help the Clippers secure the win.

Although he was pleased with the victory, Paul reiterated that the Clippers aren't themselves without Blake Griffin, still sidelined by a torn quadriceps tendon.

"We want to continue to try to keep winning games and build our team as much as possible, but this is not our team without (number) 32," Paul said.

- Streaking Cavs -

 
LeBron James scored 12 of his 37 points in a 14-0 fourth-quarter run to lead the Cleveland Cavaliers to a 95-85 victory over the Philadelphia 76ers.

James added nine assists and seven rebounds for the Cavs, who improved their Eastern Conference leading record to 26-9 with their seventh straight victory.

Cleveland won their fifth straight on the road and their sixth straight over the league-worst 76ers -- who fell to 4-36.

- Rockets edge Pacers -

The Houston Rockets gave up the first six points of overtime, but battled back with three-pointers from Patrick Beverly, Trevor Ariza and Corey Brewer to beat the Indiana Pacers 107-103.

Brewer's three-pointer with 40.9 seconds left gave the Rockets a 105-103 lead. Houston then forced a miss from the Pacers' Monta Ellis, and Ariza followed up with a breakaway dunk to seal the win, which pulled the Rockets to 19-19 for the season.

source: www.abs-cbnnews.com