SAN ANTONIO – The Golden State Warriors are aiming for a mini road sweep of the San Antonio Spurs – and seeking their first win in NBA Cup play when the two teams square off on Friday (Saturday morning, Singapore time).
The Warriors won 125-120 behind 46 points from their star point guard Stephen Curry when the teams played on Wednesday in San Antonio.
The Spurs are 1-0 in West Group C of the league’s in-season tournament, while the Warriors are 0-1. The Portland Trail Blazers, Denver Nuggets and Houston Rockets are also in the group.
Curry poured in his season high in points on Wednesday to help Golden State improve to 2-6 on the road and win for the second time in their past three games.
“Give the ball to Steph and get out of the way,” the Warriors’ Jimmy Butler said about the team’s strategy in the latest victory. “That’s the focus. It’s a real art. I call it ‘the art of getting out the way’.
“Like, give the ball to (No.) 30 and get out the way. The talent will create (a) disadvantage, and I think that’s what we focused on... Let Steph do what he’s been doing for so many years in this league.”
Butler finished with 28 points and Moses Moody had 19 for Golden State in the win.
Jonathan Kuminga, who was on the bench to start the game after struggling over Golden State’s previous three contests, left with knee soreness late in the first half and did not return. He is listed as questionable for the Friday contest.
It will be the third game of a six-game road trip for the Warriors, while the Spurs would have learnt that even playing at home against these opponents may not be a big advantage.
San Antonio led by as many as 16 points in the first half on Wednesday and by seven at the break before Golden State regrouped and leapfrogged to the lead with a dominating third quarter in which Curry scored 22 of the Warriors’ 43 points.
Victor Wembanyama led the Spurs with 31 points while grabbing 15 rebounds and distributing 10 assists. Stephon Castle added 23 points, 10 boards and 10 assists, giving San Antonio two players with triple-doubles, but the Spurs had their three-game winning streak snapped.
“As a team, we focus so much on how other teams are playing, trying to stop them, and we have to realise teams are probably trying to do the same thing with us,” Castle said.
“We just got to stick to what we’re good at, what we do well, and impose our will on the defensive end. It’s hard with a team like (the Warriors), but we just got to figure it out.”
The loss was the first for San Antonio in six home games this season. The Friday matchup will be the second of a five-game homestand for the Spurs, who hope to have learnt from their mistakes and inattention to detail against the experienced and battle-tested Warriors.
“There were a few times that we probably had some participation in stopping our runs,” Spurs coach Mitch Johnson said. “(Sometimes) that was some good offensive stretches and then we didn’t have discipline or shorted up defensively or we had some good defensive stretches and probably didn’t capitalise on (the offensive end) – there were some self-inflicted wounds.”
Meanwhile in the highlight of NBA action on Thursday, Scottie Barnes collected 28 points, 10 rebounds, eight assists and five blocked shots, and Immanuel Quickley scored 25 points as the visiting Toronto Raptors beat the Cleveland Cavaliers 126-113.
Jakob Poeltl added 20 points and Jamal Shead had eight points and seven assists off the bench for Toronto, who are 6-1 since winning in Cleveland on Oct 31.
The Cavaliers lost for the second time in their last seven games. REUTERS
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