Warriors' Quest for History Now Relies on Perfection and Tuesday NBA Takeaways
On Monday, Golden State Warriors head coach Steve Kerr insisted his squad wasn't playing to break the NBA record for regular-season wins.
"We're not really pushing for this," Kerr told USA Today's Sam Amick. "All we've said is, ‘Yeah, it'd be nice to get. We'd like to get it.'"
If the Warriors' performance in their 124-117 overtime loss to the Minnesota Timberwolves on Tuesday was any indication, Kerr might've been onto something. Four days after watching the Boston Celtics snap their 54-game home winning streak, the Dubs surrendered a 17-point third-quarter lead amid a hailstorm of missed shots and turnovers.
Stephen Curry struggled all night to find his rhythm against the long arms and young legs of the Wolves defense. He ended the second quarter without a single make on eight attempts—the first time in his career he went a whole half without hitting on at least that many looks.
Last season's MVP finished with 21 points on 7-of-25 shooting to go with 15 assists. Minnesota's bigs, led by reigning Western Conference Rookie of the Month Karl-Anthony Towns (20 points, 12 rebounds, four assists), were ready to contest Curry's shots every time he got past the pesky defense of Ricky Rubio (two points, nine assists) and Andrew Wiggins (32 points, five rebounds, four assists, six steals).
Despite Curry's problems early and late, Golden State had every opportunity to join the 1995-96 Chicago Bulls in the 70-win club. Harrison Barnes scored 18 of his 20 points in the first half, draining four of five threes and flying in for a vicious follow dunk.
Klay Thompson led the Warriors with 28 points on 12-of-22 shooting. Andrew Bogut battled through an apparent illness to notch his fifth double-double (10 points, 15 rebounds, five assists). Draymond Green stuffed the stat sheet with 12 points, six rebounds, nine assists, six turnovers, three steals and two blocks before fouling out in overtime.
Shaun Livingston scored 14 points on 6-of-6 shooting off the bench. Andre Iguodala, in his first action since mid-March, added four points and two assists in 19 minutes.
But all of those efforts weren't enough to erase Curry's rough outing, let alone Golden State's 23 giveaways that yielded 31 Minnesota points. Nor could the Warriors find a way to stop Shabazz Muhammad, who led all scorers with 35 points on just 12 field-goal attempts (15-of-17 from the free-throw line) off the Wolves bench.
If the Warriors, now 69-9, want to supplant the 1995-96 Bulls as the winningest regular-season team of all time, they'll have to win the four games left on their regular-season slate.
That won't be any easier to pull off than it was for Golden State to get to this point. The Warriors will play twice more against the San Antonio Spurs, who beat Golden State in their most recent meeting, and another two against the Memphis Grizzlies, whose place in the playoffs and seeding therein are both still at stake.
The Warriors aren't even assured of the West's top seed. Should they somehow lose out and the Spurs finish without another loss, San Antonio would own home-court advantage throughout the postseason.
Golden State, then, still has plenty to play for, no matter whether a spot in the annals of basketball history is on its mind.
Hornets Hang Tough Without Batum
For the second game in a row, the Charlotte Hornets nearly upset an Eastern Conference powerhouse without Nicolas Batum.
On Sunday, the Hornets lost Batum to a knee strain but erased most of a 21-point deficit without him on the way to a 112-103 loss the Cleveland Cavaliers. On Tuesday, with Jeremy Lin starting in Batum's spot, the Hornets fell behind by 19 points to the Toronto Raptors in what turned out to be a 96-90 defeat.
This loss, while securing Charlotte's first back-to-back defeats since January, came with a slew of silver linings.
Lin, for one, scored a team-high 21 points on just 11 field-goal attempts (4-of-6 from three, 7-of-8 from the free-throw line) and accounted for 11 points by shot or assist during Charlotte's furious fourth-quarter flurry. The Hornets had a shot to steal the W in the final minute despite shooting 36.4 percent from the floor on the night.
But no teal-tinted glasses can obscure that this team, at 44-33, now sits alone in sixth place in the East. Charlotte could still sneak into the conference's top four, as four of its final five games come against teams headed for the lottery, but it won't get very far—regular season, playoffs and otherwise—without the helping hand of a healthy Batum.
Cavs Quickly Crush Bucks
As ESPN.com's Brian Windhorst recently recalled, the Cleveland Cavaliers have performed unevenly of late despite LeBron James' individual brilliance:
"James has been sensational these past few weeks. The Cavs haven't always been in that class. They blew yet another 20-point lead Sunday, the third time they'd done so in five days. They've gone through all the stages of inconsistency, blasting through denial and bargaining right to acceptance. That's just the way they're probably going to be and their fans might want to load up on antacids for the postseason.
"
Against the Bucks, the Cavs made sure their supporters could take it easy on the Alka-Seltzer for at least one night.
Cleveland went up by 26 points in the second quarter, with Kevin Love scoring 15 of his 17 in the first, en route to a 109-80 victory in Milwaukee during which the starters sat out the entire fourth. The Cavaliers shot a scorching-hot 65.8 percent before the break—their best shooting half since James returned in 2014, per play-by-play man Fred McLeod.
LeBron was once again a force of efficiency, posting 17 points on 7-of-9 shooting, five rebounds and nine assists in 28 minutes. Kyrie Irving, fresh off an ankle injury, chipped in 15 points and six assists to move into 10th place on the Cavaliers' all-time scoring list.
The star of the night, though, was J.R. Smith. The veteran swingman dropped a team-high 21 points and, by draining seven long balls, set a new single-season franchise record for threes.
With any combination of Cleveland wins and Toronto losses that adds up to two, the Cavaliers will secure the top seed in the East and the conference home-court advantage that comes with it.
Heat Bench Comes Up Big
The Miami Heat dominated the Detroit Pistons (almost) every which way during a 107-89 win, with plenty of help from a stellar second unit.
Rookie Justise Winslow missed his first three shots but wound up with nine points, five rebounds and a pair of assists. Defensively, he played a part in pestering Detroit's starting backcourt of Reggie Jackson and Kentavious Caldwell-Pope into a combined 7-of-24 shooting night.
Hassan Whiteside had plenty to do with the Heat holding the Pistons to 40 percent shooting on the evening. The league's leading shot-blocker swatted four more while logging his 38th double-double (14 points, 12 rebounds).
Josh Richardson, the Eastern Conference Rookie of the Month in March, kept his hot streak going by knocking down 4-of-5 from three on the way to a 16-point night. For Bleacher Report's Zach Buckley, Richardson has gone from a nice story to a key cog in the Heat's winning machine.
The same goes for Winslow and Whiteside. Each of those three finished with a plus-minus of plus-12 or better against Detroit. With Chris Bosh's rest-of-season status still in doubt, Miami will need its burgeoning bench to snag a top-four seed in the East now and make a deep push through the playoffs later.
Sixers Dodge Sad Bit of History
It's official: The Philadelphia 76ers aren't the worst team of all time.
The league's laughingstock secured its 10th win of the 2015-16 season—and snapped a 12-game skid—with a 107-93 blowout of the New Orleans Pelicans. In doing so, this year's Sixers assured they won't be mentioned in the same breath as the infamous 1972-73 Philly squad whose 9-73 record is still the worst posted during an 82-game season.
These 76ers can thank Carl Landry for helping them avoid ignominy. The veteran forward hit his first nine shots against his old squad and scored 10 straight Philly points in the third quarter. Landry, who played 26 minutes off the bench, finished with a game-high 22 points, a season-high nine rebounds and (probably) the first "M-V-P" chants of his NBA career.
"He was MVP of the game, so the crowd told us," Sixers head coach Brett Brown said after the win, per CSN Philly's Jessica Camerato.
Landry's big outing won't keep Philly from finishing as the worst team in the league this year by a mile; the Sixers clinched that distinction last month.
For now, though, sports fans in the City of Brotherly Love can be pleased with their week…and it's only Tuesday.
Lakers Near New Low
The Los Angeles Lakers, on the other hand, likely won't be so lucky to avoid hitting rock bottom. With a 103-81 loss to the Los Angeles Clippers, the Lakers tied their franchise record for defeats in a season, set in 2014-15, with their 61st.
The Purple and Gold stumbled into a 20-2 hole out of the gate, letting their Staples Center co-tenants rack up 17 fast-break points in the first five-and-a-half minutes. They were never closer than seven points away after that.
Kobe Bryant (six points on 2-of-12 shooting) couldn't do much to bridge the gap.
"He is a champion and I hate to see him go out this way," Lakers head coach Byron Scott said after the game, per the Los Angeles Times' Mike Bresnahan. "It bothers the hell out of me."
The play of L.A.'s young trio of D'Angelo Russell, Julius Randle and Jordan Clarkson couldn't have made Scott feel any better. They combined to shoot 8-of-36 from the floor, with Clarkson exiting early on account of a bruised right fibula, per Mike Trudell of Lakers.com.
The only Laker who did much to lift the team's field-goal percentage up to the 31.3 percent mark where it finished was Metta World Peace, who scored 17 points on 5-of-10 shooting off the bench.
Scott's squad will need much more than that during Wednesday's rematch to stave off a new franchise low for losses, let alone keep the Clippers from collecting their 50th win for the fourth straight season.
More Blues for Bulls on Beale Street
If the Chicago Bulls hadn't given up on their season before, they certainly did on Tuesday. They made the banged-up, Lance Stephenson-less Memphis Grizzlies look like world-beaters in a 108-92 road loss.
Tony Allen (six points, nine rebounds, four steals) and his Grit and Grind comrades bottled up Jimmy Butler, who scored all five of his points (on 2-of-8 shooting) in the fourth quarter. Derrick Rose, in his return from an elbow contusion and just his third game in the city where he played his college ball, tallied 12 points on 5-of-15 shooting, eight assists and five turnovers in 35 minutes.
"It was very disappointing to throw away an opportunity like this, especially with Detroit losing," Bulls head coach Fred Hoiberg said, per the Associated Press' Clay Bailey (via NBA.com).
As a result of its lackluster effort, Chicago still finds itself two games back of a playoff spot with four to play. While the Grizzlies may have saved their postseason bacon by snapping a six-game slide, the Bulls could soon be eyeing their first trip to the lottery since 2008, when they wound up with the No. 1 pick that kept Rose in his hometown.
Timmy Gets His Grand
The Utah Jazz gave the San Antonio Spurs all they could handle, but they couldn't quite keep Tim Duncan from once again etching his name into NBA history.
Kawhi Leonard hit a baseline jumper with less than five ticks to go, Rodney Hood's last-second three clanged off the rim and the Spurs came away with an 88-86 victory over Utah.
The victory made Duncan just the third player in NBA history with 1,000 regular-season wins, joining Kareem Abdul-Jabbar and Robert Parish. He's the first to hit that milestone with one team.
Sporting News' Adi Joseph offered this morsel on Duncan's success compared to that of the GOAT:
Duncan hardly put a dent in this box score, though. The Big Fundamental didn't hit a field goal and finished with three points, two rebounds, two assists and two blocks in 24 minutes. That won't matter so long as he's fit to add to his impressive postseason win total later this spring.
No. 3 For OKC
Folks in Portland, Sacramento, Los Angeles and San Antonio shouldn't count on seeing much of Kevin Durant and Russell Westbrook to finish out the regular season.
With a 124-102 win over the Denver Nuggets, the Oklahoma City Thunder nailed down the No. 3 seed in the Western Conference.
In essence, the Thunder now have nothing to play for until the postseason aside from pride and rhythm. That may mean more rest for Durant, who finished with 26 points on 8-of-14 shooting, five rebounds, eight assists, three steals and a block in 29 minutes.
Chances are that'll take its toll on Westbrook's triple-double tally, which stands at 17 after notching 13 points, 14 rebounds and 12 assists against the Nuggets. Westbrook's latest effort put him on par with Magic Johnson for the most triple-doubles in a single season over the past three decades.
Anyone who turns out to see OKC play over its final four games should instead expect to see plenty of Dion Waiters and Enes Kanter, who went for 18 points apiece.
That duo isn't exactly worth the price of admission, but for a Thunder team with Larry O'Brien on the brain, the time off for its superstars could be worth every penny—and then some.
(Almost) Mo Playoffs For Portland
The Portland Trail Blazers should be accustomed to seeing Damian Lillard and C.J. McCollum score at least 20 points apiece, as they did in combining for 52 in a 115-107 win over the Sacramento Kings. What they're just now getting used to is the sight of Maurice Harkless making a major difference for Rip City.
The 22-year-old St. John's product contributed a season-high 20 points and a career-best 16 rebounds to go along with two assists and two steals in 33 minutes. Harkless' big night marked his second double-double and seventh double-digit scoring effort in eight games since supplanting Noah Vonleh in Terry Stotts' starting lineup.
Harkless' gap-filling game has proved to be a perfect fit for Portland. The Blazers have won five of their last six to move within one victory of locking in a playoff spot.
“I'm pretty much cool with playing wherever I'm needed,” Harkless told SLAM's Christopher Cason, “whatever I can do to help the team win, especially if that's playing as the stretch 4 now.”
And, most likely, into the postseason.
Another One for the Book
Devin Booker couldn't stop the Phoenix Suns from suffering their 58th loss of the season, a 103-90 thumping at the hands of the Atlanta Hawks, who held onto third place in the East as a result. What he did do, though, was give folks in Phoenix another gleaming glimpse of the team's bright future.
The rookie out of Kentucky exploded for a game-high 34 points on 12-of-25 shooting (4-of-9 from three)—his sixth 30-point game of the season and fifth since March started. He poured in 10 of those during a 29-10 first-quarter run that set the Suns toward what grew to be a 14-point lead in the second period.
Come the fourth quarter, Booker and the Suns were no match for the Hawks, who ripped off nine straight points to start the frame and never looked back.
"We were talking a lot, communicating a lot. That stopped in the second half," Booker said, per the Associated Press' George Henry (via NBA.com). "It's something we've been working on all year, trying to put two halves together. But I think we're getting a lot better. I think we're showing a lot of fight."
Booker certainly has. Over his last 18 games, the NBA's youngest player has poured in 22.6 points, 4.8 assists and 3.3 rebounds a night, giving Phoenix some modicum of hope moving forward.
Stats courtesy of NBA.com and Basketball-Reference.com unless noted otherwise and accurate as of games played on April 5, 2016.
Josh Martin covers the NBA for Bleacher Report. Follow him on Twitter (@JoshMartinNBA), Instagram and Facebook.
