Kevin Durant, Warriors Destroy Kemba Walker, Hornets as Stephen Curry Drops 25
Stephen Curry scored 25 points and Klay Thompson added 24 more as the Golden State Warriors crushed the Charlotte Hornets 137-90 on Sunday at Oracle Arena in Oakland, California.
Golden State forward Kevin Durant contributed 11 points and nine assists for Golden State, who made 21 of 33 three-pointers.
Willy Hernangomez scored 22 points in 23 minutes off the bench for the 35-41 Hornets, who fell three games behind the Miami Heat for the Eastern Conference's eighth and final playoff spot. Kemba Walker scored just nine points on 4-of-14 shooting.
The 52-24 Warriors took a one-game edge over the 51-25 Denver Nuggets for the Western Conference lead. Denver lost 95-90 to the Washington Wizards on Sunday.
Despite the Drama, Warriors Clear Favorites to Earn No. 1 Seed in West
The Warriors lost a bewildering and dramatic 131-130 overtime matchup to the Minnesota Timberwolves on Friday that featured two questionable calls down the stretch:
Curry, Durant and head coach Steve Kerr weren't pleased:
That game's result has a slight chance to determine the outcome of the season, especially if the Warriors fall to second in the Western Conference and lose home-court advantage throughout the West playoffs by virtue of a lost tiebreaker or one-game deficit.
However, this ending and fallout will likely have no bearing on the Warriors' postseason finish.
The Nuggets had an even more disappointing result on Sunday, losing 95-90 at home to the 32-46 Wizards. Not only that, but the Nuggets were 31-6 at home and facing a team that entered Sunday just 9-30 on the road. It's a shocking upset any way you look at it.
That could be a hard loss for the Nuggets to bounce back from, especially considering their brutal slate down the stretch.
Denver will play five straight games versus Western Conference playoff teams: the Warriors, the 44-33 San Antonio Spurs, the 48-28 Portland Trail Blazers (twice) and the 46-30 Utah Jazz. They'll be on the road for Golden State, one Blazers matchup and the Jazz game. Denver closes at home versus Minnesota.
Plus, if the presumably favored Warriors beat the Nuggets, they'll be two games up on Denver with the head-to-head tiebreaker in hand thanks to a 3-1 series edge.
The Nuggets would still be mathematically alive for the No. 1 seed despite a hypothetical loss, but that would be a near-impossibility given the Warriors' closing stretch.
Golden State should be favored in every game until the end of the regular season. Four of its last five are against teams who will be home for the playoffs: the 35-42 Los Angeles Lakers, 19-58 Cleveland Cavaliers, 32-46 New Orleans Pelicans and 31-45 Memphis Grizzlies. The fifth game is home, versus the 46-31 Los Angeles Clippers.
Earning the No. 1 seed isn't a stone-cold lock, of course. However, the Warriors could have the West secured with a few games to spare, making the Minnesota matchup a distant memory.
What's Next?
Charlotte will play the third matchup of a four-game Western Conference road trip Monday against the Utah Jazz. Golden State will host Denver on Tuesday.
