Warriors unbeaten, Raptors unhappy

“We play like that in any game, we’re going to give ourselves a chance to win”.

Golden State Warriors guard Stephen Curry (30) celebrates with guard Klay Thompson (11) during the second quarter against the Toronto Raptors at Oracle Arena.

That hunger is evidenced by Curry’s exacting analysis of a loss: “We didn’t put any pressure on them in the third quarter. Everyone likes to learn those lessons in wins”. He would come up with the ball, and draw a foul to get to the line for the easy icing.

In this edition of National Basketball Association 2K16 Kicks, we take a look at what would happen if today’s Warriors that is now 11-0 had to take on the Jordan-led Bulls that just beat the Seattle Supersonics for the championship.

Kyle Lowry (28 points) and DeMar DeRozan (28) were the major contributors for the Raptors.

Reggie Jackson supplied 23 points, including six free throws in the final minute, along with 12 assists. Toronto held off the Warriors pace by forcing fouls on aggressive drives.

“We went through practice today as if he wouldn’t be playing tomorrow, but obviously that could change”.

“Obviously, we can close the game out a lot better than we did”, he added. “It never should have gotten to where it got”.

Last season, Curry in particular was rested in fourth quarters as the Warriors continued to start quick and build big leads over their rivals. Thompson started the spurt with a jumper. Curry then pounced when Jonas Valanciunas threw a casual inbounds pass to Lowry. With Lowry unaware he was coming, Curry stole the ball and hit the layup. The Warriors also had a busy week, with a quick but high-mileage road-trip followed by an overtime come-from-behind battle. “I don’t think Festus is too anxious about it. I think we’ll do our work and keep pushing and trying to get 12 and 13 and 14 (wins)”.

Raptors: Toronto has lost the first two on a five-game Western swing….

– Terrence Ross was still unable to play (thumb).

Curry has looked unstoppable this year, even more so than during last year’s Championship run, averaging 33.7 points per game.

Barbosa, who missed the past two games to attend to a family matter in his native Brazil, was traveling and expected to be back before the Tuesday morning shootaround.

The high rate of foul calls was no coincidence either, as the Warriors’ time defending ball-handlers in isolation often ended in over-zealous attempts to strip or muscle them.

Warriors interim coach Luke Walton, who at one point got so frustrated with the state of the game and the officiating he drew his first regular-season technical, tried not to be critical of his team in spite of an effort that wasn’t completely up to snuff.

“I feel like I really didn’t deserve the one I got, either”, Walton said. “It’s an emotional game”.

Bogut returned to the starting lineup for the first time since suffering a concussion in the season opener.

Toronto must realize that they had the referees on high alert for contact and rough play. He showed that at the end of the Nets win over the Hawks – with the game tied 88-88 Lopez twice nicely shut down the Dennis Schroder/Al Horford 1/5 pick-and-roll the Hawks wanted to use to start their play, which forced Schroder to try to create on his own.