Stephen Curry determined to play through nagging shin injury

How does he keep his sanity? Here are five takeaways from the Lakers’ 109-88 loss at Staples Center. “That’s all I can tell you”. I know the game plan; I’m not deviating from that.

It happened on a play in the third quarter where Curry drove to the basket, and made contact with Roy Hibbert as he went up for the shot.

“I thought we competed 30 out of the 48 minutes”.

The Warriors held the upper hand through most of the first half after a 12-2 flurry that broke a 20-20 tie late in the first quarter.

Portland’s Damian Lillard returned from seven games out with plantar fasciitis but it was not enough for the Trail Blazers, who lost 91-78 at home against Memphis, with Zach Randolph contributing 26 points and 18 rebounds off the bench against his former team.

The Hornets mounted their biggest threat early in the third quarter, getting back-to-back 3-pointers from shooting guard Jeremy Lin and small forward P.J. Hairston in an 11-4 run that closed the eight-point halftime deficit to 66-65. Randle did, however, contribute by pulling down a team-high nine rebounds with four assists to go with them.

Overall, the Warriors made 46.5 percent of their shots to 31.9 percent for the Lakers.

Thompson’s final line: 30 points, 3 assists and 5 rebounds. Steph Curry, who recently missed two games with a bruised shin, added 17.

“Not really”, he said.

“I’ll keep treating it and keep playing”, Curry said. It’s continuing to get better.

“Long term, it’s not something I’ll have to worry about”.

“And he should be”, Scott said.

Nevertheless, Draymond Green and the Golden State Warriors continue to chug along in this record-breaking season.

Thompson left many fans surprised after declaring himself the best shooting guard in the game over names like James Harden and Jimmy Butler.

“It’s always fun to come down here and play before friends and family”, said Thompson, who grew up and was a high school basketball standout in nearby Orange County.

The Lakers were down by two before the game started.

Golden State is 32-2 on the season, 15-2 on the road, 20-13-1 against the spread and 20-14 with the over.

“You give players of that caliber the benefit of the doubt unless the training staff says he shouldn’t be out there, and then we’ll pull him”. “That’s just not us”.

“We want that thing to get well, because right now the way it looks, he plays and a couple days later it gets sore again”. “It was just one of those nights”.

Klay Thompson has been a slow starter through his brief career, but also finishes strong.

The victory came was even sweeter since the MVP, Stephen Curry, was playing on one good leg. “Being from L.A., I think he loves playing here”. With guys like Curry, Green, Andre Iguodala and Shaun Livingston acting as distributors, Thompson has had no problem fitting into the role of finisher for a team that highly relies on his ability to act as a secondary floor spacer. The Lakers will have to keep a defender on Thompson at all times, because he is liable to have a scoring explosion. After missing his first shot, he hit three in a row from midrange and showed very little ill effects from his five-week layoff.