No contest: Warriors blow out Spurs

In yet another sizzling display of markmanship, Curry swished 12 of 20 field goals, 6-of-9 threes and 7-of-7 free throws as the Golden State Warriors trampled the visiting San Antonio Spurs, 120-90, on Monday night at the Oracle Arena. For some odd reason, the schedule makers didn’t feel like we needed to see these teams play each other sooner, but the game did wind up being hyped as the greatest regular season game ever. “This core has been together for a while and understands how to mentally prepare for nights like this”.

The Warriors (41-4) snapped a 13-game winning streak by the Spurs (38-7), off to the best start in franchise history but without Tim Duncan this time.

Golden State can match the 40-game run in the regular season at home by Orlando between March 21, 1995-March 19, 1996. The reigning MVP carved up the league’s top defense with an array of drives and three-pointers.

And the Warriors didn’t relent after building a 62-47 halftime lead.

Power forward David West, starting in place of Duncan, made six of his eight shots on a 12-point night for San Antonio, which won the season series 2-1 over the champion Warriors a year ago.

Then, on January 25, it was the San Antonio Spurs, the team the Warriors were diminished for not facing in last spring’s playoffs.

“They outplayed us in every single aspect of the game”, Spurs guard Manu Ginobili said.

The third is when the floodgates opened, Steph just dancing around the leagues best defender hitting ridiculous 3’s making him look foolish at times. “I’m not embarrassed to face it. They’re much better”. “We’ve got a long way to go to play with those guys”.

“We nearly got ’em”, Popovich joked after the game.

Yet the Spurs are still right behind in the standings despite Golden State’s NBA-record 24-0 start, so the Warriors wanted nothing more than to send a message that they plan to win another championship.

It did not play out exactly how Spurs coach Gregg Popovich had envisioned for his club, who arrived in Oakland boasting a 13-game winning streak.

Daniels, a third-year pro out of Virginia Tech, finished with a career-high 28 points, and the Hornets overcame a career-high 56 points from Sacramento’s DeMarcus Cousins to win their third straight.

Trevor Ariza scored a season-high 31 points to help the Houston Rockets to a 112-111 win over the New Orleans Pelicans.

Two of their last three games have ended with the Warriors beating their opponent by 30-plus points.

In Memphis, Jeff Green scored a season-high 30 points and the Grizzlies defeated slumping Orlando in overtime. Reggie Jackson scored 29 points and the Detroit Pistons never trailed against the Utah Jazz in a 95-92 victory in Salt Lake City.

DENVER – Paul Millsap had 22 points and nine rebounds, Al Horford scored 18, and Atlanta grabbed a big lead early and cruised past Denver.