Curry, Durant fire Warriors over Raptors

Golden State’s star duo of Stephen Curry and Kevin Durant combined for over half the Warriors’ score in a 127-121 win at Toronto on Wednesday that extended their winning streak to five games. The first quarter was arcade basketball-fast-paced, relentless, insane sequences up and down the court as the two teams traded three point attempts and combined for more than 70 points.

“The second quarter was great, one of the best quarters we have played”, Warriors coach Steve Kerr said. Both of them have gone up against one another in the NBA Finals in the previous two seasons, and we could see the same happening for this coming season’s NBA finals, too. Defense was good, we didn’t foul. But then the speed of the game increased, the Warriors increasingly went to a frontcourt of Draymond Green and Durant, as expected, and there just was no place for Valanciunas on the court. But considering all the hype and discussion around Drake possibly “luring” Durant to Toronto, or at least trying too, I think we can sell that stock and move on. Need I say more? “For a second-year player that doesn’t really know the game like that, for him to come out and play the way he plays is incredible”.

“I thought we got into outscore mode, tit-for-tat”, Raptors coach Dwane Casey said.

Overall, this is a great win for the Warriors to get on the road.

Klay Thompson, who finished with 14 points, made two free throws with 12.3 seconds left and the Warriors led by six. Kevin Durant provided ample backup with 30 points of his own, to go with 9 rebounds and 6 assists.

“They switched”, DeRozan said, when asked about the second quarter. That’s how lights out shooting the ball they really were.

Kyle Lowry added 24 points, while Cory Joseph had 14.

James Harden had 13 points and 13 assists for the Rockets, making just 4 of 16 shots. Curry’s 3-pointer put the Warriors back on top at 50-49 with 4:39 to play in the half. Going to the other end of the age extreme, Patrick McCaw continued his meteoric rise, playing 21 crucial minutes and rising to the occasion in crunch time with pesky defense, a monster block, a McClaw steal, and a save on a slightly-behind Livingston pass that lead to a confidently sunk 3.

The Golden State Warriors’ 2015-2016 regular season was defined by their dogged pursuit of available pages in the record book upon which they could dump all their ink.

Toronto showed some life late in the third, and a Ross three-pointer cut Golden State’s lead to just five points with 1:54 left in the frame.

DeRozan is averaging 33.2 points per game on the season. “And once a team like that gets on a roll, it’s very hard to get a stop”. Despite 17 goals and 16 assists in his second season in North America, the Italian failed to make the cut when this season’s three MVP candidates were announced earlier this month. Toronto lost 121-117 in Cleveland against the NBA-champion Cavaliers Tuesday night.

Raptors: Along with Brooklyn, Toronto is the only team to face Cleveland and Golden State in back-to-back games.

Denver’s Wilson Chandler scored a season-high 28 points as the Nuggets won at home for the first time this season, defeating Phoenix 120-104.

Drake also told a crowd at his concert at Oracle Arena in September that the Warriors will be “getting some big rings” with Durant, and he wore his jersey.