Golden State Warriors improve to 21-0

Then just 16 games into the regular season, starting center Rudy Gobert went down with a sprained medial collateral ligament in his knee, a freak injury he sustained in practice that will keep him sidelined indefinitely. Defensively, the Warriors yield 99.9 points against the opposing teams.

But the Jazz aren’t doing that. They were hammered in the paint, 58-32, and committed 12 turnovers to six for Toronto.

DeRozan said the team needs to be disciplined against Golden State. “I mean, that’s part of the game. So you have to give the guys in there so much credit for, even in games where we really don’t have it, (finding) a way to win”. They’re just gonna have to be ready to play until Rudy gets back. Guard Klay Thompson joked that he didn’t have enough space to move around in the locker room, but said he appreciates the circus-like atmosphere. He’s like the anchor for us defensively with his ability to block shots and rebound.

“It surprises us because we’re around him”. He comes to work every day. They’re increasingly dependent on Curry’s heroics – of which there is no shortage – rather than a balanced team attack. “We’ll have different looks”.

It looked like the Warriors were going to run away from the Raptors, but the Raptors hung tough and things got a bit physical on the court.

This will be the second matchup of the season between these two teams. “We’re gonna compete tonight, I promise you that“, said coach Dwane Casey before the game.

“We don’t want to be complacent”.

Paired as Mutt to Lowry’s Jeff, Nogueira posted career highs in points (14) and minutes (25) off the bench. He missed virtually the entire 2014-15 season, finally returning for the final six games of the year. In this game Curry had 14 points after five-and-a-half minutes; he had 21 at the half after running face-first into DeMarre Carroll’s shoulder and feeling, in his words, disoriented; he had a disquietingly quiet start to the third quarter; and he was the prime factor in escaping from the Raptors in the fourth.

In Minneapolis, Damian Lillard overcame a slow start to finish with 19 points and seven assists, and Portland rallied from 17 points down in the third quarter to beat the Timberwolves.

Will Barton added 16 points for the Nuggets, who ended a five-game road trip by winning their second straight after snapping an eight-game skid on Thursday.

SPURS 108, CELTICS 105: In San Antonio, LaMarcus Aldridge scored 17 points and San Antonio stayed unbeaten at home this season. “There is a lot to be said about being 20-0 but we aren’t satisfied”. Get a glimpse of his rigorous pregame shooting routine and it becomes slightly more understandable.

OK, this isn’t really something the Raptors did or can do, but it’s worth noting that Barnes will miss the game with an ankle sprain.

“Sucks you only play them twice a year because you love playing in these types of games”.

The game started off just like previous games had for the Golden State Warriors, they made ridiculous shots and a bunch of threes in a row that had Toronto scratching their heads on how to stop them.

“They’re well along that growth process now”.

“It’s easy to forget we have the second-youngest team in the league”, Snyder said. Most of the discussions we have, the topic isn’t even about basketball. “People, you know, we’ve had some stuff come out the last couple weeks about us being arrogant and all that“.