NBA roundup: Warriors off to record 10-0 start

-When Jordan was the central player on a team that won 70 or more games, he was 33.

The Golden State Warriors are off to their best start ever after defeating the Minnesota Timberwolves 129-116 at the Target Center on Thursday night.

The defending champs are now off to a franchise-best 10-0 start. Stephen Curry is balling like he wants to win back-to-back MVPs, and it will be his production that determines whether or not the Warriors can crack that 70-win barrier. The big story in the National Basketball Association this season is Curry and his start to the season.

“Most assistant coaches tend to change a little bit [when they get a head position], and not for the good”, said Andre Iguodala, “He’s done a really good job of not creating an ego from the situation he’s been put in and he stays the same”.

Grizzlies coach David Joerger joked about using three defenders on Curry before a 50-point loss at Golden State earlier this month. He’s always in an attack mode.

The Warriors started out hot with 40 first quarter points, 21 of those coming from Stephen Curry. Plenty of folks have talked about Miller being completely washed up over the last two weeks, but tonight proved the 17-year veteran has a few solid play left in the tank.

Ricky Rubio missed his second straight game with an ankle injury. It was a 12-point game at halftime.

Although the Warriors never trailed, the win didn’t come easily even after Curry’s back-to-back 3-pointers gave the Warriors a 97-76 lead in the third quarter.

Curry is leading the league offensively in nearly every possible metric. But the first splash was special. Thompson finished the game with only 15 points, going six-for-16 from the field.

The Timberwolves got no closer than eight the rest of the game.

That means this season the Warriors regularly explode specifically when Green and Curry are out there, and sag when they’re both off.

In Charlotte, Cody Zeller scored on a layup off an inbounds play with 0.6 seconds left for the Hornets and Kristaps Porzingis’ 3-pointer at the buzzer for NY was ruled too late.

Draymond Green had a near triple-double performance, with 23 points, 12 assists and 8 rebounds. Hayward and Burks scored 24 points apiece. Barnes finished with 14 points. Festus Ezeli added 10 points.

Second-year Wiggins has put on a show averaging career-highs 19.8 points even though he is playing four minutes less than he did in his rookie season.

“When you get up on him, he just shoots the ball from farther”, said Timberwolves forward Shabazz Muhammad, who scored 16 points. The Warriors shot 48-of-89 from the field (53.9 percent) and 18-of-38 from three (47.4 percent). They were 18-of-38 from beyond the arc.

According to ESPN Stats and Info, the reigning MVP became the first Golden State player with three 40-point games in the team’s opening 10 games of the season since Rick Barry did so during the 1974-75 campaign.

In ATS trends, the Warriors are 5-1 ATS in their last six road games and 6-1 ATS in their last seven games against a team with a winning record, while the Wolves are 4-1 ATS in their last five against teams with winning records and 1-10 ATS in their last 11 home games. Per Rusty Simmons of the San Francisco Chronicle, Leandro Barbosa was not with the team for personal reasons. Minnesota’s reserves outscored their Golden State counterparts 61-21 tonight.