Without Curry, Warriors Handle Rockets

The Warriors return to Oakland, where on Saturday night they face the Denver Nuggets at Oracle Arena. Draymond Green had his league-leading fifth triple-double of the season, including 16 assists, and Klay Thompson shouldered the scoring burden with 38 points.

“I just knew that we were going to slow the game down and the ball was probably going to come back through me a lot”, said Green, who had an astonishing 12 assists in the first half.

When the Golden State Warriors played their first game of the season Wednesday without Steph Curry and got blown out, 114-91 by the Dallas Mavericks, it was easy to come to this conclusion: they may have gotten off to the best start in National Basketball Association history, but they’re a one-trick pony.

“Last night was embarrassing”, Thompson said.

Harden had 30 points for the Rockets.

Shaun Livingston made his second start of the season in place of Curry who was injured Monday night against Sacramento.

Curry had 25 points, seven rebounds and six assists in the victory, while Montrezl Harrell became the unlikely best player for the Rockets with 17 points and three rebounds. In the third quarter, the Mavs were up by as much as 30 points, and they eventually had the luxury of giving only two players more than 30 minutes in the game. Houston used a 13-5 run after that to cut the lead to 104-100 with about 6 minutes left.

J.J. Redick scored 26 points for the Clippers for a second straight night. “We’re not going to risk anything”.

“Their big men are really good passers so the court is always spaced”, Harden said of the Warriors. But the Warriors didn’t make any excuses for how they played in a game where they trailed by double figures for the entire second half. G Leandro Barbosa (left shoulder sprain) and F Harrison Barnes (sprained left ankle) were not with the team…. Milwaukee shot 59 percent in the first half and led by as many as 13 points on its way to a 59-52 lead at the break. He received three stitches to close the gash….

The big blows during that stretch were 3-point bombs by Iguodala and Thompson on back-to-back possessions. Andrew Bogut leads in blocks with 1.8 per game.

Detroit also arrested a three-game skid and swept past Minnesota 115-90, with Andre Drummond contributing 23 points and 18 rebounds.

Having rounded out 2015 with their 30th win of the season, the Warriors could open 2016 by welcoming head coach Steve Kerr back to the bench after complications from back surgery saw him sidelined.

Jennings was playing his second game, and his first at home since rupturing his left Achilles tendon in January.

A lighthearted Walton said he hadn’t thought about whether Thursday’s game was his last in charge. “We had great looks”.

Green and Thompson both tried, a bit too hard.