Steph
Curry scored 26 points as the Golden State Warriors survived a furious late
onslaught from the Utah Jazz on Monday to stretch their record-breaking
unbeaten season start to 19 games.
Reigning
NBA MVP Curry came to the Warriors rescue once again, producing a superb
three-pointer with seconds left to put Golden State ahead 104-101 just moments
after Utah had levelled.
It
was yet another moment of inspiration from Curry for the reigning NBA Champions
who have now edged one game closer to the Los Angeles Lakers' all-time winning
streak record of 33 games.
The
Warriors have now won 23-straight regular season games to be third all time
behind the aforementioned 71-72 Lakers and the 2012-13 Miami Heat (27 wins).
"This
ranks up there. There have been some battles. We have had some lopsided
victories, too," said Curry.
"What
gets lost in the record are the tough games that we have had to claw our way
out of. Like tonight. Hard-fought win to start the road trip."
Draymond
Green and Klay Thompson were the other standouts for the Warriors, contributing
20 points each. Green also had nine rebounds and seven assists.
The
defeat saw Utah's season record fall to 8-8.
Utah's
points came through Gordon Hayward (24) and power forward Derrick Favors (23)
while center Rudy Gobert had 13 points and 11 rebounds.
"It
was fun. We knew this was going to be one of the tougher challenges for
us," Warriors interim coach Luke Walton said.
"(Utah)
is very well-coached and they execute. They've got those bigs (Derrick Favors
and Rudy Gobert) that are a lot to deal with. Their crowd, once their crowd got
into it, they had their confidence going."
Favors
put Utah up by one late in the fourth quarter, only for Golden State to hit
back immediately through Curry and Green.
The
game marked the start of a demanding seven-game road trip for the Warriors,
with tough assignments in Charlotte, Toronto and Indiana.
Elsewhere,
Pau Gasol inspired the Chicago Bulls with 18 points in a 92-89 win over the San
Antonio Spurs.
The
Bulls' victory snapped a five-game winning streak for San Antonio, who lost for
just the second time in 11 games. The Spurs are 14-4 for the season, second
only to the all-conquering Warriors in the Western Conference.
Gasol
was one of five Chicago players to finish in double figures as the Bulls
survived late pressure from San Antonio to hang on for the win.
Spurs
forward Kawhi Leonard missed a three-pointer with four seconds left. That would
have put his team back in front, while a late three-point attempt from Tony
Parker was blocked by the Bulls Derrick Rose to end the game.
In
Michigan, James Harden piled on 29 points and nine rebounds for the Houston
Rockets but it was not enough to stop the Detroit Pistons from claiming a
116-105 victory.
Reggie
Jackson finished with 31 points for Detroit as the Pistons surged to a 28-point
first-half lead which provided the basis of victory.
Aron
Baynes also had a much-improved night, scoring 11 points in 20 minutes on the
court for the Pistons.
The
Denver Nuggets meanwhile slumped to their seventh straight defeat in a 92-74
loss to the Milwaukee Bucks in Wisconsin.
Sacramento
shocked the Dallas Mavericks with a 112-98 victory on the back of 31 points
from DeMarcus Cousins as Rajon Rondo (21) and Rudy Gay (20) chipped in.
In
other games Boston downed Miami 105-95, Atlanta beat Oklahoma City 106-100 and
the Los Angeles Clipper scored a 102-87 win over the Portland Trailblazers.
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