Curry flirts with triple-double, Warriors down Suns
PHOENIX -- The Golden State-Phoenix mismatch wasn't the blowout most expected, just another routine Warriors victory.
Stephen Curry nearly had a triple-double before sitting out the fourth quarter, and the Warriors stormed into the All-Star break on an 11-game winning streak with a 112-104 victory over the free-falling Suns on Wednesday night.
"It wasn't our best effort but I told them before the game keep the turnovers down, just be solid and we should be fine," Warriors coach Steve Kerr said. "For the most part, we did a good job of taking care of the ball. Thirteen turnovers is a pretty good number for us. We didn't do much else that well but it was enough."
Curry had 26 points, nine rebounds and nine assists for the defending NBA champions. At 48-4, the Warriors enter the break with the best record through 52 games in NBA history, one win better than the 1995-96 Chicago Bulls and 1966-67 Philadelphia 76ers. Those Bulls finished the season with a league-record 72 wins.
Kerr called his team's record "shocking."
"Nobody has ever done it, right?" he said. "Fifty-two games in to have only lost four games is remarkable. It speaks to the talent and chemistry of the players. We have a deep roster and they love playing together, they enjoy winning and they are good at it."
Klay Thompson added 24 points for Golden State. He called those 52 games "kind of a blur."
"It has gone by really fast," he said. "Winning obviously helps that but we couldn't have asked for a better pre-All-Star break performance. We still have some room for improvement, believe it or not, but it is really surreal to be 48-4."
Curry called the 48-4 record "pretty satisfying."
"We handled a lot of different challenges pretty well this first half of the season," he said.
Archie Goodwin scored 20 points and Markieff Morris 19 for the Suns, who have lost nine straight and 24 of 26. Rookie guard Devin Booker added 15 points and a career-best 10 assists.
Golden State was up by as many as 22 points in the second and third quarters, but the Suns cut it to 11 late in the third and 10 a couple of times in the fourth. The only time Phoenix got within single digits in the second half was on Goodwin's breakaway dunk just before the final buzzer.
Phoenix stayed with the Warriors shot for shot for a little while and was down only 29-28 after one quarter.
But the Warriors took off with a 16-0 second-quarter run. Curry sank a 28-foot 3-pointer, followed immediately by a 29-footer, and Green made a pair of free throws to put Golden State up 53-35 with 2:15 left in the half. The Warriors led 57-43 at the break.
Warriors: Curry sank a 3-pointer for the 123rd consecutive game, four shy of Kyle Korver's NBA record. ... Curry has seven career triple-doubles, two this season. ... Golden State comes out of the All-Star break with six straight road games. ... The Warriors have won six straight in the series.
Suns: Phoenix is 0-5 under Watson, all of them at home. ... Mirza Teletovic filled Booker's car with Styrofoam packing peanuts on Tuesday while the rookie was inside the arena practicing for this weekend's NBA 3-point contest.
Warriors: At Portland on Feb. 19.
Suns: Host Houston on Feb. 19.
