Stephen Curry scored 46 points as the Golden State Warriors parlayed the perfect start to the season into the best in franchise history with a 129-116 win over the Minnesota Timberwolves on Thursday.
Curry scored 21 of his game high total in the first quarter as Golden State improved to a franchise-best 10-0, surpassing the 1960-61 Warriors who opened at 9-0. That Warrior side was led by the legendary Wilt Chamberlain when the club was based in Philadelphia.
It also marked Curry’s third 40 point game of the young season, as the Warriors have picked up right where they left off last year when they won their first NBA championship in 40 years.
It didn’t take long for Curry to heat up Thursday as he had 25 points at halftime, and the Warriors looked like they were going to run away with the game early at the Target Center arena in Minneapolis.
Curry said they are trying to take it game by game and not think about repeating as champions.
“I don’t want to talk about chasing record seasons and all that,” he said. “That would be nice, but you can’t fast forward to April right now. We got to stay in the moment. When April comes around we hope to be best versions of ourselves and ready to go.”
He said the secret to the Warriors’ success is their ability to know what each other is doing on the floor.
“We don’t call many plays. It is just reads and the flow of the offense. We keep our turnovers down, stay aggressive and take open shots and knock them down,” he said.
And Curry hit his share, shooting 15-of-25 from the field, including eight-of-13 from beyond the arc for Golden State, the lone remaining unbeaten team in the NBA.
Curry had been held to under 30 points in three consecutive games heading into Thursday’s contest after averaging 35.5 points in his first six games.
Guard Andrew Wiggins led Minnesota with 19 points. Center Karl-Anthony Towns finished with 17 points and 11 rebounds, and reserve forward Shabazz Muhammad added 16 points.
The Timberwolves are a surprising 4-0 on the road this season, but it has been a different story at home where they are now 0-4.
BOSH POWERS HEAT PAST JAZZ
With Dwyane Wade out due to a family matter, the Miami Heat turned to one of their other all-stars from their back-to-back championship seasons.
Forward Chris Bosh scored 25 points, and the Heat defeated the Utah Jazz 92-91 at the AmericanAirlines Arena.
Guard Tyler Johnson hit a jump shot with 38.1 seconds remaining to get the Heat’s lead up to 88-84 after Jazz guard Alec Burks sank a layup to trim the deficit to two. Johnson also hit a layup on the Heat’s earlier possession.
Bosh, who finished with eight rebounds and four assists, had a key block on a layup attempt by Burks with 19.9 seconds remaining. He shot nine-for-18, showing versatility on offense with jumpers, post play and drives to the basket.
SUN TOPPLE SHORT-HANDED CLIPPERS
Phoenix Suns guard Brandon Knight tied a career high with 37 points and guard Eric Bledsoe added 26 as the Suns beat the short-handed Los Angeles Clippers 118-104 at the Talking Stick Resort Arena in Phoenix.
The Clippers, who played without injured backcourt starters Chris Paul and J.J. Redick, lost forward Blake Griffin when he was ejected with 2:36 remaining in the second quarter after receiving his second technical foul.
Griffin had 11 points, three rebounds and four assists in 16 minutes.
