The Warriors extended their NBA record streak without consecutive regular season losses one more game after defeating the visiting Chicago Bulls 123-92 on Wednesday night. Klay Thompson, making his 400th career start on his 27th birthday, led all scorers with 28 points, making six of his nine three-point attempts in the game. Kevin Durant stuffed the stat sheet with 22 points, 10 rebounds, seven assists and three steals, while Draymond Green added 19 points, six assists and eight boards. With the victory, the Warriors improve to 44-8 on the season.
GAME LEADERS
After Jerian Grant sank two free throws to tie the score at 11-11 five minutes into the game, Golden State responded with a 13-0 run. Rajon Rondo eventually broke the streak with a jumper at the 2:19 mark, but the damage had been done, as Chicago would trail for the remainder of the contest. The Warriors took a 30-17 lead at the end of the first quarter and never looked back. JaVale McGee led all scorers in the frame, notching eight points on a perfect 4-of-4 shooting from the field.
Chicago scored six-straight points towards the beginning of the second quarter to trim the deficit to eight points, but that’s as close as they’d get for the rest of the night. Draymond Green answered back with eight points in a span of 51 seconds, and Golden State rode that momentum into the halftime break. Green saved his best for the end of the quarter, throwing down a ferocious dunk that put the Warriors in front 55-41.
Golden State opened the second half with an alley-oop from Kevin Durant to McGee, and they’d maintain a double-digit advantage for the rest of the contest. Soon after, Klay Thompson sank back-to-back three-pointers from the corner in a span of 29 seconds to give the Warriors their first 20-point lead of the night at 63-43 with 10:34 remaining in the third frame. The Bulls would close within 11 points on three separate occasions throughout the remainder of the quarter, but each an every time Golden State had an immediate response to keep them at bay. Kevon Looney, who had replaced McGee after he took a hard fall, closed out the frame with a dunk off a feed from Andre Iguodala to give the Dubs an 86-70 lead heading into the fourth.
Chicago didn’t trim more than two points off the Warriors’ lead in the first six minutes of the final quarter, and at that point, the game was out of reach. Thompson made another sequence of back-to-back three-pointers to ignite a stretch in which he’d account for 14-straight points for the Warriors, almost single-handedly morphing the game into a blowout. With the victory well in hand, Steve Kerr pulled the starters in the final minutes to give the Warriors’ younger reserves a chance to shine, and they responded when called upon. In the final three minutes, recently signed Briante Weber notched his first points as a member of Golden State, and also found Patrick McCaw with a nice pass, who promptly drained the three-pointer from the corner. Looney added another dunk, and the Dubs’ first round draft pick Damian Jones showed off his skillset, knocking down an 18-foot jumper.
With the win, Golden State improves to 44-8 on the season. It was the Warriors’ seventh victory this season in which they never trailed, breaking a tie with the Bulls for the most such wins in the NBA this season. The Dubs will look to carry the momentum into their upcoming road trip, which will begin in Memphis on Friday night.