Curry stays hot, Warriors stay cold with loss to 76ers
LOS ANGELES (dpa) – Stephen Curry keeps scoring, and the Golden State Warriors keep losing.
Golden State Warriors’ Stephen Curry (30) scores as Philadelphia 76ers’ Thaddeus Young (21) defends in the first half of an NBA basketball game on Saturday, March 2, in Philadelphia. The Warriors suffered their fourth straight loss with a 104-97 setback to the host Philadelphia 76ers. AP |
The red-hot Curry continued his bucket binge with 30 points Saturday night, but the Warriors suffered their fourth straight loss with a 104-97 setback to the host Philadelphia 76ers.
Jrue Holiday scored 27 points and Evan Turner added 22, 10 rebounds and nine assists for the 76ers, who erased an early 16-point deficit and ended a season-high seven-game losing streak.
“We’re all trying to stick together and pull ourselves out of the funk,” Turner said. “The easiest thing to do is pout and whine. You’ve gotta stay strong and find an answer.”
No one has had an answer for Curry. In his last four games, he is averaging 36.8 points, including a league season-high 54 points at New York on Wednesday. During that stretch, he has made 49-of-90 shots, including 24-of-43 from the arc.
“He’s a great player. He’s relentless,” said 76ers guard Royal Ivey, who guarded Curry for most of the game. “He knocks down the threes and he gets to the foul line. I did my best. He still got 30.”
But Curry’s eruption has not translated to wins as the Warriors lost all four games. In fact, Golden State’s only win on its five-game road trip came when Curry scored 18 points at Minnesota six days ago.
“This one hurts,” said Curry, who made 11-of-20 shots and added eight assists.
One month ago, the Warriors (33-27) were 30-17 and just a half-game behind Memphis for fourth place in the rugged Western Conference. But they have lost 10 of 13 and are just a half-game ahead of seventh-place Utah.
“We got away from who we are,” Warriors coach Mark Jackson said. “We were careless, we turned the basketball over, we didn’t defend at the same level. We made mistakes, let go of the rope and we paid the price.”
Curry scored 23 points in the first half, when the Warriors appeared ready to run away with an easy win. A jumper by David Lee gave Golden State a 47-31 lead midway through the second quarter and
brought boos from the crowd at the Wells Fargo Centre.
“You know how Philly is when you start losing,” Turner said.
But the Sixers used three-point shooting to get back in the game.
Turner made two and Holiday and Dorell Wright drained one each to pull within 54-51 at halftime.
Turner scored eight points in the final three minutes of the third quarter as Philadelphia took an 82-81 lead into the final period.
“We fought back, which is an incredibly positive sign,” Sixers coach Doug Collins said.
Curry was scoreless over the final seven minutes, missing his last three shots and committing two turnovers. Turner found Thaddeus Young for a layup that snapped a 94-94 tie, then added a drive and a jumper for a 100-94 lead with 2:02 to play.
“When the game got close, I had to be aggressive and he (Collins) kept calling my name,” Turner said.
A three-pointer by Klay Thompson, who scored 29 points, halved the deficit. But Holiday made a jumper and layup in the final minute to seal it.
Ivey scored 17 a season-high points, Young added 14 and a career-high 16 rebounds and Wright scored 13 for the Sixers, who outgunned the NBA’s best three-point shooting team. Philadelphia was 12-of-18 from the arc while Golden State was 10-of-26.
Lee had 13 points, 16 rebounds and seven assists and Carl Landry scored 12 points for the Warriors, who were outrebounded, 48-35.
