OAKLAND (California) • The Golden State Warriors broke the National Basketball Association record for consecutive home-court victories on Monday, getting a combined 68 points from back-court mates Stephen Curry and Klay Thompson in a hard-earned, 119-113 win over the Orlando Magic.
The Warriors' 27th straight win at Oracle Arena this season was their 45th in a row at home dating back to January 2015, allowing them to surpass the previous record of 44, set by the Chicago Bulls from March 30, 1995 to April 4, 1996.
Golden State are chasing another record set by the Bulls' class of 1995-96: the all-time best season in NBA history - a 72-10 campaign.
"To have protected our home court 45 straight games in the regular season, it hasn't been done in history, so that's a pretty special accomplishment," said Curry. "That win record is still in reach."
Coming off a game in which they combined to shoot 1-for-18 from three-point range, Curry (7-for-13) and Thompson (5-for-11) combined for 12 treys in helping the Warriors soothe the sting of their 95-112 road defeat by the Los Angeles Lakers on Sunday.
The Warriors (56-6) hit 16 of their 35 three-point attempts on Monday, outscoring the Magic 48-15 from beyond the arc.
Curry finished with 41 points and became the first player in NBA history to make 300 three-pointers in a season as he took his tally for the season to 301.
Thompson added 27 points as the Warriors extended their season-opening streak of not suffering back-to-back losses to 62 games.
Orlando, who suffered a sixth consecutive loss to Golden State, got within four on one occasion in the second quarter.
Curry saved some of his best for the end. He had three consecutive Warriors hoops to stave off Orlando's fourth-quarter rally, capped by his seventh three-pointer to push Golden State's lead to 109-100 with 3min 58sec to go.
The Magic did make one more push, closing to 109-111 with 1:13 to play on five points from reserve guard Brandon Jennings and from Victor Oladipo.
However, Thompson turned a broken play into his fifth three-pointer from the right corner with 52.5 seconds left, and the Warriors held on for their record-setting win.
Aaron Gordon, Evan Fournier and Jennings had 20 points apiece for the Magic. Gordon also had 16 rebounds for Orlando (27-35). The Magic sit five games out of the final play-off spot in the East.
Golden State, however, survived a season-high 24 turnovers and head coach Steve Kerr was not happy with his side's defence either.
"We need to pick up our defence, we need to pick up our intensity," he said.
"We're able to bail ourselves out at times with our shooting and scoring but we know that's not good enough against the best teams in the play-offs."
REUTERS
