LOS ANGELES • Stephen Curry cooled off but that did not stop the National Basketball Association champions Golden State Warriors from reeling off their seventh straight win to open the season, a 103-94 triumph over the Kings in Sacramento on Saturday.
He came into the contest riding a wave of four straight games of 30 points or more but settled for 24 in his worst shooting night of the fledgling season.
The reigning Most Valuable Player missed his first eight shots from three-point range. His first treble proved key, however, putting the Warriors ahead 81-79 with 5min 43sec left.
He finished by connecting on eight of 18 attempts from the floor, two of 10 from three-point range.
Curry was not the only Golden State player struggling from long range as the Warriors missed 16 of their first 17 shots from beyond the arc. However, they benefited from 21 Kings turnovers that led to 29 Warriors points as Sacramento again felt the absence of injured All-Star centre DeMarcus Cousins.
"They're champions, and they showed why again tonight," Warriors interim coach Luke Walton said after his side remained the only unbeaten team left in the NBA.
"They missed 31 three-point shots and still found a way to win."
The 17,317-strong crowd missed something too - a chance to see the Curry brothers face each other for the first time in an official game.
Kings guard Seth Curry, 25, enjoyed a career-high 15 minutes against the Houston Rockets on Friday and scored Sacramento's first eight points of the fourth quarter over 72 seconds.
But he ended up with a sprained ankle and stayed on the bench against the Warriors.
" He tried to give it a go before the game, but it didn't feel right," Stephen Curry, 27, said of his brother. "We get them three more times. We will get our shot."
Fans might not have to wait long, with their next meeting scheduled to take place on Nov 28.
At Staples Centre, James Harden scored a season-high 46 points to lift the Rockets to a 109-105 come-from-behind victory over the Los Angeles Clippers.
Harden, who broke out of his early-season slump with 43 points in a 116-110 victory at Sacramento on Friday, connected on five of 10 three-point attempts and made 13 of 14 free throws as the Rockets won their fourth straight game.
The Clippers, playing without point guard Chris Paul, who was sidelined by a groin strain, lost at home for the first time this season. However, they were denied a crucial goal-tending call as they trailed by only two points with seconds left in the game.
AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE
