Los Angeles: Stephen Curry and Klay Thompson combined for 40 points as the Golden State Warriors avenged a November loss to the Milwaukee Bucks with a 105-95 victory on Friday.
Thompson and Curry each scored 20 points as the visiting Warriors put on a shooting clinic down the stretch against Milwaukee, the NBA’s highest scoring team.
The same teams met on November 8 with the Bucks coming out on top 134-111.
Andre Iguodala chipped in a season-high 15 points for Golden State, who wrapped up a five-game road trip with their third consecutive win.
“We have guys who can knock down shots, and our superstars put us in position to make shots tonight,” Iguodala said.
The Warriors pulled away in the second half with a burst of three pointers. The Warriors went six of nine from beyond the arc in a six-minute stretch to build an 11-point lead. Golden State shot 41 per cent (19 of 46) from long distance.
The Bucks couldn’t match that shooting, making just seven of 39 (18 per cent) from three-point territory.
The Warriors led 57-51 at the half, hitting nine of 20 from three-point range and getting 18 assists on 22 field goals.
Nets beat Raptors
Elsewhere, D’Angelo Russell scored 29 points as the Brooklyn Nets beat the Toronto Raptors for the first time in more than three years with a 106-105 overtime win.
Russell carried the host Nets on his back in overtime, scoring all but two of his team’s points as they snapped an eight game losing skid. He finished with six points in overtime.
Brooklyn picked an opportune time to snap its 12-game slide against Toronto.
Jarrett Allen made the go-ahead basket for the Nets with a little more than a minute left, their only basket in overtime not made by Russell.
Toronto tried but failed to get the ball to Kawhi Leonard on its final possession and had to settle for Fred VanVleet’s three-pointer that just missed. Leonard finished with 32 points.
“I know everybody would have probably liked Kawhi or Kyle (Lowry) to take that shot, the last shot, including me, but they both made great plays,” said VanVleet.
Lowry finished with 11 assists but was just one of eight from the field.
Spencer Dinwiddie scored 17 points for Brooklyn while Jonas Valanciunas added 24 points for the Raptors.
Brooklyn led by seven points with five minutes left in the fourth quarter but then VanVleet drained a three and Leonard scored six straight to give the Raptors a 96-94 lead with two and a half minutes remaining.
With seven seconds to go, Leonard blocked Dinwiddie’s shot to force overtime.
Russell had the first two baskets in the extra session, Leonard made the next two, and the Nets eventually prevailed in a close contest. — AFP
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