Friday NBA Roundup: Warriors Can’t Slow Down Now That They Finally Own 1st Place

The Golden State Warriors were practically anointed NBA champions back in July, but it took them a month of the 2016-17 season to scale the standings.

Golden State reached the summit by way of what proved to be a Pyrrhic 109-85 victory over the Los Angeles Lakers at Staples Center on Friday.

Two nights after thumping L.A. in Oakland by 43 points, the Dubs had to gut one out down south against an even more threadbare Lakers bunch. Nick Young, who scored eight points Wednesday, joined Julius Randle (hip pointer) and D’Angelo Russell (sore knee) in street clothes with a sprained toe of his own.

Golden State suffered some losses of its own. On one play late in the third quarter, with the Warriors up 74-56, Draymond Green twisted his ankle and dropped his knee on Ian Clark’s head, knocking both players out of the game.

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The Dubs went on to drub the Lakers just fine. Kevin Durant followed up a 28-point performance at Oracle Arena with 29, nine assists and six rebounds. His opposite number, Brandon Ingram, struggled through a 3-of-18 shooting performance while fighting his own wind to defend one of his boyhood idols.

“It’s good to go up against the best team in the league,” the 19-year-old rookie said, per ESPN’s Baxter Holmes.

Ingram, though, got in one good lick against Durant: a block beyond the arc that begat a fast-break dish to a streaking Luol Deng.

Ingram gets the block and the assist to give the @Lakers their first basket of the night on @NBATV! #NBARapidReplay pic.twitter.com/6glIAVlreS

— NBA (@NBA) November 26, 2016

Stephen Curry was hit with a lowlight of his own, blowing a fast-break dunk in the second quarter with the game still hanging in the balance.

So close, Steph 😂https://t.co/D6HC4Ub8en

— Bleacher Report (@BleacherReport) November 26, 2016

But by and large, the two-time MVP was plenty deadly. He drained four threes, dished five assists, picked off three passes and finished with 24 points. Klay Thompson, Curry’s Splash Brother, tallied 18 points and seven rebounds of his own.

The win extended Golden State’s winning streak to 10 games and put them a half-game ahead of the Los Angeles Clippers. For all their early foibles, the Warriors have crept within sniffing distance of the league’s top 10 on defense while putting an exclamation point on their leadership among the most efficient offenses in basketball.

The Warriors can thank the San Antonio Spurs for drawing initial attention to that concern and shielding them from the West’s top spot in the early going. If not for a 29-point shellacking on opening night, Golden State would’ve known this season’s throne long ago.

San Antonio hasn’t exactly fallen off since then. Sure, the Spurs have already tripled their total of home losses from last season, but that concern should pale in comparison to the promise of an 8-0 mark on the road.

Make that 9-0 after pulling out a 109-103 win over the Boston Celtics at the TD Garden on Friday—one the visitors had every reason to drop.

Poor shooting from LaMarcus Aldridge (4-of-12) and Manu Ginobili (0-of-6). A scoreless outing from a sleepwalking Pau Gasol (0-of-5 from the field)—his first in over eight-and-a-half years and just the second of his 16-year NBA career. A less than sharp overall effort that saw San Antonio turn the ball over 17 times (to Boston’s 10) while surrendering 12 threes and a 50-36 edge in paint points.

Behind those struggles came a couple convenient excuses: an early tip (1:00 pm ET), preceded by a tryptophan-filled Thanksgiving dinner on the road.

But, in classic Spurs fashion, there would be no need for even one excuse, since there would be no defeat. Instead, San Antonio erased a 14-point first-half deficit en route to a 109-103 win. Kawhi Leonard once again played the part of pied piper, pacing his team in points (25), rebounds (10) and tying for the lead in assists (four)—and more than earning the kicks in which he left the building.

Kawhi Leonard was rocking flu-game Jordans after today’s game. Yet another reason why he should be your favorite player.

— Michael Pina (@MichaelVPina) November 25, 2016

This time, though, the ones following closest behind him came off San Antonio’s bench. Davis Bertans turned in his second consecutive double-digit scoring, pouring in a career-high 15 points with a trio of threes. David Lee (15 points, 12 rebounds, three assists) registered his first double-double as a Spur. Patty Mills (season-high 19 points) played so well, Gregg Popovich left Tony Parker on the bench during crunch time.

The win was San Antonio’s eighth in a row overall and now leaves it as the lone undefeated road team in the league.

The Clippers had been the only other team in that club. A stop into the Palace of Auburn Hills during a six-game trip put a swift end to that at 7-1.

L.A. extracted itself from an 18-point ditch to claim an 84-82 lead early in the fourth quarter. But a subsequent string of shots by Marcus Morris helped to bury the Clippers deep enough for Detroit to pull out a 108-97 win. Morris (17 points) led six Pistons in double figures.

The Pistons, buoyed by Andre Drummond, shredded their listless opposition inside. The All-Star center snagged his 11th double-double of the season (16 points, 10 rebounds) and put Blake Griffin on a poster for good measure.

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All told, Detroit outrebounded L.A. (42-32), outscored it inside (48-36) and nearly pulled even in free-throw attempts (19-21), despite disbarring L.A. native Stanley Johnson from the game for a violation of team rules.

As Clippers reporter Rowan Kavner noted, the biggest difference in the box score between this result and a 114-82 L.A. win on Nov. 7—other than the venue and final score—was what the Pistons’ backcourt of Ish Smith and Kentavious Caldwell-Pope (16 points apiece) accomplished opposite Chris Paul and J.J. Redick:

Smith and Caldwell-Pope had a combined three points the last time these teams played. Up to a combined 30 tonight.

— Rowan Kavner (@RowanKavner) November 26, 2016

At 14-3, the Clippers are no longer the NBA’s top dog. They now sit just behind the Warriors out West and the …

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