Warriors cruise past Spurs to rule West

OAKLAND, California — Golden State’s Stephen Curry scored 37 points and hit six three-pointers in three quarters as the reigning champion Warriors showed they still rule the NBA’s Western Conference by beating nearest rival San Antonio 120-90, on Monday.

The Spurs were chasing a win that would have left the conference’s top teams only one game apart, but were never in the contest against a Warriors team that has now won 39 consecutive home games.

San Antonio are still a yawning twelve-and-a-half games clear atop the Southwest Division ahead of Memphis, who won in overtime against struggling Orlando.

Elsewhere, Miami rallied in the fourth quarter to defeat Chicago, and Cleveland took their first win under new coach Tyronn Lue by beating Minnesota.

Golden State’s Curry had 15 points in the opening quarter and shot 12 for 20 as he recorded a personal best points total against San Antonio.

Kawhi Leonard scored 16 for the sloppy Spurs, who had won their previous 13 games. The teams that went into the contest with a combined win-loss record of 78-10, which was the highest combined winning percentage of any NBA game at least 40 matches into a regular season.

Chicago came from eight points down in the fourth quarter to win 89-84 at Chicago.

Dwyane Wade had 28 points, including 10 in the fourth, and Chris Bosh added 18. The pair combined for the last five points of the game after the scores were tied with 1:02 left.

Pau Gasol had 19 points and 17 rebounds to lead the Bulls, who were without Derrick Rose for the second half due to back and hamstring issues. Chicago have lost three successive home games.

Memphis’ Jeff Green scored a season-high 30 points to lead the Grizzlies to a 108-102 overtime win against Orlando.

Memphis trailed by four points late, but Green took over for Memphis. He scored on a dunk, stole the ball on the next Orlando possession and converted a shot from 3.3m to tie it at the end of regulation.

Zach Randolph finished with 18 points and 13 rebounds for the Grizzlies.

Tobias Harris, Nikola Vucevic and Evan Fournier scored 16 apiece for the Magic, who have lost 10 of 11.

Cleveland struggled against Minnesota before a spurt late in the third and early in the fourth that set up a 114-107 win.

LeBron James scored 25 points and Tristan Thompson had 19 points and 12 rebounds for the Cavaliers, who gave Lue his first win after defeat in his coaching debut.

Karl Anthony-Towns led Minnesota with 26 points and 11 rebounds.

Pint-sized point guard Isaiah Thomas scored 23 points in three quarters, and five other players finished in double figures as Boston defeated Washington 116-91.

Thomas was sinking shots from all over the floor as the Celtics won their third straight. He added nine assists and did it all before coach Brad Stevens held him out when the game became lopsided.

John Wall had eight points on 3-of-11 shooting for Washington.

Atlanta completed a four-game Western Conference road trip with a 119-105 win at Denver, with Paul Millsap scoring 22 points.

Detroit’s Reggie Jackson scored 29 points as the Pistons led from go to whoa in beating Utah 95-92.

Sacramento’s DeMarcus Cousins set a team record with 56 points — the most by an NBA player this season — but it was not enough to prevent the Kings losing 129-128 to Charlotte, as Troy Daniels hit the go-ahead three-pointer with 9 seconds left.

Houston’s James Harden scored 35 points and Trevor Ariza added a season-high 31, and the Rockets needed all of it to edge undermanned New Orleans 112-111.