Golden State Warriors crush Los Angeles Lakers for best start in NBA history

OAKLAND, California — The defending champion Golden State Warriors set the record for best start in NBA history at 16-0, as Stephen Curry had 24 points and nine assists in a 111-77 rout of the Los Angeles Lakers on Tuesday.

With their coach sidelined, the Warriors surpassed the 15-0 starts by the Washington Capitols of 1948-49 and 1993-94 Houston Rockets.

Confetti streamed down when the final buzzer sounded, but Golden State’s players barely celebrated.

“It’s a special accomplishment any time you can do something that hasn’t been done before,” Curry said. “It’s not going to be total dominance for 82 games.”

Draymond Green added 18 points, seven rebounds and five assists, as the Warriors extended their team-record home winning streak to 27 games with coach Steve Kerr watching from behind the scenes, while recovering from complications following two back surgeries.

Kobe Bryant shot 1 of 14 for just four points, matching the worst-shooting performance of his career in a game where he had at least one basket. The Lakers dropped to 2-12 with the second-worst record in the NBA.

Bryant sank to a new low in a trying season expected to be his last.

Bryant, slowed by age and past injuries, has looked like a shadow of his former self this year and that was never more apparent then against Golden State who blasted the Lakers to improve to a record 16-0.

The Oracle Arena crowd, hoping to see a vintage Bryant performance amid their team’s inevitable win, seemed to deflate with every miss from the 37-year-old player.

The misses have piled up as high as the Lakers’ (2-12) losses for Bryant this campaign as he entered the night shooting just 33 per cent from the field.

“He’s struggling right now to make a shot. I think he’ll be the first to tell you that,” Los Angeles coach Byron Scott told reporters following his team’s defeat.

“You can see that he was getting pretty frustrated at himself.”

Bryant has indicated that unless something changes this will likely be the final chapter of a career that has included five championships and countless of memorable moments.

Elsewhere, Indiana made a club-record 19 3-pointers in a 123-106 win over Washington, the Los Angeles Clippers ended a three-game losing streak with a 111-94 victory over Denver, and Atlanta routed Boston 121-97.

Paul George scored a season-high 40 points and made seven 3-pointers, while C.J. Miles added 32 points, including eight 3-pointers, in his highest-scoring game since joining the Pacers before the start of last season.

The Pacers, which won for the ninth time in 11 games, finished 73.1 per cent (19 of 26) from 3-point range, crushing their previous season high of 44.4 per cent.

In Denver, Blake Griffin and DeAndre Jordan each scored 18 points for the struggling Clippers, who improved to 7-7 with the win.

The Clippers, who hadn’t been under .500 this far into a season under coach Doc Rivers, made eight 3-pointers after coming into the game at 31.3 per cent.

Jordan finished with 11 rebounds and four blocks, while Griffin had 10 rebounds. Chris Paul had 15 points and 10 assists to give the Clippers three players with double-doubles.

Paul Millsap scored 25 points and Jeff Teague added 16 for Atlanta, which had dropped four of five, including a loss Saturday at Cleveland in which coach Mike Budenholzer was ejected and subsequently fined $25,000 for bumping into referee Ben Taylor.

The Hawks essentially put this game out of reach with an 18-3 run that made it 100-80 with 6:20 remaining on Teague’s three-point play.

In other games, Mike Conley scored 21 points and Jeff Green added 19 to lead seven Memphis players in double figures in the Grizzlies’ 110-96 win over Dallas.

Marc Gasol had 15 points and 10 rebounds for Memphis, which won its fifth in the last six games.

Chicago’s Jimmy Butler scored 22 points and Derrick Rose added 17 in his return to the line-up as the Bulls held off Portland 93-88.

Rose had missed two games with a left ankle injury.