Warriors hopeful Durant can return in regular season

Everyone will be accounted for as they come off of a back end of a back-to-back set that saw a win over the Houston Rockets last night. Golden State proved their metal on the defensive end tonight. “So you want a rule just for those five players?” And with the reigning back-to-back MVP on the bench, Golden State’s gritty group of veteran reserves unleashed a 9-0 run to take its first lead since the opening quarter, 97-92, with 4:18 remaining.

Going into Houston and San Antonio on successive nights, they extended their seven-game win streak to nine, the longest active streak at a time when all playoff teams wish to peak.

The Spurs need their best player to score more than that and he crumbled in the fourth quarter. “This was a good test for us”.

The Rockets (51-25), meanwhile, dropped a half-game closer to Utah (46-29) in their duel for the No. 3 seed in the West.

Kawhi Leonard led the now 57-17 Spurs with 19 points, 5 boards and 2 blocks.

“We’ve got a lot of good defenders on this team”, Golden State coach Steve Kerr said. Like, I never felt like they were dominating us. “We’re going to try to figure it out”.

In Philadelphia, Dwight Howard had 22 points and 20 rebounds to lead Atlanta over the 76ers.

San Antonio was held to 24 or fewer points in each of the final three quarters and to 41 percent shooting for the game. I mean the smart passes when the entire Orlando defense seemed to collapse on him. Those are the second and third best teams in the league, respectively. Along with being just two rebounds per game short of averaging a triple-double, Harden was also leading the league in assists and ranked second in scoring.

The old record for 3-pointers made in a season is by the Splash Brothers last season in Golden State, as Klay Thompson and Stephen Curry lifted the Dubs to become the first team to make more than 1,000 3s in a season. The Warriors wanted to win that game for Durant and did just that despite the hard situational spot as the Thunder were rested for that game. “It’s frustrating, but it’s happened before”. The addition on Durant, should only make them better. “We had plenty of opportunities”. Kerr sat Stephen Curry, Klay Thompson, Draymond Green and Andre Iguodala.

Eric Gordon and Trevor Ariza added 15 points apiece and Clint Capela pulled a game-high 14 rebounds for the Rockets, who had been beaten 117-107 in Portland on Thursday night.

The Warriors were the first team to surpass 1,000 three-pointers last season. They were knocking down every thing they shot and disrupting Golden State’s offense.

There is something strangely familiar about the way the Warriors are playing right now. The Rockets lost their two games consecutively against to the Warriors and Trail Blazers.

Atlanta was a 99-92 victor at Philadelphia behind Dwight Howard’s 22 points and 20 rebounds.