Stephen Curry, Warriors move a victory closer to season wins record

Associated PressMar 30, 2016, 2:07 AM EDT

OAKLAND, Calif. (AP) — Stephen Curry knocked down six 3-pointers on the way to 26 points, and the Golden State Warriors beat the Washington Wizards 102-94 on Tuesday night to stay on pace for the all-time wins record.

Klay Thompson followed back-to-back 40-point games with 16 as Golden State (67-7) stayed a game ahead of the 1995-96 Chicago Bulls’ pace during their 72-10 season. The Warriors must go 6-2 over their final eight games for the record.

Draymond Green had 15 points, 16 rebounds and nine assists to just miss back-to-back triple-doubles in the Warriors’ 54th straight regular-season home win and 36th consecutive this season.

Bradley Beal scored 17 for the Wizards, who lost their fourth straight to Golden State.

Data curated by <a href='http://www.pointafter.com' target='_blank'

Curry, who scored 51 points with a career-high and franchise record-tying 11 3s in the first meeting Feb. 3, shot 9 for 20 overall and 6 of 8 from long range. He added seven rebounds and seven assists.

Curry (356) and Thompson (255) already had the most combined 3-pointers by a pair of teammates in a season. Reigning MVP Curry, the first player in NBA history with 300 3s in a season, has eight games left to chase 400. Thompson is aiming to top Curry's previous record of 286 3s.

Washington was content to keep pace on both ends with the Warriors and took advantage of Golden State's sloppy execution on the offensive end. Curry missed an open layup after going around Marcin Gortat and Thompson was called for traveling driving to the basket soon after with his team down by nine.

But the Warriors finished the first half on a 12-0 run for a 49-46 lead at the break.

SAGER'S SPIRIT

Craig Sager worked the game for Turner Sports, his outlook as bright as his attire even after announcing last week his leukemia is no longer in remission.

"I think my demise has been prematurely reported," Sager said. "I think I'm going to kick this and make medical history and I really believe that."

The 64-year-old Sager is set to work Thursday in Houston, where he receives his chemotherapy treatments – eight days of chemo starting the final week of the regular season and into the first week of the playoffs.

Sager said there's "no doubt about it" that he'll work through the playoffs. He hopes to be assigned to San Antonio in the first round so he can go back and forth to Houston.

He was taking a redeye flight there after Tuesday's game with a doctor's appointment Wednesday morning.

MOTIVATIONAL KID

During shootaround, Golden State got a pep talk from 10-year-old motivational speaker Ezra Frech. He was born without a left knee or fibula and had his lower leg amputated at age 2. Quite a perimeter shooter, Frech also joined in practice.

"He's an unbelievable kid," Warriors coach Steve Kerr said. "He's actually a motivational speaker at 10. I didn't know such a thing existed, but as soon as he started talking, I realized that this is no joke. This kid is amazing."

A fifth-grader from Los Angeles and on spring break traveling with his father, Clayton, Frech hoped to see Curry.

"If he comes out here, I'll challenge him," Frech said with a smile, before quickly adding, "I'll probably lose."

TIP-INS

Wizards: John Wall had his streak snapped of nine straight double-doubles – the longest such run among NBA guards this season. He had eight points and 11 assists. … Washington has lost 10 of 11 overall to the Warriors.

Warriors: Curry moved up the career 3-point list again. He passed Tim Hardaway (1,542) for 22nd and Eddie Jones (1,546) for 21st on the NBA's career list. … Thompson hit his 76th 3 of the month in the third, besting Curry's 75 3s last year for most ever in March.

Lakers’ LeBron James says he could need offseason foot surgery

By Kurt HelinMar 27, 2023, 9:11 PM EDT

LeBron James wanted back on the court. He saw the glimpses of what this current roster can do when healthy and focused — the same glimpses that have Laker exceptionalism running strong in Los Angeles — and he sees a West without a dominant team. Together those things mean opportunity.

LeBron could have shut it down when he felt something pop in his foot last month, admitting that two doctors told him to get surgery. However, the “LeBron James of foot doctors” told him he could be back this season — and he made that return Sunday. Still, LeBron admitted he could need off-season surgery.

"When the doctors told me I was healing faster than anybody before they've seen with the injury." @KingJames' response to when he knew he would return from his foot injury. pic.twitter.com/YU0nqhkobj

— Spectrum SportsNet (@SpectrumSN) March 26, 2023

“I don’t know. Right now, I don’t need it, so we’ll see what happens. I’ll probably get another MRI at the end of the season and go from there. But if I end up having to get surgery after the season, you guys won’t know. I don’t talk to you guys in the offseason, and by the time next season starts, I’ll be fine. I’ll be ready to go.”

As for what motivated him to get back on the court this season and not shut it down.

“Now we sitting at a chance to be able to… to hell with the play-in, we actually can be a top-[six] seed. That definitely changed my mindset on me coming back and trying to be a part of this, obviously, so — well, I don’t really want to say changed my mindset, it just enhanced what I was trying to do as far as my workouts, as far as my treatment and everything”

The Lakers sit tied for 9/10 in the West, one game below .500. While LeBron can say, “to hell with the play-in,” his Lakers would need help from the Clippers or Warriors to climb into the top six even though they are only 1.5 games back (time is short for L.A., if the Warriors or Clippers go 4-3 the rest of the way, the Lakers need to go 6-2 over their last eight). Los Angeles also is just a game up on Dallas for the 11 seed, and if the losses pile up they could fall out of the play-in completely.

With LeBron back, missing the play-in is unlikely. But having him back (and eventually a healthy D'Angelo Russell, who was out Sunday with a hip issue) also is no guarantee of wins — the Lakers still need peak Anthony Davis to compete. When he has a solid game of 15 points, nine rebounds and five assists (as he did Sunday), they lose. The Lakers need bubble Davis every night, or even if they make the postseason it will be short-lived.

Dončić dodges suspension, NBA rescinds 16th technical

By Kurt HelinMar 27, 2023, 4:32 PM EDT

Brock Williams-Smith/NBAE via Getty Images

This was unexpected, especially after crew chief Kevin Scott said after the game last night: “Doncic was assessed a technical foul for his use of profanity directed at the officials in protest to a no-call that was correctly judged in postgame video review.”

The NBA league office reviewed the incident (as it does with all technicals) and rescinded what would have been Luka Doncic’s 16th technical.

Luka Dončić’s (DAL) technical foul (7:51, 3rd qtr) from the game on 3/26/23 has been rescinded upon league office review.

— NBA Official (@NBAOfficial) March 27, 2023

That 16th technical would have triggered an automatic one game suspension. With it rescinded, Dončić is clear to play Monday night when the Mavericks take on the Pacers.

Sunday night in Charlotte, Dončić was given a technical when he didn’t get a call on a leaning baseline jumper and said something to the nearby official.

Luka Dončić got his 16th technical foul of the season, resulting in a one-game suspension. pic.twitter.com/K3X0Np47dA

— NBA on ESPN (@ESPNNBA) March 26, 2023

This incident comes days after Dončić was fined $35,000 for making a money gesture towards a referee in frustration after a Mavericks loss.

Through all this the Mavericks have lost four straight, 7-of-9, and have slid back to 11th in the West, outside even the play-in. Their team is disintegrating and if they don’t pick up some wins fast they have less than two weeks until they are on summer vacation.

MVP showdown off: 76ers to sit Joel Embiid due to calf tightness

By Kurt HelinMar 27, 2023, 2:32 PM EDT

Barry Gossage/NBAE via Getty Images

Recently Joel Embiid said,” ‘If I win MVP, good. If I don’t, it’s fine with me.” Today’s news plays right into that narrative.

Embiid has been playing through calf tightness for a few games now — he only played a half against the Bulls last Wednesday — but still putting up numbers (46 points against the Warriors, 28 and 10 against the Suns). However, there had been some concern in the organization about not pushing things and making sure Embiid is healthy for the playoffs. Which is why they will rest him on Monday night, short-circuiting an MVP-race showdown against Nikola Jokić and the Nuggets. Adrian Wojnarowski and Ramona Shelburne of ESPN broke the news and John Clarke of NBC Sports Philadelphia has confirmed it.

Joel Embiid is out tonight. His calf is still bothering him. https://t.co/SqRdaoBRmg

— John Clark (@JClarkNBCS) March 27, 2023

Embiid did go through part of the 76ers’ shootaround this morning. The decision was made after that point.

Undoubtedly this will spark the load management discussion around the league again, and Embiid is going to take heat for this — but this is a situation where the team’s medical staff made the call, likely over Embiid’s objection.

From the 76ers perspective what matters is having Embiid healthy during the playoffs — they are going nowhere without him — and there is no reason to take undue risks with the team all but locked into the No. 3 seed in the East.

James Harden is still expected to make his return to action Monday from a three-game absence.

But it robs fans — including those who bought tickets in Denver — of one of the great showdowns in the league, and one of the more anticipated games of the season’s final weeks. The NBA has to find a way to balance player health with having their best players on the court for the biggest games. Keep telling fans the regular season doesn’t matter and they will start treating it like that.

Joel Embiid not stressing about MVP: ‘If I win MVP, good. If I don’t, it’s fine with me.’

By Kurt HelinMar 27, 2023, 1:44 PM EDT

Christian Petersen/Getty Images

Joel Embiid is the MVP betting favorite — -160 at our partner PointsBet — heading into Monday’s showdown with the reigning two-time MVP Nikola Jokić (+180 at PointsBet).

Embiid campaigned for the MVP award the past couple of years but came up second to Jokić. This season, Embiid is not stressing about it. Or at least trying not to stress about it. Here is what Embiid told Shams Charania of The Athletic.

What matters — it’s just about winning, winning, winning. I’ve been focused on that. We’ve been doing that. Whatever happens, happens. If I win MVP, good. If I don’t, it’s fine with me.

Why hasn’t Embiid won the MVP? Outside of Jokić also being deserving and the complaints of Antetokounmpo and others that the criteria for the award are constantly changing (which suggests there are criteria for the award, but there are none officially), Embiid thinks it’s because he is not well-liked.

People always thought that I was crazy when I said this — I really believe that I’m not well-liked. And it’s cool with me, that’s fine. I’ll be the bad guy. I like being the a–hole anyway. I like being the underdog. So that’s fine with me. My thing is … when I leave the game, I want to make sure that they say: No one was stopping him offensively and defensively, and he was a monster.

There’s no doubt he will leave the game remembered as one of the great 76ers and a “monster” on both ends when healthy. However, resume matters with legacy and an MVP award helps with that. Just not as much as being the best player on a championship team, something more difficult to pull off because it requires a lot of help (it’s up for debate whether Embiid has the help he needs around him to win it all, and if they can stay healthy enough to make that run).

This season the MVP race is a tight three-way contest between Embiid, Jokić and Giannis Antetokounmpo (+450 at PointsBet). There are legitimate cases to be made for each member of this trio. However, with the Sixers surging (and the Nuggets stumbling a little), things may break his way this season.

Another dominant performance against Jokić with just a couple of weeks left in the season would stick in voters’ minds and help his cause.

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