The Golden State Warriors cruised past the Atlanta Hawks on Wednesday night as the two best teams in the NBA crossed paths at the Oracle Arena.
Golden State picked up the win with a real team effort as coach Steve Kerr had contributions right across the roster with Harrison Barnes and Andre Iguodala putting up 25 points and 21 points respectively.
Stephen Curry added 16 points and 12 assists while Draymond Green contributed 18 points as the Warriors maintained the best record in the league at 54-13 with a 10th straight home win.
The Hawks fell to 53-15 for the season with the loss, and ultimately it was the Western Conference leaders who looked the part ahead of the post season as they looked comfortable throughout even with the absence of shooting guard Klay Thompson.
Elsewhere, the Oklahoma City Thunder picked up a huge win over the Boston Celtics with Russell Westbrook unsurprisingly leading the way with 36 points and 10 assists.
OKC move to 38-30 which puts them back in the eighth and final playoff spot in the West with the New Orleans Pelicans falling back down to ninth.
San Antonio Spurs coach Gregg Popovich got the reaction that he would have been hoping for after their “pathetic” loss to the New York Knicks on Tuesday.
The Spurs were led by Tim Duncan who had 19 points and seven assists with the general motto coming from the camp was that ‘it’s just basketball’ and the team executed on both ends better in Milwaukee to improve to 42-25.
Meanwhile, the Chicago Bulls are still without Derrick Rose, Jimmy Butler and Taj Gibson, but they somehow managed to overcome the streaking Indiana Pacers behind 25 points and nine rebounds from rookie Nikola Mirotic.
The Bulls (41-28) snapped a two-game losing streak with Mike Dunleavy (21 points) and Pau Gasol (19 points, 12 rebounds) helping them along the way.
Staying in the East, the Cleveland Cavaliers enjoyed a big win over the Brooklyn Nets with Kevin Love restored to the line-up as they stormed to a 25-point win.
NBA Results
Brooklyn Nets 92-117 Cleveland Cavaliers
Detroit Pistons 83-94 Philadelphia 76ers
Portland Trail Blazers 104-108 Miami Heat
Minnesota Timberwolves 100-105 Toronto Raptors
Indiana Pacers 86-103 Chicago Bulls
San Antonio Spurs 114-103 Milwaukee Bucks
Boston Celtics 118-122 Oklahoma City Thunder
Orlando Magic 102-107 Dallas Mavericks
Los Angeles Clippers 116-105 Sacramento Kings
Atlanta Hawks 95-114 Golden State Warriors
Washington Wizards 88-84 Utah Jazz
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