Stephen Curry, Warriors, continue to roll, trounce Bulls
CHICAGO – Golden State Warriors coach Luke Walton said he relishes the opportunity for his team to improve against the NBA’s elite, but neither the Cavaliers on Monday nor the Bulls on Wednesday posed any serious threat.
The Warriors stormed into the United Center and left with a convincing 125-94 win to keep pace with the record-setting ’95-96 Bulls, who were 40-3 at this point in the season. Golden State, for its part, improved to 39-4 on the strength of its inexhaustible offense.
Ran by their conductor, Stephen Curry, Golden State’s offense purred like a well-oiled machine. Curry finished with 25 points, but his 11 assists kept his teammates alert and engaged. Klay Thompson had 20 while Harrison Barnes chipped in 19 as the second-half margin never got closer than 12.
Chicago’s backcourt Derrick Rose and Jimmy Butler combined for 52 points, but together they had just four assists, underscoring the Bulls’ bizarre lack of ball movement. The rest of Chicago’s starters shot 3-of-22, and the Bulls were just 1 for 20 from 3-point range.
The Warriors picked apart the Bulls’ defense – which entered Wednesday’s game first in opponent field goal percentage at 42 percent – through endless screens and constant movement. They routinely passed up good shots for great ones en route to 52.6 percent from the field. The final assists totals, 38-14, highlighted the offensive disparity.
The Bulls entered Wednesday with a 7-1 record against the six teams ahead of them in the standings, their only loss coming on the road to the Warriors on Nov. 20. It was a challenge Walton said he was looking forward since he expected the Bulls’ best effort.
“It’s good for us. We’re trying to win another championship and if we’re gonna get every team to play their best shot, it helps sharpen our skills and sharpen what we need to do if we want to keep winning,” he said. “Even though it makes it more challenging to win some of these games, I think it’s good for our team as a whole.”
It was 73-61 with just 3:18 left in the third, and it looked as if the Bulls had one more spurt in them. But back-to-back 3-pointers from Curry and Barnes, followed by a deflating transition alley-oop to Andre Iguodala pushed the Warriors’ lead to 24.
The Warriors were as daunting as advertised. Their ball movement left Chicago’s defense spinning as they racked up 20 first-half assists. If it wasn’t Curry toying with his defender, it was Draymond Green bounding through the lane, or Iguodala connecting from deep or Barnes taking advantage of a mismatch.
Up by as much as 21 in the second, the Warriors at one point had the Bulls so discombobulated that Taj Gibson was guarding Thompson while Aaron Brooks was trying to fend off Shaun Livingston in the post. Both matchups, as they seemingly always do, favored Golden State.
Early on it appeared Rose was ready to challenge the reigning MVP, scoring 10 of the Bulls’ first 12 points to open but nothing Rose did could undermine the Warriors’ prolific offense.