Stephen Curry was supposed to spend Monday night's fourth quarter battling the Spurs for Western Conference and NBA supremacy. Instead, the Warriors star watched the fourth quarter from the bench with a towel over his head, ala Cam Newton, with the victory well in hand.
For the second time in a week, the Warriors made mincemeat out of would-be challengers to their throne, blowing out the Spurs 120-90 in Oakland.
Leading the charge for the Warriors was Curry, who scored 37 points in 28 minutes.
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Blowouts are nothing new for the Warriors. Heck, they blew out the Cavaliers by 34 points on Jan. 18. But watching them do it against the Spurs, who came in holding opponents to under 90 points per game, had to be disheartening to the rest of the NBA.
The Spurs came in leading the NBA in average point differential — 14.5 — heading into Monday night. And they got their feelings hurt by Curry and Co.
We don’t know whether the Warriors will repeat as NBA champions, but if there was any doubt that they are head and shoulders above the competition, they were erased.
Studs of the night
Jeff Green came off the bench to score 30 points, and the Grizzlies needed every one as they beat the Magic 108-102. Green hit 11 of his 18 attempts and also grabbed eight rebounds in 31 minutes.
James Harden didn’t get a triple-double, but close enough was good enough for the Rockets on Monday night. Harden came up with 35 points, 11 rebounds and eight assists as the Rockets escaped with a 112-111 win over the Pelicans. Jrue Holiday had 32 points and nine assists off the bench for the Pelicans.
Duds of the night
For the second game in row, Andre Drummond failed to record double figures in points (seven) and rebounds (six). The Pistons still managed to win, however, beating the Jazz 95-92.
Tweet of the night
We know it hurts, Pop. It hurt to watch.
Pop: "I'm just glad my general manager wasn't in the locker room. I might have gotten fired."
— Jeff McDonald (@JMcDonald_SAEN) January 26, 2016Looking ahead
Suns (14-31) at Sixers (6-39), 7 p.m. ET: After winning in Atlanta on Saturday, Phoenix will be hoping to put together a winning-streak. There’s no better target than the Sixers, who are coming off an embarrassingly-bad game Sunday against the Celtics.