DeAndre Jordan, Blake Griffin, Chris Paul and Jamaal Crawford of the Los Angeles Clippers watch as Steph Curry of the Golden State Warriors scores during their NBA game.

DPA/Los Angeles


The Golden State Warriors remain perfect but needed the biggest comeback effort of the NBA season to do so.
Reigning league MVP Stephen Curry poured 13 of his 40 points in the final quarter as the defending NBA champions stormed from 23 down to an improbable 124-117 road victory over the LA Clippers and a 13-0 record.  
“Even when we’re playing bad we still think we have a shot,” said Curry, who also grabbed 11 rebounds. “There’s always time to rectify the situation. At the end of the day, we have to make winning plays and we did that tonight.”
The Warriors became just the fourth team to open season at 13-0, and are within two victories of matching the 1948-49 Washington Capitols and the 1993-94 Houston Rockets for the best start in league history.
Klay Thompson scored 25, Harrison Barnes had 21 and Draymond Green contributed 19 for the Warriors, who closed on a 22-5 run in the big turnaround.
Chris Paul dropped in a season-high 35 points after missing two games with a sore right groin, and Blake Griffin netted 27 for the Clippers (6-5), who have blown both early season meetings against their Western Conference rivals.
“We know we’re close but close isn’t good enough,” Clippers coach Doc Rivers said. “We have to finish the games.”
Los Angeles hit a sizzling 17-of-24 shots, including 5-of-6 from behind the arc en route to a 41-24 lead after the first quarter behind 18 points on 7-7 shooting from Paul.
The Clippers opened up a 55-32 lead but Curry fired in 14 of his 17 first-half points and the lead was trimmed to 68-54 at the break.   
The resilient Warriors chipped away and drew to within 91-85 heading into the final frame on Green’s period-ending three-pointer.
The uphill climb continued and Golden State were within 96-95 on a Barnes 3-pointer, but the Clipppers hung on with a 16-7 run for a 112-102 lead with 5:05 minutes left.
But not even that was enough as the Warriors grabbed the next 11 points for 113-112 as Andre Iguodala hit a pair of triples around a Green layup and Thompson splashed down the go-ahead corner triple.
The Clippers regained the lead for the last time 115-112 on a Jamal Crawford 3-pointer before Curry had his sixth from behind the arc and added four free throws in another 9-0 run to seal the thriller.    
“That’s why you grow up playing this game is because of the type of joy from what just happened out there,” Warriors interim head coach Luke Walton said.

Heat down kings
Chris Bosh had 23 points with 11 rebounds, Dwyane Wade netted 22 and the Heat (7-4) won for the fourth time in the last five games after beating the visiting Kings, who played without All-Star centre DeMar Cousins.
 Cousins, the Kings’ leading scorer, was serving a one-game league suspension for landing a forearm to the head of Atlanta’s Al Horford in Wednesday’s loss to the Hawks.
Italy’s Marco Belinelli topped Sacramento (4-19) with 23 points while Rajon Rondo added 14, nine rebounds and a season-best 18 assists for his fourth triple-double of the season.