Stephen Curry (left) of the Golden State Warriors attempts to get past Markel Brown of the Brooklyn Nets during the fourth quarter of their NBA game at the Barclays Center in the Brooklyn borough of New York City on Sunday. (AFP)

DPA/Los Angeles


The Golden State Warriors’ dream of a perfect season remains alive.
Stephen Curry erupted for 16 of his 28 points in the third quarter, and the Warriors extended their NBA-record start to 22-0, after Sunday’s 114-98 road victory over the Brooklyn Nets.
“Our guys love the pressure, it brings the best out in them and they compete that much harder,” Warriors interim head coach Luke Walton said. “We don’t want this first loss so we constantly keep bringing it. The bigger the stage the better our guys play.”
Golden State have won 26 in a row dating back to last season, putting the defending NBA Champions one shy of matching the 2012-13 Miami Heat for the second longest streak in NBA history.
The 1971-72 LA Lakers own the all-time mark of 33 consecutive victories.
Draymond Green had 22 points, nine rebounds and seven assists, Klay Thompson netted 21 and “Brazilian Blur” Leandro Barbosa added 11 off the bench the Warriors, whose matched the 1969-70 New York Knicks at 12-0 for the best road start in league history.
“This team has really grown in its focus,” Green said. “The run last year helped out with that and knowing the focus it takes to win a championship.”
Golden State led by 17 in the opening quarter but got sloppy and Brooklyn ran off the final dozen points to pull within 57-54 at halftime.
The Warriors trailed 75-70 late in the third but closed on a 17-5 run behind Curry. The reigning league MVP ran off 11 points in the final 2:10, including a pair of triples, an old-fashioned three-point play, and a banked runner,and assisted on Festus Ezeli’s dunk, sending them ahead 87-80 entering the final stanza.
“I tried to figure out way I could impact the game and things started to click,” Curry said of his explosion. “It gave us a little life. We like to close out quarters strong and we were able to do that and go from there.”
With Curry resting on the bench, the Nets draw to within 89-85 early in the final frame. But Walton summoned his reserves and they delivered. Barbosa scored eight points to spark a game-breaking 20-4 surge, opening up a 109-89 cushion and the Warriors remained spotless.
“One of our strengths is that we’re never out of a game and we’re just one little run from putting the game away,” Walton said.
“We played pretty close to perfect in the first quarter but had a letdown because of that in the second and third quarters. But then you come back with the second unit and they take the momentum we built from the third and run with it in the fourth. It was great to see them respond like that.”
Thaddeus Young had 25 points with 14 rebounds, while Brook Lopez netted 18 for the struggling Nets (5-15), who battled the Warriors into overtime on November 14.

Elsewhere
Memphis Grizzlies 95, Phoenix Suns 93: Jeff Green took an inbound lob pass from Courtney Lee with eight-tenths of a second left for the game-winning dunk, and the Grizzlies shaded the visiting Suns for their third win in four games. Spaniard Marc Gasol had 22 points, and Lee added a season-tying 18 for Memphis (13-9) winners of eight straight in the series. Eric Bledsoe had 23 points for Phoenix (8-14) which fell to 1-4 on its six-game road trip.
Oklahoma City Thunder 98, Sacramento Kings 95: Kevin Durant scored 20 points, including the go-ahead jumper with 23 seconds left and two free throws with 4.4 seconds remaining, and the host Thunder improved to 14-0 at home against the Kings. Russell Westbrook had his third triple-double of the season for Oklahoma City (12-8) with 19 points, 10 assists and 11 rebounds, while Rudy Gay topped Sacramento (7-15) with 20 points.

Detroit Pistons 111, LA Lakers 91: Kentavious Caldwell-Pope scored 22 points, Andre Drummond added 18 with 15 rebounds, as the Pistons rolled to their fourth straight victory after routing the Lakers in Kobe Bryant’s final visit to Detroit. Bryant, who already announced his retirement the end of this season, had just five points on 2-15 shooting while battling a stomach bug for the West-worst Lakers (3-17), who have dropped nine of 10.  

Dallas Mavericks 116, Washington Wizards 104: Wesley Matthews fired in 12 triples en route to season-high 36 points, shooting the visiting Mavericks (12-9) past the Wizards. John Wall paced Washington (8-10) with 28 points and 10 assists but had to helped off court late in the game after injuring his right knee in a collision with Dallas’ Jeremy Evans.