ATLANTA: Stephen Curry scored 36 points and the Golden State Warriors became the fastest team in NBA history to 50 wins, beating the Atlanta Hawks 102-92 on Monday after squandering a 23-point lead.
The Warriors (50-5) eclipsed the mark set by the 1995-96 Chicago Bulls, who needed one more game to win their 50th. Of course, that’s the team Golden State is chasing, moving another step closer to the record 72-10 mark put up by Michael Jordan and his teammates at the height of their six-titles-in-eight-years dynasty.
“Fifty wins is great,” Curry said, “but we’ve got to keep plugging away and staying hungry, because nobody wants to talk about that in June.”
Atlanta closed the third quarter on a 28-6 run and grabbed the lead briefly early in the fourth, igniting the sellout crowd. But the Warriors would not be denied, bouncing back to hand the Hawks their fourth straight home loss.
Klay Thompson added 27 points for the Warriors. Both he and Curry knocked down five shots from 3-point range. Draymond Green had six points, 14 rebounds and nine assists.
In other games, Detroit topped East-leading Cleveland for the second time this season 96-88, Toronto defeated the New York Knicks 122-95, Minnesota upset Boston 124-122, and the Los Angeles Clippers handed Phoenix its 12th consecutive loss, 124-84.
Reggie Jackson scored 23 points and Kentavious Caldwell-Pope added 19 as Detroit withstood the Cavaliers’ late comeback to end a five-game losing streak.
A day after allowing New Orleans center Anthony Davis to score 59 points, the Pistons beat the Eastern Conference’s top team on the road.
Andre Drummond added 15 rebounds for the Pistons, who let an 18-point lead in the fourth quarter dwindle to six before putting away the Cavs.
Kyrie Irving scored 30 and Kevin Love 24 for Cleveland, while LeBron James scored just 12 points — 13 below his average.
In New York, Kyle Lowry had 22 points, 11 rebounds and 11 assists for his first triple-double of the season and DeMar DeRozan scored 22 while becoming the winningest player in Toronto history.
DeRozan passed Chris Bosh and Morris Peterson with his 233rd win in six-plus years wearing a Raptors uniform.
Minnesota rookie Karl-Anthony Towns had 28 points and 13 rebounds to lead the lowly Timberwolves to victory.
Spanish point guard Ricky Rubio added 15 points, eight assists, eight rebounds and some terrific defense on Celtics All-Star Isaiah Thomas.
In Los Angeles, J.J. Redick scored 22 points and DeAndre Jordan added 17 points and 11 rebounds as the Clippers earned their most lopsided win of the season.
The Suns trailed the entire game on the way to their worst loss of the season.
Elsewhere, Goran Dragic scored 24 points and Hassan Whiteside finished with 19 points and 18 rebounds as Miami won its third consecutive game, rallying from 14 points down to beat Indiana 101-93 in overtime.
Milwaukee’s Giannis Antetokounmpo had 27 points, 12 rebounds and 10 assists as the Bucks beat the Lakers in Kobe Bryant’s last trip to the Bradley Center. Bryant had 15 points in 24 minutes
