Reeling Raptors lose fourth straight
March 14, 2010
OAKLAND, Calif. (AP)—Stephen Curry(notes) had 35 points and 10 assists, Monta Ellis(notes)scored 31 in his second game back following a back injury and the Golden StateWarriors beat Toronto 124-112 on Saturday night, putting another dent in thereeling Raptors’ playoff hopes.
Corey Maggette(notes) added 20 points and Anthony Morrow(notes) had 11 for Golden State,which set a season high with 16 3-pointers while snapping a six-game losingstreak.
Jose Calderon(notes) had 24 points and 12 assists and Chris Bosh(notes) added 24 pointsand 11 rebounds for Toronto, which trailed by as much as 15 in the matchup oftwo of the NBA’s highest-scoring teams.
The Raptors have lost four straight and eight of nine while seeing theirlead over Chicago trimmed to 1 1/2 games for the eighth and final playoff spot inthe Eastern Conference.
Three weeks ago, the Raptors closed an 11-2 stretch that put them incontention for homecourt advantage in the first round of the playoffs. Nowthey’re struggling just to get into the postseason.
Toronto, Charlotte, Miami and Chicago are vying for the final three playoffspots in the East. The Raptors currently sit in eighth behind the Bobcats andHeat, and ahead of the Bulls.
Losing to a Golden State team that owned the third-worst record in the NBAcertainly didn’t help.
The Warriors got a big lift from Ellis, who was playing for only the secondtime after sitting out six games with a back injury. Golden State’s team captainscored 17 points on 7-of-15 shooting in Thursday’s 110-105 loss to Portland, butwent 12 of 22 against Toronto.
Curry also came up big while falling one point shy of his career high. TheWarriors’ rookie matched Ellis for the team lead with five 3-pointers, includinga 32-footer with 1.5 seconds left to play.
Toronto scored 35 points in the first quarter but stumbled through most ofthe second, going more than 6 minutes without a basket while allowing GoldenState to erase a 10-point deficit and take a 45-42 lead.
Calderon helped the Raptors snap out of their offensive funk briefly withthree 3s over the final 4 minutes of the half and Jack added his own 3 with 43.8seconds left to help give Toronto a 60-56 halftime lead.
But the Warriors took control for good in the third quarter, going on a 25-6run keyed by an onslaught from the perimeter.
Golden State, which was 7 of 12 on 3-pointers in the first half, went 7 for10 from beyond the arc in the third and built a 15-point lead Toronto neverchallenged.
Warriors coach Don Nelson moved within six wins of passing Lenny Wilkens tobecome the winningest coach in NBA history.
NOTES: Bosh needs 31 points to become the first player in Raptors history toreach 10,000 in a career. … Toronto is winless in four games since Boshreturned to the lineup after a seven-game absence due to a sprained left ankle.… Golden State’s franchise record for 3-pointers in a single game is 18,reached three times. Most recently the Warriors did it against Memphis on Jan.3, 2007, though they had 46 attempts. … The Warriors have beaten the Raptorssix straight times at home.
