Warriors at Wizards
The Golden State Warriors already clinched a winning road trip thanks to some late-game heroics from Andre Iguodala and are now aiming for some franchise history. The Warriors will look for their ninth straight win overall when they continue their seven-game trip at the Washington Wizards on Sunday. Golden State has not won nine straight since December of 1975 and is coming up against a skidding Wizards squad.
The Warriors looked ready for a letdown on the second night of a back-to-back after a big win in Miami on Thursday but stormed back from a 15-point deficit with under seven minutes left and topped the Atlanta Hawks 101-100 on Iguodala’s last-second 3-pointer on Friday. “They could have easily said, ‘We’re 3-0 on this trip, we lost to the Hawks after a big win last night,’” coach Mark Jackson said. “But this team has no quit. They are high character (guys), they enjoy one another.” Washington dropped the first two of its homestand and has lost five of six in its own building.
TV: 6 p.m. ET, CSN Bay Area (Golden State), CSN Mid-Atlantic (Washington)
ABOUT THE WARRIORS (22-13): Stephen Curry scored 14 of his 22 points in the fourth quarter on Friday and added nine assists, eight rebounds and five steals in another strong performance. Iguodala had all of his seven points in the final frame and the team was confident in his end-of-game abilities. “You may think he stumbles into that shot and he’s not afraid of it, but I’m watching him at midnight taking those same shots,” Jackson said. “So when the lights come on and the curtains open up he’s ready and he’s prepared.” Golden State went into a slide when Iguodala went down with a hamstring injury but is a dominant team when healthy, building up a 17-3 mark when the starting lineup of Curry, Iguodala, David Lee, Klay Thompson and Andrew Bogut takes the floor together.
ABOUT THE WIZARDS (14-16): Washington pulled to .500 with wins in five of six games to close out December, averaging 105.2 points in those six contests, but has seen the offense drop off dramatically in the first two games of January. The Wizards squandered a late lead in an 87-78 loss to Dallas on Wednesday and were blown out 101-88 by the Toronto Raptors on Friday. “I hope it’s a smack in the face,” coach Randy Wittman said after the loss to the Raptors. “I hope its 20 degrees below zero outside and they get smacked in the face outside with that, too. Maybe that’ll wake them up, too.”
BUZZER BEATERS
1. The Warriors have taken nine of the last 12 from the Wizards, including both meetings last season.
2. Washington has not beaten a team with a winning record since a 108-101 win over Atlanta on Nov. 30.
3. Golden State has seven wins when trailing at the beginning of the fourth quarter and four comebacks of 15-or-more points.