Raptors at Warriors
The top two teams in their respective conferences will square off when the Golden State Warriors host the Toronto Raptors on Friday. The Raptors are getting a good idea of where they stand in relation to several other contending teams on the current road trip and are coming off an overtime loss at Portland on Tuesday. The Warriors put up one of their most dominating performances of the season in a win over Philadelphia on Tuesday and have won back-to-back games.
Golden State let things slip in back-to-back loss at Los Angeles last week but regrouped at home and crushed Minnesota on Saturday before putting a 126-86 beating on the 76ers. The Warriors take a big leap in competition with the Raptors and the Oklahoma City Thunder in the next two games and are hoping to carry over the defensive performance that allowed them to score 43 points off 28 Philadelphia turnovers. Toronto is 2-2 on its six-game trip, falling at Chicago to begin the excursion before earning back-to-back wins over the Clippers and Denver Nuggets.
TV: 10:30 p.m. ET, CSN Bay Area (Golden State), Sportsnet (Toronto)
ABOUT THE RAPTORS (24-8): Toronto point guard Kyle Lowry held his own and in some cases outperformed standout guards Derrick Rose, Chris Paul, Ty Lawson and Damian Lillard already on the road trip and takes aim at Stephen Curry on Friday. Lowry is averaging 28.5 points in the last four games but struggled to 10-of-26 from the field in Portland, snapping a four-game streak of shooting 50 percent or better. Curry gets more credit for his ability to shoot from beyond the arc but Lowry is getting better in that regard as well and is 12-of-27 from 3-point range in his last five games.
ABOUT THE WARRIORS (25-5): Golden State is still missing defensive anchor Andrew Bogut (knee) and backup center Festus Ezeli (ankle), forcing the team to go with a smaller lineup that makes use of versatile forward Draymond Green. The Michigan State product averaged three blocks and five steals in the last two games to go along with nine rebounds, 4.5 assists and seven points. Green should get some more help from forward David Lee (hamstring), who played a season-high 25 minutes against Philadelphia and had his minutes restriction lifted after easing his way back into the rotation.
BUZZER BEATERS
1. The Warriors have won 10 straight home games.
2. Toronto F Terrence Ross is 19-of-56 from the field over the last four games.
3. Golden State averages an NBA-high 26.1 assists and handed out a season-best 38 on Tuesday.