Hornets at Warriors
The Golden State Warriors are fighting for the No. 1 spot in the Western Conference and are as feisty as ever as they march toward their third consecutive championship. The Warriors will try to bounce back from a tough loss at the expense of a team fighting for a playoff spot when they host the Charlotte Hornets on Sunday.
The Warriors made a furious comeback in the final minute of overtime at Minnesota on Friday to put themselves in a position to win or at least force a second extra period, only to have a series of dubious calls go against them. "It's just tough when your effort like that gets sabotaged for sure," Golden State superstar Stephen Curry, who buried a 3-pointer to tie it with 0.5 seconds left in overtime, told reporters. "I've been back there looking at those calls over and over and over again and still don't understand either one of them." The Hornets are trying to hang on in the race for a playoff spot in the East and suffered a disappointment when a four-game winning streak came to an end with a 129-115 loss at the Los Angeles Lakers on Friday. Charlotte goes into play on Saturday two games behind the eighth-place Miami Heat and 2 1/2 behind seventh-place Brooklyn.
TV: 8:30 p.m. ET, NBATV, NBCS Bay Area (Golden State), FS Southeast (Charlotte)
ABOUT THE HORNETS (35-40): Charlotte allowed the Lakers to shoot 56 percent from the floor and knock down 18 3-pointers in Friday's loss. "Defensively, we just could not get stops," Hornets coach James Borrego told reporters. "They didn't feel us all night on the other end. They got the shots they wanted. You have to give the Lakers credit. They made shots tonight, but I think our physicality defensively, we have to come to compete a little bit more on that end of the floor." All-Star guard Kemba Walker went 1-of-7 from 3-point range in the loss and is 5-of-22 from beyond the arc over the last three contests.
ABOUT THE WARRIORS (51-24): Curry's 3-pointer in the corner came after a 3-pointer by Kevin Durant - during which he was fouled - was waived off after the refs decided that the foul came before the shot. "Marat was his name?" Durant asked reporters, speaking of referee Marat Kogut. "He was the best player on the floor tonight. He made sure that - he's so good with his whistle that he knew they were gonna foul me, and he called it right before I shot the ball. So, he's one of the greatest refs of all time." The loss dropped the Warriors into a tie for first place with the Nuggets, who visit Golden State on Tuesday.
BUZZER BEATERS
1. Curry is averaging 30.3 points over the last three games and is 22-of-41 from 3-point range in that span.
2. Hornets SG Jeremy Lamb went 1-of-11 from the floor in Friday's setback.
3. Golden State earned a 121-110 victory at Charlotte on Feb. 25 behind 26 points from SG Klay Thompson.