Stephen Curry showed no mercy to his hometown team.
Golden State Warriors superstar Curry grew up in Charlotte and played for Davidson. He often saves his best games for the Hornets. Wednesday he scored 39 points without playing the fourth quarter of a 126-111 victory at Oracle Arena. Curry made 11 of his 15 3-point attempts.
The Warriors led by as many as 32 points. The Hornets never led.
The victory improved the Warriors’ NBA-best record to 42-7. The Hornets lost their sixth consecutive game, falling to 23-27.
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Hornets reserve power forward Frank Kaminsky scored a career-high 24 points. Hornets All-Star point guard Kemba Walker finished with just seven points on 1-of-5 shooting and sat out the fourth quarter.
Klay Thompson added 29 for the Warriors.
The Hornets complete a three-game West Coast trip with a Saturday game against the Utah Jazz.
Curry: Making eight 3s in a game is spectacular. Making eight 3s in a half is preposterous.
Thompson: He might have finished with a triple-double if the Warriors had needed him to get one.
Kaminsky: Two consecutive strong games after he also played well in Portland Tuesday.
▪ A cool moment pre-game: Stephen Curry threw a ball at his dad near mid-court. Dell grabbed it in and launched a shot from his chest at the basket. Bank and swish. Always nice to remind your kid where he got his talent.
▪ Hornets coach Steve Clifford chose to start Spencer Hawes at center, instead of Roy Hibbert. In the second quarter, the Hornets went small with Kaminsky at center. Hibbert never played.
▪ Midway through the second quarter, the Warriors had made 13 of 25 3-point attempts. The Hornets had made 1-of-11 from 3.
▪ By halftime, Curry had made eight of 10 attempts from 3-point range. He had 26 points as did Thompson.
▪ This was the Warriors’ sixth consecutive victory against the Hornets.
▪ Hawes drew a technical foul – his fourth this season – for bumping Warriors forward Draymond Green in the left shoulder during a free-throw attempt.
▪ The Warriors played without center Zaza Pachuilia, diagnosed as having a right rotator cuff strain. JaVale McGee started in place of Pachulia.
▪ Warriors point guard (and former Charlotte Bobcat) Shaun Livingston missed the game with a back strain.
B OFFENSE: They bounced back from making just one of their first 11 3-pointers.
F DEFENSE: The Warriors toyed with the Hornets in the first half, making 56 percent from the field and 52 percent from 3-point range.
C- COACHING: This was an inevitable loss, but it didn’t have to be a rout.
Rick Bonnell: 704-358-5129, @rick_bonnell
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