By ASSOCIATED PRESS
SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — Jimmy Butler had 32 points and eight rebounds, Stephen Curry warmed up in the second half to finish with 27 points and seven assists, and the Golden State Warriors beat the New York Knicks, 126-113, on Thursday night, Jan. 15.
Moses Moody scored 21 points with seven 3-pointers for the Warriors, while Brandin Podziemski had 19 points.
Deuce McBride and OG Anunoby each scored 25 points and Mikal Bridges had 21 as New York lost for the seventh time in nine games. The Knicks were without Jalen Brunson because of a sprained right ankle suffered in a 112-101 loss at Sacramento a night earlier.
Karl-Anthony Towns had 17 points and a season-best 20 rebounds for New York. This has been a two-day reunion tour for Knicks first-year coach Mike Brown, fired by the Kings last season and also a former Warriors top assistant.
Curry missed his first four 3-point tries before connecting from deep with 9:44 left in the third quarter. It marked only the third time this season he didn’t have a 3 in the first half and first since going 0 for 6 in the initial two quarters Dec. 22 against Orlando.
He scored five straight points midway through the fourth to give Golden State a 107-94 lead.
Moody shot 7 for 9 from deep for his sixth 20-point performance of the season, while Butler notched his second 30-point game in the last three and fifth overall. The Warriors had three scorers with 20 or more for the eighth time.
Draymond Green was issued a Flagrant 1 foul upon replay review with 11:01 left in the game for his trip of Towns from the floor.
Meanwhile, Shai Gilgeous-Alexander scored 20 points, Chet Holmgren added 18 and the Oklahoma City Thunder pulled away in the fourth quarter to beat the Houston Rockets, 111-91.
Cason Wallace added 17 off the bench and the NBA-leading Thunder outscored Houston 34-16 in the final quarter to get a fifth straight victory.
Kevin Durant led Houston with 19 points, but he was 0 for 5 on 3-pointers and 7 for 23 overall on a night the Rockets made just 7 of 24 behind the arc.
The Thunder led by two early in the fourth quarter before using an 11-2 run, with a 3-pointer from Ajay Mitchell and two from Wallace, to make it 90-79 with less than nine minutes to go.
In Los Angeles, LaMelo Ball scored 27 of his 30 points in the second half while tying his career high with nine 3-pointers, and the Charlotte Hornets overcame Luka Doncic’s 39 points for a 135-117 victory over the Lakers.
Ball had 11 assists and six rebounds, and he hit eight 3-pointers in the second half alone, gleefully celebrating each one while quieting the home crowd in his native Los Angeles area.
Brandon Miller also scored 26 points for the Hornets, while Miles Bridges added 25 and rookie Kon Knueppel had 19.
Ten days after the sub-.500 Hornets shocked the NBA-leading Oklahoma City Thunder with a 27-point road victory, Charlotte showed another taste of its considerable promise. The Hornets improved to 2-1 on their five-game West Coast trip by running away from Doncic and LeBron James, who had 29 points and nine rebounds.
