Oakland, Calif. • Stephen Curry scored 22 points, and Golden State coach Steve Kerr tried to break up the monotony of a long season by turning the timeout huddles over to his players in the Warriors’ 129-83 victory over the Phoenix Suns on Monday night.
With the defending champion Warriors dragging a bit leading into the All-Star break this weekend, Kerr apparently searched for a new way to capture his players’ interests by handing over the whiteboard during timeouts to a rotating cast of players, with injured Draymond Green and Andre Iguodala getting most of the chances.
Kerr spent the breaks outside the huddle while his players drew out plays and discussed strategy. The move worked just fine against the struggling Suns, who became the first team with 40 losses this season.
Omri Casspi added 19 points, Kevin Durant had 17 and Klay Thompson and Nick Young each scored 16 as Golden State won its 12th straight in the series, its longest active streak against any team.
Elfrid Payton scored 29 points in his second game since being acquired at the trade deadline from Orlando, but Phoenix still lost its sixth straight and 11th in the past 12 games.
Davis powers Pelicans past Pistons 118-103
PELICAN 118, PISTONS 103 • In Detroit, Anthony Davis had 38 points and 10 rebounds to help the New Orleans Pelicans beat Detroit in another one of his strong performances against the Pistons.
Davis is averaging 30.4 points per game against the Pistons, his highest total against an NBA team. He scored a career-high 59 against them nearly two years ago.
That's one reason the Pelicans have won 11 of the last 12 games against the Pistons.
Detroit attempted to defend Davis with Andre Drummond and Blake Griffin, but they were no match for Davis inside, off the dribble or on the outside. The All-Star was 14 of 24 from the field, including 3 for 6 on 3-pointers.
Nikola Mirotic helped the Pelicans pull away in the third quarter and finished with 21 points and 12 rebounds.
Griffin scored 22 on 8-of-17 shooting. Drummond had 13 points and 21 rebounds.
76ERS 108, KNICKS 92 • In Philadelphia,Dario Saric scored 24 points to lead Philadelphia to its fourth straight win.
J.J. Redick had 18 points and Joel Embiid scored 17 for the 76ers, who won their 10th straight at home to remain in playoff position in the Eastern Conference. Reserve T.J. McConnell had a triple-double with 10 points, 10 rebounds and 11 assists.
Michael Beasley scored 22 points for the Knicks, who have dropped seven in a row. Courtney Lee had 18 points in his first game coming off the bench this season for New York.
CLIPPERS 114, NETS 101 • In New York, Lou Williams scored 20 points and DeAndre Jordan had 16 points and 17 rebounds, lifting the balanced Clippers to the road win.
Los Angeles put seven players in double figures and shot 56.5 percent from the field in its fourth win in five games, bouncing back nicely from a loss in Philadelphia.
Austin Rivers scored 17 points, and reserve Montrezl Harrell collected 15 points on 6-for-6 shooting. The Clippers made 19 of their first 26 shots and won for the 12th time in 17 games.
D'Angelo Russell and Joe Harris each scored 16 for the Nets, who dropped their sixth straight.
BULLS 105, MAGIC 101 • Zach LaVine had a tiebreaking dunk for Chicago after stealing an inbounds pass in the closing seconds.
The Bulls blew an 18-point lead in the fourth quarter but still came away with their second win in three games after dropping seven in a row.
LaVine stole Jonathon Simmons' inbounds attempt with 15 seconds left and finished with a thunderous slam. He added two free throws after Mario Hezonja missed a 3-pointer.
Lauri Markkanen scored 21 points, and LaVine finished with 18 points and seven rebounds.
Hezonja led Orlando with 24 points, and Evan Fournier scored 22.