LOS ANGELES: Draymond Green scored 21 points and Jimmy Butler added a 16-point triple-double as the Golden State Warriors held off the Toronto Raptors 117-114 on Thursday despite an early exit for Stephen Curry.
Butler added 11 rebounds and 12 assists for the Warriors and Green chipped in seven rebounds, five assists and four steals as Golden State kept their hold on sixth place in the Western Conference and direct entry into the playoffs.
Trailing by as many as seven in the third quarter, Golden State took a 93-92 lead into the final period even after losing Curry, who took a frightening fall under the basket.
Curry, who was nursing a sore back before he sat out Tuesday’s win over Milwaukee, was treated on the court before departing with what the team called a pelvic contusion.
“He just kind of fell on his pelvic, tailbone area,” Warriors coach Steve Kerr said, adding that Curry was having an MRI scan after the game to assess the injury.
“He was trying to come back (into the game), he thought he might’ve been able to come back and we just decided not to risk anything,” Kerr added.
In other games the Bucks bounced back from their loss at Golden State on Tuesday with a 118-89 romp past the short-handed Lakers in Los Angeles.
Giannis Antetokounmpo scored 28 points and Gary Trent Jr. added 23 off the bench for Milwaukee, who were without Damian Lillard who sat out with a sore right calf.
The Lakers, still without superstar LeBron James as he recovers from a groin injury, also had Luka Doncic and Austin Reaves on their long list of absentees, both with sprained ankles.
James’s son Bronny James and Dalton Knecht led the Lakers’ scoring with 17 points apiece, Bronny connecting on seven of his 10 shots on the way to his first double-digit scoring game.
But Milwaukee led by as many as 35 in the wire-to-wire victory, which kept the fifth-placed Bucks one game behind the fourth-placed Indiana Pacers in the Eastern Conference.
The Pacers won another close one in Indianapolis, where Bennedict Mathurin scored 28 points and pulled down 16 rebounds in a 105-99 overtime victory over the Brooklyn Nets.
The Pacers have now won three straight games by six or fewer points to improve to 40-29 — boosting their lead over the Bucks and Detroit Pistons for fourth place.
Myles Turner scored 23 points with 10 rebounds and five blocks, including a huge rejection of Keon Johnson with 22.2 seconds left in overtime that preserved a two-point lead.
T.J. McConnell and Mathurin added two free-throws apiece in the waning seconds to seal the victory for a Pacers team again without star guard Tyrese Haliburton because of a sore back.
Mathurin had sent it to overtime with three free-throws to tie it up at the end of regulation.
“Another amazing finish,” said Pacers coach Rick Carlisle. “Mathurin was spectacular, especially in the fourth quarter.”
Brooklyn’s Trendon Watford was ejected late in the fourth quarter after a scuffle that saw Indiana’s Andrew Nembhard and Turner receive technical fouls. Nembhard was ejected in overtime after getting a second technical for jawing with officials.
The New York Knicks, third in the East, failed to find their offensive groove in a 115-98 loss to the Hornets in Charlotte.
The Knicks have dropped six of their last nine games and again felt the effects of Jalen Brunson’s continued absence with a sprained right ankle.
LaMelo Ball scored 25 points to lead the Hornets and Miles Bridges added 15 points and 10 rebounds for the hosts, who snapped a two-game skid.
OG Anunoby scored 25 for the Knicks and Karl-Anthony Towns added 24 points and 10 rebounds, but New York never led after the opening quarter.
