Warriors One Away from 73!!!

 

Stephen Curry now truly belongs in the same sentence with Michael Jordan. Curry and the rest of the Golden State Warriors have earned their place in history by matching an NBA milestone that once upon a time seemed as unreachable as Wilt Chamberlain’s 100-point game and Bill Russell’s 11 championships as a player.

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But amazing things can happen when talented players share the ball, defend and actually take the regular season seriously. Imagine that.

And by Wednesday, the Golden State Warriors can complete their run at the 1995-96 Chicago Bulls by posting one more victory at home in their final regular-season game.

“That’s the opportunity we have now,” Curry said following Sunday’s 92-86 win over the Spurs in San Antonio, “so why not?”

The Warriors got to 72 wins on Sunday the hard way: beating a conference rival that had won all 39 home games this season. Plus, the Warriors never win in San Antonio. Their last regular-season win along the Riverwalk was 1997, when Curry was 8 years old. Tim Duncan was a senior at Wake Forest.

“Nobody, and I mean nobody, beats the Golden State Warriors 34 straight times,” Steve Kerr joked afterwards.

After snapping a 33-game losing streak to San Antonio, the Warriors can set a record at home Wednesday by beating the Memphis Grizzlies.

Golden State is 72-9, including an NBA-record 34 road wins. The Warriors also became the first team in league history to go an entire season without back-to-back losses. Think about that: not one losing streak since the season began in late October.

“We have a great group of guys that really sacrifice every night, care about each other and try to play the right away,” said Curry, who scored 16 of his 37 points in the third quarter.

It’s refreshing that in a day and age when some NBA players and even some teams view the regular season as an 82-game inconvenience, the defending champions have taken the more professional approach. Try telling Draymond Green the regular season is meaningless.

This was a trying week for the Warriors, starting with a stunning home loss to the Timberwolves. Two nights later, they defeated the Spurs in Oakland to clinch the best overall record and suddenly Kerr was talking crazy. The Warriors coach, who was a reserve guard on the Bulls’ 72-win team, broached the idea of resting his stars if that was in fact what the players wanted.

Not happening.

New Orleans Saints Will Smith Dead.

 

 

Former New Orleans Saints player Will Smith was killed in a case of road-rage, by a Humvee-driving man who rear-ended his Mercedes and then shot him in the back and side, according to a police warrant read in court. 

Cardell Hayes, 28, was ordered held on $1 million bond Sunday night after police arrested him on a charge of second-degree murder.

Smith, 34, was beloved by fans for helping the Saints win the 2009 Super Bowl, and for remaining in the community with his wife, Racquel, and their three children as New Orleans recovered from Hurricane Katrina. He had been enjoying a street festival Saturday, posting a photo of himself and his wife on Twitter and Instagram with the caption: “Having a blast at the (hash)fqf2016 (at) French Quarter Fest.”

At about 11:30 Saturday night in the upscale Lower Garden District, Hayes’ Humvee H2 rear-ended Smith’s Mercedes G63, pushing it into a Chevrolet Impala occupied by two of Smith’s acquaintances. Hayes and Smith argued, and Hayes shot both Smith and Smith’s wife, Racquel, police said. She was taken to a hospital with a leg wound.

The accident that police said touched off the deadly confrontation was the second within moments, defense attorney John Fuller explained outside the courthouse. He said Hayes ran into the back of Smith’s Mercedes while following a hit-and-run driver who had rear-ended his Humvee and sped off. Fuller wouldn’t say whether Hayes identified the Mercedes as the vehicle that had rear-ended him.

Hayes is not guilty of murder, and the story is more complex than the police account, Fuller said. He said Hayes called 911 after he was hit, and persuaded a witness who was about to leave to remain and talk to police.

Police spokesman Tyler Gamble told The Associated Press in an email Sunday that he had no immediate information about the witness or the 911 call.

Fuller asked for low bond Sunday night, noting that Hayes had waited for police, owns a towing business and is raising his 5-year-old son.

Magistrate Brigid Collins said she understood, but according to the warrant, “I’ve also got a gentleman who was shot in the back.”

Prosecutors have 60 days to decide whether to bring the second-degree murder charge against Hayes, who had a hearing scheduled Monday to inform the magistrate’s court of his permanent attorney. Fuller, who represented him Sunday, said someone else from his law firm will represent Hayes because he’s been appointed as a temporary judge starting May 2.

Online court records show Hayes pleaded guilty in 2014 to possessing an illegal weapon and drug paraphernalia.

The gun Hayes carried Saturday was legal, Fuller said, noting that police didn’t accuse him of any weapons charge. Gamble said the gun hadn’t been reported stolen, but tracing its actual history takes more time.

Hayes sued the New Orleans Police Department and six officers after police killed his father in 2005. Police settled the lawsuit in 2011. The settlement is confidential, said attorney Ike Spears, who represented Hayes in that lawsuit.

Smith was a standout player. A native of Queens, New York, played for Ohio State’s 2002 national championship team and graduated in 2005 with a degree in criminology.

New Orleans chose him in the first round of the 2004 draft, and he led the Saints with a career-high 13 sacks in 2009. Smith’s 67 career sacks rank fourth in Saints history. The New Orleans Saints Hall of Fame says Smith had been unanimously voted into the hall last month.