Following some well-earned rest, the Golden State Warriors will finally get to spend some time at home.
The Warriors begin a stretch on Tuesday night in which eight of their next 11 games will be at Oracle Arena as they take on the struggling New Orleans Hornets, losers of seven in a row.
Golden State got a few days off after concluding a seven-game road trip with Saturday's 115-93 win over the Atlanta Hawks. The Warriors went 6-1 on the swing, their first six-victory road trip in team history, and bounced back after losing the previous night in Orlando.
Despite playing the second of back-to-back nights, the Warriors set season highs in points scored, assists (32) and bench points (51).
"It was important for us to bounce back and show everyone that we're in this for the long run," Warriors coach Mark Jackson said. "Our bench did a great job tonight."
David Lee recorded his career-high seventh straight 20-10 game with 20 points and 11 rebounds, while Stephen Curry just missed a triple-double with 18 points, 11 assists and eight boards.
Lee averaged 23.6 points and 13.3 rebounds over the seven-game swing and at 16-8, the Warriors are off to their best start since 1991-92.
Harrison Barnes and Carl Landry each had 19 points, with the latter also grabbing seven rebounds off the bench. Jarrett Jack had 13 points and eight assists as a reserve.
"I knew they were tired. I told them before the game that I'm tired, so I know they're tired," said Jackson. "But that's no excuse; 6-1 sounds better than 5-2 and that's important for us, because the good teams finish the course."
Golden State now stands at 10-5 on the road this season and next looks to improve on its 6-3 mark at home.
The Hornets continue their four-game road trip tonight and stand at just 2-8 as the visiting team this season. They began their swing on Sunday in Portland, falling 95-94 to the Trail Blazers for their 16th loss in 18 games.
New Orleans' Austin Rivers hit a 3-pointer with 50.9 seconds left in the fourth to even the game, but the Hornets failed to go ahead on their next possession. Portland rookie Damian Lillard then drained a 3-pointer with three-tenths of a second left and New Orleans only managed a two-point basket as time expired.
"We put ourselves in the hole in the first half with turnovers, giving them easy buckets, and we had a couple guys out there that just didn't give us much tonight," Hornets coach Monty Williams said.
"That puts us in a hole, so we had a group of guys in the second half that competed and played hard. We certainly had a chance to win down the stretch, and our guys just fight. There are a lot of nights we're out-matched talent wise, but when you fight like that you give yourself a chance to win."
Ryan Anderson paced New Orleans with 26 points and seven 3-pointers. Greivis Vasquez recorded a double-double with 23 points and 11 assists for the Hornets, who will try to avoid losing eight in a row for the first time since Jan. 29-Feb. 10 of last season.
Vasquez has seven double-digit assist games this campaign.
New Orleans won two of its three meetings with Golden State last season, winning twice on the road.
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