The Golden State Warriors notched their record-equaling 72nd victory of the NBA season Sunday, beating the Spurs in San Antonio 92-86 in a Western Conference heavyweight clash. The reigning NBA champion Warriors improved to 72-9, matching the league record for regular-season wins set by the 72-10 Chicago Bulls led by Michael Jordan in 1995-96. The Warriors can break the record with a victory Wednesday, when they conclude the regular-season against the Memphis Grizzlies at home in Oakland. "We've got a great group of guys, that really sacrifice every single night," Warriors star Stephen Curry, who scored 37 points, said of what it took to reach the milestone. "We're competitive, we're hungry. We care about each other. I think we try to play the right way." The Warriors' hopes of matching or exceeding the Bulls' mark had dwindled with losses to the Minnesota Timberwolves and Boston Celtics this month. Golden State eked out a 100-99 victory over the Grizzlies in Memphis Saturday, but the clash with the Spurs, who were a perfect 39-0 at home this season going into the contest, was seen as a major hurdle. Warriors coach Steve Kerr called it one of the team's best wins of the season, as his players coped with the second night of a back-to-back in hostile territory. "It was a true team win," Kerr said. "Steph was just amazing and so was Draymond (Green). Particularly against the kind of defense that we saw, both guys were just brilliant." With that said, Kerr noted that the victory "means nothing come playoff time." San Antonio had won 48 straight regular-season games on their home floor dating back to last season, and the Warriors hadn't won a regular-season game there since 1997. Rockets 130, Lakers 110: James Harden used the final appearance for Kobe Bryant in Houston as his personal stage, coming alive in the fourth quarter of the Rockets' win over Los Angeles. Harden scored 20 of his game-high 40 points in the final period and added 13 assists and four steals. The Rockets are one game behind the Utah Jazz for the final Western Conference playoff spot with two regular-season games remaining. Raptors 93, Knicks 89: DeMar DeRozan scored 27 points and the Toronto Raptors kept alive their slim chances of securing the top seed in the Eastern Conference with a 93-89 victory over the New York Knicks. By holding off the Knicks, Toronto (54-26) is two games behind Cleveland (56-24). If the Raptors win out and the Cavaliers lose both their games, the top spot goes to Toronto by virtue of winning the three-game season series. Toronto ends the season against Philadelphia and Brooklyn while Cleveland finishes with Atlanta and Detroit. Pacers 129, Nets 105: For the fifth time in six seasons, the Indiana Pacers qualified for the NBA playoffs. Indiana led by 20 points after one quarter on its way to a 129-105 victory over the Brooklyn Nets Sunday in Bankers Life Fieldhouse that secured a spot in the Eastern Conference playoffs. In other games it was: Jazz 100, Nuggets 84; Heat 118, Magic 96; Wizards 113, Hornets 98; Clippers 98, Mavericks 91; Bucks 109, 76ers 108 (overtime). — Agencies
