Curry, Green help Warriors cruise past Mavericks

Few teams have been able to slow down the Western Conference-leading Golden State Warriors this season, and on the second night of a back-to-back, the Dallas Mavericks were not going to be one of them.

After falling behind 14-8 early on, the Warriors took their first lead Friday with a 12-0 run midway through the first quarter and never looked back, eventually building a 27-point lead en route to a 104-89 victory.

The Warriors improved to 48-12 and a league-best 26-2 at home, maintaining their 4.5-game lead on the second-place Memphis Grizzlies in the West standings.

The Mavericks, meanwhile, now sit just a half-game ahead of the seventh-place San Antonio Spurs in the compact West after their second loss in as many nights.

Stephen Curry scored a game-high 22 points on an efficient 6-of-11 shooting to go with seven assists, while Draymond Green added 18 points, nine rebounds, four assists, a steal and a block while playing some impressive defense on Dirk Nowitzki.

Nowitzki and Rajon Rondo scored 14 apiece to lead only three Mavs players in double-figures (Amar'e Stoudemire chipped in 12 off the bench), but they combined to shoot just 11-of-31 from the field on a night when Dallas shot a pitiful 36.8 percent as a team.