den State improved its NBA-leading record to 19-2 a

OAKLAND, Calif. - Steve Kerr knew he had a lot of expectations on him after taking over a Golden State Warriors team that Mark Jackson led to a 51-win season and back-to-back playoff appearances.In less than two months, Kerr has built on his predecessors success and eclipsed every rookie coach that came before him.Klay Thompson and Stephen Curry shook off slow starts to finish with a flurry, and the Warriors extended their franchise-best winning streak to 14 games by beating the Houston Rockets 105-93 on Wednesday night.Golden State improved its NBA-leading record to 19-2 and helped Kerr carve out a slice of history. Kerr became the first rookie coach to win 19 of his first 21 games.It means Im the luckiest coach in NBA history, Kerr said. Because I inherited a team that was already really good.And apparently made them even better.Thompson scored 21 points and Curry added 20 points, seven assists and seven rebounds to power an 11-0 run in the final minutes and turn a tight game into another comfortable win. About the only thing Kerr said he could complain about was the postgame meal, and he even laughed that off.You just want to pile up wins in the West, Kerr said. Keep putting some numbers in the win column because theres 61 games left.James Harden played through back pain to finish with 34 points and eight rebounds for the Rockets, who had won four straight and seven of eight despite centre Dwight Howard being sidelined.Howard (strained right knee) and Warriors big man Andrew Bogut (right knee tendinitis) both sat out with injuries, and the smaller lineups worked in Golden States favour in the end.The Warriors outscored Houston 32-17 in the fourth quarter.Theyre a good team and they broke us down a little bit, Harden said. We got too spread out on defence.The teams traded baskets for most of the game, and anytime one side began to pull away, the other followed with another spectacular play — until Golden States final push.Harden hit a tying 3-pointer with 4:45 remaining, and the Warriors answered in dramatic fashion: Draymond Green roared down the lane for a soaring dunk, Harrison Barnes started a three-point play with a driving layup over Harden and Thompson blocked Patrick Beverly from behind and finished a finger-roll layup on the other end.But the Warriors still werent done.After the Rockets called timeout, Green came up with a steal and passed ahead to Curry for a layup. The Warriors got another stop and Thompson hit two free throws to give Golden State a 100-89 lead.You lose probably one of the top centres in the league (without Bogut), so we tried to make up for that by being quick and scrappy, said Barnes, who finished with 20 points and seven rebounds.Trevor Ariza and Donatas Motiejunas each scored 18 for the Rockets. Golden State outshot Houston 49.4 to 41.6 per cent, and each team had 15 turnovers.They attacked us off the dribble and we didnt handle that very well, Rockets coach Kevin McHale said. They got some open stuff, and when they went small, it bothered us.TIP-INSRockets: Howard has missed 10 straight games. He hopes to return Saturday at home against Denver. ... Francisco Garcia (strained right calf/Achilles), Isaiah Canaan (sprained left ankle), Terrence Jones (nerve inflammation in left leg) and Kostas Papanikolaou (strained right knee) also sat out.Warriors: Al Cervi had the previous best start for a coach, winning 18 of his first 20 games with the Syracuse Nationals in the 1949-50 season. ... Kerr said he doesnt expect Bogut to miss additional time with tendinitis. ... David Lee, who has played in just one game because of a strained left hamstring, is scheduled to practice Thursday and will travel with the team on its upcoming trip.RODMANS RANTDennis Rodman made headlines the past couple days when he said Kerr, his former teammate with the Chicago Bulls, is basically just sitting on the bench while his players and assistants do most of the work. Asked about Rodmans comments, Kerr joked: Well, thats actually pretty accurate.NEXT UPRockets: At Sacramento on Thursday.Warriors: At Dallas on Saturday. Yeezy Boost 350 Danmark Køb .K. Subban and Matt Duchene will be the two skaters sitting out the teams opening game. Yeezy Sko Tilbud .Y. - Major League Soccer is prepared to start its season this weekend even if there isnt a labour deal with its referees and other on-field officials. http://www.yeezyskodanmark.com/. -- A.J. Burnett was happy to escape from New York. Adidas Zx Flux Danmark . Louis Cardinals on Sunday afternoon; a brief, poor outing that served to highlight two trends that have developed this season. Yeezy Boost 350 V2 Danmark .com) - Kam Chancellor bobbed his head in celebration as he crossed the goal line on his game-clinching 90-yard interception return.NEW YORK -- Marcus Thornton has been around the Brooklyn Nets for only two weeks, so hes still trying to learn his new teams playbook. According to Nets first-year coach Jason Kidd, there are some plays his reserve guard understands pretty well. "Its called shoot it," Kidd said. Thornton did just that on his way to scoring 15 of his 27 points in the fourth quarter against his old team while Joe Johnson added 18 points to help Brooklyn overcame an injury to Paul Pierce in a 104-89 victory over the Sacramento Kings on Sunday night. Alan Anderson had 11 points and Shaun Livingston and Deron Williams each scored 10 points as the Nets won for the fifth time in six games. Brooklyns win was its seventh straight at the Barclays Center, matching a season-high set Dec. 27, 2013 to Jan. 24, 2014. Thornton, acquired from the Kings in exchange for Reggie Evans and Jason Terry on Feb. 19, took it to his former teammates over a four-minute stretch that bridged the end of the third quarter and the opening minutes of the fourth. With 5.5 seconds remaining in the third, Thornton made a 3-pointer to extend Brooklyns lead to 77-65. Thornton then continued his streak of 13 straight points by opened up the final quarter with a drive to the basket to extend the lead. He then stripped the ball from Ray McCallum and finger-rolled it to make it 81-65. McCallum later would throw the ball out of bounds and Andray Blatche found Thornton for another 3 that made it 84-68. He then concluded his hot streak with another 3 right over former teammates Rudy Gay and DeMarcus Cousins to make it 87-69 with 9:58 to go and the Nets never looked back leading by as many as 24 in the period. "Anytime you see the ball go through the net, you get confidence about yourself," said Thornton, who scored 15 straight against Memphis last week. "I credit my teammates for finding me in spots I can be effective in. And my shots were going down." So far, Thornton been able to show flashes of that scorer Brooklyn was looking to add when they swung the deal before the trade deadline. Hes averaged 11.8 points in six games despite his limited knowledge of the teams offensive scheme. "If Im open, Im (going) to shoot it,&quuot; he said.dddddddddddd Thorntons presence off the bench will be even more crucial if Pierce is out for an extended amount of time. After the game, Kidd said the team would re-evaluate Pierce and Andrei Kirilenko, who left the game in the third quarter after spraining his right ankle. "Well, I stepped on Derons foot in the first quarter and felt a little tweak," Kirilenko said. "I thought I could keep going but obviously it just stopped me. I dont think its a serious injury." Brooklyn will host the Atlantic Division-leading Toronto Raptors on Monday night. The Raptors currently hold a four-game lead over the second-place Nets. Kings coach Michael Malone was criticial of the way the team mishandled the ball throughout the night while also singling out the way they shared the ball. "Once again we continue to beat ourselves on the road. Eleven assists in 48-minute game is absurd. More importantly is the 25 turnovers for 28 points," Malone said. "What I see now on both ends of the floor is a disease of me. Were becoming a selfish basketball team." Of the 25 turnovers forced by the Nets, 14 were steals. Cousins had 20 points and 28 rebounds to lead the Kings, and Gay added 20 points. "Turnovers killed us tonight," Cousins said. "Turnovers and Id say selfish basketball, thats what really hurt us tonight. We let Marcus Thornton get hot. We let one of those shooters hurt us and thats what kind of sealed the game." Brooklyn led by 16 points in the first half after losing Pierce to a right shoulder injury in the early minutes of the first quarter. However, Brooklyn outscored Sacramento 47-32 the rest of the way. Pierce got hurt with just under 11 minutes left in the first quarter when Sacramentos Jason Thompson backed him into the paint and as he kept looking to post Pierce in the paint, he quickly spun around for a layup. Pierce felt the force of Thompson banging into him and clutched his shoulder. Kevin Garnett has also missed the last five games with back spasms. NOTES: Brooklyn improved to 14-11 against the Western Conference this season but are 10-3 since Jan. 1. ... Brooklyns reserves outscored their counterparts 59-19. ' ' '