THE Golden State Warriors (5-0) left the weekend atop the West after toppling the Houston Rockets (6-1), who until then had been unbeaten. Despite a bad scoring night for one ‘Splash Brother’, Klay Thompson, the Warriors were again staunch defensively, scoring 98 to Houston’s 87 as the other ‘Splash Brother’ Stephen Curry amassed 34 points, 10 rebounds, five assists, and four steals.

The Memphis Grizzlies, however, after a stellar week in which they defeated the Phoenix Suns (3-3) 102-91 and the OKC Thunder (1-5) 91-89, squandered their chance to remain top after suffering a shocking defeat to the Eastern minnows Milwaukee Bucks (2-4). Brandon Knight three-point play in the dying seconds sealed a 93-92 win for the Bucks.

The Sacramento Kings (5-1), meanwhile, are an over-performing team, led by Rudy Gay and DeMarcus Cousins. In Friday’s double-overtime game against the Suns, Cousins collected 25 points and 18 rebounds before fouling out at the end of regulation time. However, the Sacramento’s defence outlasted Phoenix as Rudy Gay turned a horrid night around by hitting the winning fadeaway jumper.

Though neither are as bad as the Thunder who have only won one game in their injury-riddled season, nor the winless LA Lakers (0-5), the San Antonio Spurs (2-3) had not have the start they would have been hoping for. A 98-81 loss to the Rockets was followed by a tight 100-99 loss to the New Orleans Pelicans as Anthony Davis scored the final two of his 27 points on a game-winning layup.

The LA Clippers meanwhile extended their record to 4-2 with a 106-102 win over Portland Trailblazers (3-3).

Cavaliers continue to struggle

THE Cleveland Cavaliers (2-3) cohesion problems have persisted this week as they lost 102-100 to the Utah Jazz as Gordon Hayward hit a buzzer-beating fadeaway despite Kyrie Irving’s 34 points and LeBron James’ 31.

They also suffered a 19-point loss to the travelling Trailblazers as they continue to lag significantly in assists count. In fact, their only win of the week came when James had 11 and Irving had six of the 25 team assists in beating the Denver Nuggets 110-101.

The Indiana Pacers (1-6) have also struggled, losing Jamaican-born centre Roy Hibbert to injury this week. In the misfortune of these big names, the Toronto Raptors (5-1) have capitalised, topping the conference on the back of Kyle Lowry’s superb play including his franchise record-setting triple-double of 13 points, 11 assists and 10 rebounds. Lowry, who now has the most triple-doubles by a Raptors player ever (six), led his team in defeating conference second-place Washington Wizards (5-2) 103-84.

Derrick Rose returned for the Chicago Bulls (5-2) and had 13 points and seven assists to help defeat the Milwaukee Bucks 95-86, but then aggravated his injury and did not play again for the week. Miami Heat (4-2) continue to do well, defeating Western foe Minnesota Timberwolves (2-4) 102-92 as Dwyane Wade had 25 points, Chris Bosh had 24, and Luol Deng added 14.

Top point-guard Rajon Rondo is inching nearer to a return for the Boston Celtics (3-3) and will possibly play against the OKC Thunder tomorrow.