Talented Warriors head into 76ers game in a foul mood

The NBA's most exciting team will come to town Monday for its only appearance of the year, a squad that scores big, defends hard, and has two all-star guards simply playing out of their minds.

One more thing: The Golden State Warriors will arrive for the game at the Wells Fargo Center against the 76ers not in the best of moods.

The Warriors (40-9) have the best record in the stacked Western Conference and are in the running to win the franchise's first NBA title since 1975.

Yet, after a 106-92 win Saturday over the New York Knicks at Madison Square Garden, the team's fourth game in five days, there was no gloating in the Warriors locker room.

That's because they held a 21-point lead early in the fourth quarter, only to see the 10-41 Knicks whittle it down to five points with more than four minutes remaining.

And that came one night after losing to the surprising Atlanta Hawks, 124-116, on the road.

So, if anybody expects the Warriors to take a Sixers team that is 12-40 but has won four straight home games lightly, think again.

"They don't feel good about the way we played," first-year coach Steve Kerr said. "What I like about our team is they always respond when they don't play well or lose a game, and I expect a much better game in Philadelphia."

The Warriors are identified by the best backcourt in the NBA, the Splash brothers - Stephen Curry, 26, and Klay Thompson, 25.

Curry (23.6 ppg.) has earned his second straight All-Star Game appearance, while Thompson (22.4 ppg.) will be heading to his first All-Star Game on Sunday at Madison Square Garden. Golden State leads the NBA in scoring with 111.3 points per game.

No one in the NBA can get his shot off quicker than Curry, who is much more than a shooter, averaging 7.9 assists.

The 6-foot-7 Thompson might be the best two-way shooting guard, a diligent defender who can really shoot it.

Thompson was unstoppable on Jan. 23, when he set an NBA record for points in a quarter in a 126-101 win over Sacramento. He scored 37 points in the third quarter without missing a shot. He hit all 13 from the field, was 9 for 9 from beyond the arc, and hit both foul shots.

"It is something I will tell my kids someday," said Thompson, who finished with 52 points. "Hopefully it will stand for a long time, and I think it may be pretty hard to break."

It could be just as hard as stopping the two guards, the sons of former NBA players Dell Curry and Mychal Thompson.

This team is so deep that two former all-stars, David Lee and former Sixer Andre Iguodala, come off the bench. Iguodala is averaging 7.0 points in 26.8 minutes, but Kerr says statistics don't tell the entire story.

"I think he is one of the best players on our team, but I bring him off the bench because I think that is best for our club, and he has handled it really well," Kerr said.

The Warriors are so deep that no player averages as much as 34 minutes a game. A key will be keeping center Andrew Bogut healthy. He has already missed 14 games. Forward Draymond Green (11.4 ppg.) has been among the most improved players in the league.

When their opening-day starting lineup of Curry, Thompson, Green, Bogut, and Harrison Barnes begins games, the Warriors are 29-3.

The Warriors have come a long way from the team that was eliminated in the first round of last year's playoffs by the Los Angeles Clippers. Wins aren't enough. Style points count, which is why the Warriors come to Philadelphia a little on the grumpy side.

"If we play the way we played [Saturday] in the playoffs, we aren't going anywhere," Curry said. "That is the kind of mentality we need."

That means the Sixers should see their best effort, which, for most of the year, has produced spectacular results.

@sjnard