SEATTLE — Really, it wasn’t Golden State’s hot start that set the KeyArena scoreboard ablaze.
The Warriors were rolling before a spotlight on the scoreboard caught fire Sunday night. Seattle firefighters extinguished the flames, but not Golden State’s offense.
Stephen Jackson and Al Harrington led the Warriors with 20 points apiece, and the highest-scoring team in the NBA jumped to a 19-point lead in the first quarter and coasted past the SuperSonics, 109-96 for their sixth straight win.
Golden State is 9-1 in its past 10 games, surging above .500 and quickly making fans forget the Warriors’ 0-6 start.
“We came in with a focus to get on these guys early,” Jackson said. “We were just able to stay on them. It definitely shows signs of growth.”
The game was delayed about 15 minutes in the first quarter when arena officials noticed a small fire coming from a spotlight attached to the bottom of the scoreboard above the court and smoke shooting from the top. The scoreboard was lowered just above the floor, firefighters used an extinguisher to put out the flames and detached the spotlight.
“It was kind of fun. I’ve never seen anything like that burning,” Golden State’s Andris Biedrins said.
The delay certainly didn’t cool off the Warriors. Golden State led 17-8 at the time and only built on its lead after the fire was put out. The Warriors scored 14 of the next 18 points to take a 31-12 lead.
“You can’t complain when you have a lead like that,” Warriors coach Don Nelson said. “Those (games) are the hardest ones to coach, to keep a lead. Teams makes comebacks, but I thought we kept the lead and did a good job of doing that.”
Biedrins had 10 points and 10 rebounds before the first quarter ended. Four Warriors were in double figures by halftime.
Golden State led by as many as 26 in the first half, and 28 in the fourth quarter. All five starters finished in double figures and Kelenna Azubuike added 14 off the bench.
Biedrins finished with 18 points and 16 rebounds. Monta Ellis had 18, and Baron Davis finished with 14 points, eight rebounds and nine assists. The Warriors hit 11 3-pointers, including seven in the first half.
“We’re going to have nights like this when guys don’t miss. Those guys came out early and hit every shot, especially from behind the 3,” Seattle’s Chris Wilcox said.
Two nights after becoming the last team in the NBA to win at home with a strong defensive effort against Indiana, the Sonics reverted to previous form with lax defense and poor shooting.
Seattle shot just 25 percent in the first quarter and 32 percent in the first half, in part due to the Warriors’ improved defense that has kept four of their last five opponents under 100 points.
Rookie Kevin Durant, coming off a season-high 35 points against Indiana, missed his first six shots, went scoreless in the first half and finished with just six points. He missed 10 of 12 shots, including a dunk in the fourth quarter that landed in front of the Warriors’ bench.
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