Warriors too good for Los Angeles Lakers

Brandon Bass of Los Angeles Lakers (second from left) loses his footing as he clashes with Golden State Warriors’ Marreese Speights in their NBA game at the Staples Center in Los Angeles on Tuesday. The Warriors won 109-88. —AFP

Guard Klay Thompson scored 36 points and Stephen Curry tallied 17 before heading to the locker room with a recurring leg injury as the Golden State Warriors beat the Los Angeles Lakers 109-88 in their NBA match.

The reigning league MVP Curry took another blow in the third quarter on Tuesday on his sore left leg that kept him out of two games last week. He missed all of the fourth quarter on Tuesday.

Los Angeles star Kobe Bryant missed his third consecutive game with a sore right shoulder. The Lakers also had their three-game win streak halted.

In another match, Jimmy Butler scored 32 points as the Chicago Bulls stretched their winning streak to a season-high five games with a 117-106 victory over the Milwaukee Bucks.

The Bulls opened the first quarter on a 10-0 run and never trailed, despite the Bucks pulling to within one point twice in the game in front of a crowd of 21,600 at the United Center arena.

Butler, who was coming off a 42-point performance against Toronto on Sunday, continued to have the hot hand on Tuesday.

He scored 12 points in the first quarter and had 20 points by halftime.

Butler shot 11-of-21 from the field, eight-of-eight from the free-throw line and dished out 10 assists on the night.

“I am used to playing with talent, USA Basketball, the select team. The way Jimmy is playing now is unreal,” said Derrick Rose. The Bulls improved to 21-12 on the season.