Curry leads Warriors to 50th NBA win

Stephen Curry scored 36 points and the Golden State Warriors became the fastest team in NBA history to 50 wins, beating the Atlanta Hawks 102-92 on Monday after squandering a 23-point lead.

The Warriors (50-5) eclipsed the mark set by the 1995-96 Chicago Bulls, who needed one more game to win their 50th. Of course, that's the team Golden State is chasing, moving another step closer to the record 72-10 mark put up by Michael Jordan and his teammates at the height of their six-titles-in-eight-years dynasty.

"Fifty wins is great," Curry said, "but we've got to keep plugging away and staying hungry, because nobody wants to talk about that in June."

Atlanta closed the third quarter on a 28-6 run and grabbed the lead briefly early in the fourth, igniting the sellout crowd.

But the Warriors would not be denied, bouncing back to hand the Hawks their fourth straight home loss.

Klay Thompson added 27 points for the Warriors. Both he and Curry knocked down five shots from three-point range. Draymond Green had six points, 14 rebounds and nine assists and Andrew Bogut had 11 rebounds and five blocks.

In other games, Detroit topped East-leading Cleveland for the second time this season 96-88, Toronto defeated the New York Knicks 122-95, Minnesota upset Boston 124-122, and the Los Angeles Clippers handed Phoenix its 12th consecutive loss, 124-84.

Reggie Jackson scored 23 points and Kentavious Caldwell-Pope added 19 as Detroit withstood the Cavaliers' late comeback to end a five-game losing streak.

A day after allowing New Orleans centre Anthony Davis to score 59 points, the Pistons beat the Eastern Conference's top team on the road.

Andre Drummond added 15 rebounds for the Pistons, who let an 18-point lead in the fourth quarter dwindle to six before putting away the Cavs.

Kyrie Irving scored 30 and Kevin Love 24 for Cleveland, while LeBron James scored just 12 points - 13 below his average.