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Curry, Warriors open trek against Cavaliers

Dec 29, 2013 - 3:28 PM (SportsNetwork.com) - Stephen Curry will try to lead the Golden State Warriors to a fifth straight win Sunday against the Cleveland Cavaliers in the opener of a season-long, seven-game road trip.

The Warriors will face seven teams from the east, including Orlando, Miami, Atlanta, Washington, Milwaukee and Brooklyn. They are 7-9 away from Oracle Arena this season and went 6-1 on a seven-game trek last December.

Golden State made it four straight wins overall with Friday's 115-86 victory versus the Phoenix Suns behind Curry's third triple-double of his career and second this season. He scored 14 points and set career-highs in rebounds (13) and assists (16) in 34 minutes.

"Everything was shooting, other guys got it going. I was just trying to feed the hot hand and that was pretty much the other four guys on the court. Credit it to them for finishing out the plays," Curry said.

Klay Thompson added 21 points and David Lee finished with 17 points, seven boards and five assists for the Warriors. Lee had posted 10 straight double- doubles, averaging 21.6 points and 12.3 rebounds per game in that stretch.

Meanwhile, the Cavaliers are making news both on and off the court. They have lost four in a row and six of the last seven games, and suspended center Andrew Bynum indefinitely Saturday for conduct detrimental to the team.

The suspension was announced before a 103-100 loss to the Boston Celtics and Bynum did not accompany the team to Beantown. Bynum allegedly had a flare up with Cavs coach Mike Brown during practice and also sat out the fourth quarter and both overtimes of Thursday's loss to Atlanta.

Cleveland took a huge gamble on Bynum this offseason after he missed the entire 2012-13 campaign with Philadelphia because of knee issues. Bynum, who adds size in the middle and takes up space, was gradually getting into form with the Cavs and could be released by the team. The 26-year-old has averaged 8.4 points, 5.3 rebounds and 1.2 blocks in 24 games this season.

Bynum had arthroscopic surgery on both knees in March and signed a two-year deal worth close to $25 million with Cleveland in July. Only $6 million of that is guaranteed though, as the Cavs can waive the seven-footer before Jan. 7 and relieve themselves of the remainder.

Cavs star Kyrie Irving commented on the issue.

"It's just a terrible situation internally with our team. It's just something we have to get over."

Irving did all he could to lift Cleveland past the Celtics and scored 32 points on 13-of-22 shooting. Dion Waiters and Jarrett Jack scored 17 and 14 points, respectively, for the Cavs, who scored 34 of the 52 points in the fourth quarter.

"The last couple of possessions down the floor I thought that Dion did a nice job of turning the corner, playing pick and roll with Anthony Bennett, turning the corner and getting to the rim," Brown said. "If he had the ability to do that right away, go ahead and do that, attack the rim. He played well the last few minutes."

Irving has scored 30 or more points five times in the last nine games and has recorded 20 or more points in eight of the last 10 contests. Tristan Thompson was held to seven points and grabbed seven rebounds, and was averaging 14.0 points and 10.3 rebounds in his previous 12 games.

Cleveland is 8-6 at Quicken Loans Arena this season and lost both meetings with Golden State a season ago. The Warriors have won five straight in this series and the last three games at the Q.