REIGNING NBA Most Valuable Player Stephen Curry scored 40 points in three quarters and the Golden State Warriors easily defeated the Charlotte Hornets 116-99 Wednesday night to extend the best start in NBA history to 20-0.

    On a night when the Hornets honored Curry’s father, Dell, the franchise’s career scoring leader, it was his oldest son who stole the spotlight by hitting 14 of 18 shots from the field and going 8 for 11 from three-point range.

    Stephen Curry, who grew up in Charlotte and starred at nearby Davidson College, scored 28 points in the pivotal third quarter, including his team’s final 24. He hit 10 of 11 shots from the field, including all five threes — many from well beyond the arc and in the face of a defender — to help the Warriors build a 21-point cushion.

    He sat out the entire fourth quarter due to the big lead and didn’t get a shot to break his career high of 54.

    “It was a cool atmosphere to play in, especially on top of my dad’s ceremony,” Stephen Curry said. “It was nice to be out there at halftime and hear his speech and stand with my mom, my sister, my aunts and my grandma. It was a good night. I can’t ask for more. To play like I did and get the win was special.”

    He said the 20-0 start to the season seems surreal.

    “It doesn’t even sound right,” he said. “In the NBA, with so many good players and good teams, to be able to put on a run like this is special. We don’t always play our best but we find ways to win. That’s the strength of our team. Every night a different guy might step up and have a huge game and do the little things that don’t show up in the stat sheet.”

    Nicolas Batum led Charlotte with 17 points and eight rebounds.

    Former Cougar Klay Thompson had 15 of his 21 points in the first quarter as the Warriors bolted to an early 15-point lead.

    Midway through the third quarter Curry got rolling, launching deep three-pointers, several times turning and jogging back down court well before the ball even went through the net.

    “He knows the ball’s going in before the rest of us,” Warriors interim coach Luke Walton said.

    Curry has six 40-point games already this season.

    “Nobody has had an answer for him for two years now,” Batum said. “You try to make him work hard, but I don’t think we’ve seen anybody shoot like him — that’s pretty impressive. You have to make him work hard and hope he misses and have a bad day.”

    Hornets rookie Frank Kaminsky had a career-high 16 points. The team’s first-round draft pick saw increased action with Jefferson out, as did Tyler Hansbrough.(SD-Agencies)