KLAY THOMPSON powered the Golden State Warriors to a 123-92 win over the depleted Chicago Bulls on Wednesday.

    He celebrated his 27th birthday with a game-high 28 points on 10-of-18 shooting (6-of-9 from beyond the arc).

    Four nights after a 10-point dud in Sacramento, Kevin Durant (22 points, 10 rebounds, seven assists) returned to his aggressive ways. Draymond Green (19 points, eight rebounds, six assists) and JaVale McGee (13 points) also helped withstand a quiet night from Stephen Curry.

    Midway through the second quarter, on a missed jumper by Rajon Rondo, Green rose for the defensive rebound and accidentally tapped the ball against the glass with his right hand. It clanked off the front rim and through the net.

    Green bounced the ball in frustration, inbounded to Shaun Livingston, ambled upcourt and caught a pass at the top of the arc. After netting the three-pointer to give Golden State a 14-point lead, he grinned and high-fived several teammates.

    It was a telling sequence: In a game riddled with miscues, the Warriors had no trouble recovering. The Bulls, who entered Wednesday tied for seventh in the Eastern Conference at 26-26, were slogging through the fourth game of a six-game, 12-day road trip without two of their best players.

    Jimmy Butler was sidelined by a right heel contusion, and Dwyane Wade hung back at the team hotel with an upper respiratory illness. That duo had accounted for 42.6 percent of the per-game scoring for the league’s eighth-worst offense. Against a Warriors lineup that boasts four All-Stars, Bulls head coach Fred Hoiberg started the likes of Paul Zipser and Jerian Grant.

    An early 13-0 run gave Golden State distance. By the early stages of the third quarter, its lead had ballooned to 20. Fans were already filing toward the exits when seldom-used rookie Damian Jones’ 18-foot jumper with 2:15 left put the Warriors up 119-88.

    Wednesday’s win extended Golden State’s NBA-record streak of regular-season games without back-to-back defeats to 138. Though they were far from their peak brilliance, the Warriors exorcised the memory of Saturday’s overtime loss to Sacramento.

    That had been a deviation from their norm in more ways than the final score: Steve Kerr was ejected for the first time in his career; teammates bickered on the bench; players stood around and watch during key situations.(SD-Agencies)