Dallas – Two nights after Kelly Oubre Jr. dropped 40 points in a blowout win over the Dallas Mavericks. Stephen Curry scored 57 points going deep from the arc 11 times tonight. But, Curry’s efforts were not enough as the Mavericks bounced back for a wild 134-132 win over the Warriors.
“I don’t think we lost the game, I think Dallas won the game,” Golden State’s head coach Steve Kerr said. “Dallas just made the shots, made the plays and they earned it.”
Dallas opened the game on an 18-2 run. After a timeout by Kerr, the Warriors ended the first quarter down by four points while going on a 10-0 run. Golden State trailed most of the way, but tied the game in the third quarter and took a brief 96-95 lead on a three-pointer by Andrew Wiggins.
The Mavericks responded every time the Warriors took the lead. Golden State came back twice down by 10 in the fourth to cut the lead within one in the final seconds. Maxi Kleber hit an open 3-point shot from the corner to put the Dallas up 134-130 with 6.3 seconds left to seal the win.
Curry had one another phenomenal night this season. He dropped a game-high 57 points, the most Curry’s scored since his 62 point night against the Portland Trail Blazers last month. He has two of the five 50-plus points games in the NBA this season.
“He’s never played better,” said Kerr. “We’re talking about a two-time MVP, three-time champion. I’ve never seen him like this. He just looks so strong. To me he’s always, obviously, been an incredible shooter. But he looks stronger to me just getting by people, fending them off on drives to the rim finishing. And of course, the shotmaking is it’s almost unfathomable what he’s doing out there.”
“I feel strong, I feel like I got a good rhythm and obviously coming off of last year, just enjoying being back out there and being healthy,” Curry said. “So, I definitely feel in control of my game.”
Curry’s 11 three-pointers on the night included a deep one from mid-court on the Mavericks logo. He almost challenged teammate Klay Thompson’s record of 14 three’s in a game. Thompson had a front row seat for tonight’s game, he traveled with the team for the first time this season while he continues to rehab.
“A lot of guys dominate with the ball. But he’s just dominant moving without the ball playing off or coming off, you know, pin downs, and all that attraction and all that tension he gets it’s, it’s crazy,” said Andrew Wiggins. “You know, you can put two guys and then three guys, he still somehow finds a way to get in the key, get and-ones, shoot from 40 feet out. I feel like he amazes everyone, the whole world.”
On the other side, while all eyes seemed to be on Curry’s big night, Dallas star Luka Doncic had himself a big night. The 21-year-old scored a career-high 42 points on 12-for-23 from the court along with going 7-for-12 from beyond the arc.
“He made some big shots tonight,” Curry said of Luka Doncic. “He’s always under control. He’s tough to defend because of his size and his change of pace. And you know, you got to prepare for that step-back three, you got to prepare for his drives, and he’s obviously got great court vision. He’s shown that since his rookie year and he’s gotten better.”
Draymond Green now at Center due to multiple injuries went 0-for-2 with just a pair of points off two free throws. But he grabbed six rebounds, dished out 15 assists, had six steals, four blocks and seven turnovers.
“His basketball IQ and his ability to see the floor and see what was necessary for us to play at the highest level,” said Curry about Green. “He’s got, what, 30 assists in the last two games played. Now, he wants to cover those turnovers back, but we had great spacing, great ball movement, and he knew exactly where the open guy was, and I know he enjoys playing like that.”
Golden State will have Super Bowl Sunday off before returning to the court on Monday at San Antonio for a set of back-to-back games against the Spurs on Monday and Tuesday night (5:30pm PT, NBCSBA).
Photo by Warriors/Twitter
