SAN FRANCISCO – Stephen Curry scored 34 points and five players scored in double figures as the Warriors demolished the visiting Oklahoma City Thunder 118-97. Golden State kicked off their final homestand of the season and this win brings them closer to a playoff run.
The Memphis Grizzlies 111-97 loss to the Detroit Pistons tonight moved the Warriors ahead of the Grizzlies into the eighth spot in the Western Conference playoff race with five games remaining.
Curry scored 17 points in the first half on 5-of-11 shooting that included 2-of-6 on three-pointers. He then scored 17 points in the third quarter. Curry shot 6-of-10 from the field and 4-of-7 on three-pointers before sitting out the entire fourth quarter with Golden State sitting on a big lead.
For the game, Curry shot 11-of-21 from the field and 6-of-13 from downtown for his 35th game with 30-plus points this season. Curry has now scored 30-plus points in 18 of his last 20 games.
Mychal Mulder scored 25 points off the bench, including seven made three-pointers while Andrew Wiggins finished with 18 points, seven rebounds and four assists.
“I think we were just executing well tonight offensively,” Mulder said. “We’ve been doing a lot better job of executing plays, finding guys where they like to catch the ball, playing with pace, and playing with rhythm.”
Jordan Poole added 14 points and Kent Bazemore scored 11 of his 13 points in the first half. Bazemore also had six rebounds for the Warriors who were relentless on the glass. As a team, Golden State outrebounded the Thunder 49-39. Kevon Looney led the Warriors with 10 rebounds.
Draymond Green had five points, nine rebounds and nine assists for the Warriors.
“I just liked that we took care of business,” said Steve Kerr. “I thought we played a pretty a solid game. Our defense was good. We basically took care of the ball and rebounded well.”
Juan Toscano-Anderson flirted with a triple-double, finishing with seven points, nine rebounds and eight assists off the bench.
The Warriors cracked the game wide open in the second quarter after taking a 61-49 lead into halftime powered by a 15-2 run to close out the first half. Golden State led by as many as 25.
Good ball movement lead to great scoring opportunities for the Warriors all night. Golden State had 36 assists on 42 made shots against a lackluster OKC defense. It was the 25th time this season that the Warriors had 30-plus assists in a game.
The Warriors commitment to taking care of the basketball was on full display. After committing five turnovers in the first quarter, Golden State committed six turnovers the remainder of the game to finish with 13.
Ty Jerome scored 16 of his 23 points in the second quarter to lead the Thunder off the bench.
“We did a lot of good things,” OKC head coach Mark Daigneault said. “We’ve just got to clean up some stuff defensively, get back in transition and keep generating good looks and keep letting them fly with confidence.”
Darius Bazley added 22 points, while Theo Maledon finished with 15 points for OKC who have lost five straight games and are 1-19 since April 1.
The Warriors limited the Thunder to 40-percent shooting (36-of-88) and 23.1-percent (9-of-39) from behind the three-point line.
Photo by Warriors/Twitter
