Stephen Curry, Golden State Warriors bounce back against Sacramento Kings

SAN FRANCISCO – The Golden State Warriors were not ready to give up on the defence of their National Basketball Association (NBA) championship title, and star man Stephen Curry again pulled the team together on Thursday night in San Francisco.

The point guard scored a game-high 36 points and the Warriors bounced back from two losses in their Western Conference first-round play-off series against the Sacramento Kings to win 114-97.

“I like the momentum that we created tonight, we just got to take advantage of it,” Curry said.

“Coming with the right energy to kind of prove that we can create some life for ourselves. Pretty bluntly, if we lost this game it’s pretty much over.”

Playing without the suspended Draymond Green and the unwell Gary Payton II, Golden State continued the series’ home-court dominance with a first win in three tries. Game 4 of the best-of-seven series will be played in San Francisco on Sunday.

“You bottle up all that noise and the potential distractions of Draymond being out, what the narrative is or whatever,” Curry added.

“You bottle it up and all it is a sense of pride of who we are capable of being, and coming in with the right energy.”

Curry might have been the game’s top scorer, but teammate Kevon Looney was the biggest difference in a contest in which neither team shot well.

The Warriors outshot the visitors 40 per cent to 38 per cent overall, and 32 per cent to 23.4 per cent on three-point attempts.

Looney’s game-high 20 rebounds were critical. Nine of them were at the offensive end, helping the Warriors retrieve 18 of their misses. He also found time for a post-season career high of nine assists.

The centre scored four points and was quick to credit Curry for his leadership, saying: “His focus level was insane tonight.

“He did everything for us, getting us in our spots, knowing when to push the pace and knowing when to slow us down, knowing when to get guys shots.

“They threw a lot of different defences at him and he was able to manipulate all of them and get us in our spots and get us good shots.”

De’Aaron Fox had 26 points, 10 rebounds and nine assists to pace the Kings, who tied for the second-best road record in the NBA during the regular season.

Matched up with Looney most of the night, Sacramento’s Domantas Sabonis countered with 15 points and 16 rebounds.

Harrison Barnes chipped in with 17 points and Kevin Huerter 13 for Sacramento, who made just 11 of their 47 three-point shots.

The Warriors never trailed, building a nine-point advantage by the end of the first quarter and holding a 53-41 edge at half-time.

Two free throws by Malik Monk had Sacramento within striking distance at 84-74 in the first minute of the fourth quarter. But Andrew Wiggins hit from short range, Jonathan Kuminga dropped in a layup and Curry connected on an interior hoop in a six-point run that opened a 16-point advantage.

Wiggins finished with 20 points, Jordan Poole 16, and Klay Thompson and Moses Moody 13 apiece for the Warriors.

Elsewhere in the Western Conference, Devin Booker recorded 45 points, seven rebounds and three steals to lead the visiting Phoenix Suns to a 129-124 victory over the short-handed Los Angeles Clippers.

Kevin Durant added 28 points as Phoenix took a 2-1 lead in their series.

Kawhi Leonard (knee injury) sat out for the Clippers and Norman Powell moved into the starting line-up and established a personal play-off career high with 42 points.

Russell Westbrook added 30 points, 11 assists and eight rebounds for the Clippers, who have dropped the past two games after winning the series opener.

Game 4 is scheduled for Saturday in Los Angeles. REUTERS