Stephen Curry follows 62-point game with near triple-double in Warriors’ win over Kings
Golden State Warriors star Stephen Curry was back in the kitchen 24 hours after roasting the Portland Trail Blazers for a career-high 62 points, and Curry was still cooking.
Curry nearly recorded his 10th career triple-double, posting 30 points, nine rebounds and eight assists in three quarters to lead the Warriors to a 137-106 victory over the Kings on Monday night at Chase Center in San Francisco. The two-time MVP made 9 of 18 from the field and 5 of 12 from 3-point range.
Kelly Oubre Jr. added 18 points for the Warriors (4-3). Andrew Wiggins had 16 points and five assists.
De’Aaron Fox had 18 points, seven assists, four rebounds and three steals for the Kings (3-4), who have lost three in a row after going 3-1 to start the season. Harrison Barnes had 18 points and nine rebounds.
The Warriors opened up a 17-point lead in the first quarter after the Kings went 5 of 18 from the field to start the game. Sacramento shot 27.8% with six turnovers in the opening period.
Golden State went up by 20 early in the second quarter and took a 59-36 lead on a dunk by Oubre after a transition pass from Fox to Marvin Bagley III resulted in a turnover. The Kings cut the deficit to 15 on a couple of occasions, but they were down by 25 at the end of the third quarter and trailed by as many as 36 in the fourth.
Kings guard Buddy Hield missed his first four shots and didn’t score until he knocked down a 3-pointer with 3:00 to play in the first half. Bagley, whose father demanded a trade on Twitter during Saturday’s loss to the Houston Rockets, didn’t get his first basket until the final minute of the third quarter.
Hield finished with 10 points on 3-of-12 shooting. Bagley had five points on 2-of-9 shooting.
Luke Walton texts Steve Kerr
Kings coach Luke Walton joined the rest of the NBA in marveling at Curry’s 62-point performance against the Blazers on Sunday, but he didn’t get to enjoy it as much as others. Walton, who spent two years under Steve Kerr as an assistant coach with the Warriors, knew the Kings would see Curry for themselves 24 hours later.
“He texted last night,” Steve Kerr said. “He told me how happy he was watching Steph. Obviously Luke is beloved around here and he’s got a lot of friends, and so he said something about how much fun it was watching Steph and then he had that moment of, ‘Oh, s---, now I’ve got to guard him tomorrow night so I don’t know what we’re going to do.’”
Up next
The Kings will open a seven-game homestand against the Chicago Bulls on Wednesday at Golden 1 Center.
Chicago has been shorthanded since Lauri Markkanen, Tomas Satoransky, Ryan Arcidiacono and Chandler Hutchinson entered the league’s COVID-19 health and safety protocols last week. The players missed games against the Washington Wizards, Milwaukee Bucks and Dallas Mavericks, and have already been ruled out for Tuesday’s game against the Portland Trail Blazers.
The Bulls will face the Kings on the second night of a back-to-back after visiting the Blazers. Zach Lavine is averaging 24.6 points, 4.7 rebounds, 3.7 assists and 1.7 steals, but shooting just 30.2% from 3-point range. Markkanen is the team’s second-leading scorer at 17.3 points per game.
Injury report
Kings: OUT — Tyrese Haliburton (wrist); DaQuan Jeffries (ankle); Jabari Parker (personal).
Warriors: OUT — Marquese Chriss (leg); Alen Smailagic (knee); Klay Thompson (Achilles).
Upcoming Kings schedule
Jan. 6 vs. Chicago Bulls, 7 p.m.
Jan. 8 vs. Toronto Raptors, 7 p.m.
Jan. 9 vs. Portland Trail Blazers, 7 p.m.
Jan. 11 vs. Indiana Pacers, 7 p.m.
Jan. 13 vs. Portland Trail Blazers, 7 p.m.
This story was originally published January 4, 2021 at 9:24 PM.
