Stephen Curry scored 38 points and the Golden State Warriors used a 34-6 flurry bridging the third and fourth quarters to stun the visiting Los Angeles Clippers 115-105 on Friday night in San Francisco.
In the rematch of a Clippers win on Wednesday night, the Warriors used 20 3-pointers — including nine by Curry — to prevent a two-game sweep.
Paul George had a team-high 25 points and Kawhi Leonard 24 for Los Angeles, which had won its first three games at the 2-year-old Chase Center, including a pair of blowouts last season.
The Warriors trailed by 14 at halftime and 85-63 late in the third period before a 3-pointer by Curry at the 3:04 mark of the quarter turned the tide.
Curry capped a 19-point quarter with a 29-footer in the final seconds to get Golden State within 87-81. When Damion Lee, Eric Paschall and Kent Bazemore added 3s of their own early in the fourth period, suddenly Golden State had taken a 97-91 lead.
Los Angeles never led again but did forge a 97-all tie on back-to-back 3-pointers by Luke Kennard and Serge Ibaka, the latter with 7:09 to play.
But Brad Wanamaker countered with a pair of 3-pointers for the Warriors and Andrew Wiggins hit a key hoop after the Clippers had rallied within a point one last time, sending Golden State to its third win in its last four games.
Held to a season-low 13 points in Wednesday’s loss, Curry hit 13 of his 24 shots and nine of his 14 3-point attempts in the third 30-point effort in his last four games.
Curry also found time for a game-high 11 assists.
Wiggins finished with 16 points and Paschall 12 off the bench for the Warriors, who shot 20-for-41 on 3-pointers and outscored the Clippers 60-42 from beyond the arc.
Ibaka had 19 points and Nicolas Batum 10 for the Clippers, who hurt themselves with 19 turnovers.
Ibaka was the game’s leading rebounder with seven.
The Clippers took charge immediately, using 8-for-15 shooting on 3-pointers to build a 65-51 halftime lead. George hit all four of the 3-pointers he attempted en route to 17 points.
George’s second 3-pointer capped a 24-7, game-opening run. Batum also had a 3-pointer in the fast start.
–Field Level Media