Curry's 31 points carry Warriors from 23 down to a 112-95 NBA Cup win over the Lakers
Stephen Curry hit eight 3-pointers as Golden State erased a 23-point first-quarter deficit to beat the Lakers 112-95 and climb back to .500.
The Golden State Warriors spent the first 12 minutes of Friday night's NBA Cup group game at Chase Center getting run off the floor by the Los Angeles Lakers. They spent the next 36 winning by 40. Stephen Curry scored 31 points as the Warriors came back from a 23-point hole after one quarter to beat Los Angeles 112-95. The win brought them back to .500 at 3-3.
USA TODAY Sports reported that Golden State is the first team of the shot-clock era, which dates to 1954-55, to trail by at least 23 after the opening quarter and draw level by halftime. Warriors On SI put the largest first-half deficit at 25 points.
Curry needed just 31 minutes. He shot 11-for-23 from the field and 8-for-14 from 3-point range, and added six assists, four rebounds, a steal and a block with two turnovers. Two of those threes came straight at Luka Doncic. In one, Curry dropped Doncic to the floor before letting it go. In another, he used the same move he had put on Matthew Dellavedova in the 2015 Finals, according to Warriors On SI.
Doncic finished with a game-high 37 points, but 21 of them came in the first quarter. After that the Lakers' offense went cold, and Golden State won the final three quarters by a wide margin. Brandin Podziemski scored 21 for the Warriors. He also changed the game without the ball: during the run that turned a nine-point deficit into a 17-point lead, he drew three offensive fouls and scored 10 points, Warriors On SI noted. The bench also gave the Warriors a lift.
The result also settled a score from opening night. The Lakers beat Golden State 127-105 in Los Angeles to start the season, which kicked off a three-game slide that included losses to Memphis and Phoenix. Friday's win gives the Warriors their first group-stage result in the NBA Cup.
What it means for Sunday against the Clippers
The Warriors have now won three straight, and the streak has come against good teams. They won 134-114 at Denver and 119-114 at Minnesota on the road before this home win over the Lakers. Over those three games they have scored 121.7 points a night and beaten opponents by an average of 14. In the 0-3 start, they averaged 111.7 points and lost by 11.3.
They stay home Sunday, November 1, to face the LA Clippers, with the game on NBA League Pass and ClipperVision. Golden State's three losses came by 22, 3 and 9 points. The wins have been more convincing, with two of the three decided by double digits.
The question for Sunday is whether this team can avoid digging itself the same kind of early hole. Friday showed the Warriors can recover from a slow start against a strong scorer, but with an elite shooter on the other side, falling 23 behind again would be a risk. With Curry shooting like this and Podziemski giving them a second scorer, Golden State goes into the Clippers game playing its best basketball of the young season.
