It doesn’t matter how bad a team is—Steph Curry can still make them look good.
The Golden State Warriors beat the Brooklyn Nets 124–120 on Saturday night, with Steph Curry’s perfect scoring play being a big part of the win. Young Nets guard Cam Thomas scored 41 points by making 15 of 24 field goal shots. Steph, on the other hand, scored 37 points by making 14 of 22 field shots (6 of 8 three-point shots) while being smothered by defenders.
It was hard for Brandin Podziemski to shoot in his first game against Andrew Wiggins, but the young first-round pick got better on Saturday. He had five rebounds, five assists, three steals, and a block again, and he also scored 19 points by making 7 of 15 shots from the field and 4 of 9 from three-point range. Wiggins’ play was still very inconsistent, but he did score 14 points and grab 5 boards off the bench.
For most of the game, the Warriors were ahead. But an 18-point lead in the late second quarter and early third quarter was the biggest gap between the two teams all night. Even though Thomas was on fire and the Nets were making progress against the Dubs, Curry kept taking over the game.
Curry made five straight Warriors field goals, giving them 12 points in less than two minutes. The Nets defenders worked harder and harder to keep Curry from getting the ball, but in the end, the Warriors stole it. The Nets sent out a double team, which let Podziemski score four points from the top of the key. Klay Thompson was wide open, so he made a three.
The next time the Dubs had the ball, Thompson made another three-pointer, but both he and Podziemski missed easy shots that would have likely won the game. Even though the Nets kept trying to score, Curry was able to turn a double team into a give-and-go that led to a one-handed bank shot that put Golden State ahead 122-118 with less than a minute left in regulation. That was all that was needed to win.