CALIFORNIA – Stephen Curry showed his steadiness in the endgame as the Golden State Warriors cruised to a 123-110 win over Miami Heat in the 2022-2023 NBA Season on Thursday night (Friday in the Philippines) at Chase Center in San Francisco.
Holding to a slim 100-103 lead, the Warriors first got an inside hit from Kevon Looney followed by back-to-back triples from Curry and Klay Thompson to widen the advantage to 111-102.
The Heat cut it to 105-111 via a Max Strus triple but seven straight points from Curry followed by a triple by Thompson. An inside shot by Draymond Green increased the Warriors advantage to 123-110.
Curry finished the game with 33 points, including seven triples, to go with nine assists and seven rebounds as the defending champions Warriors returned to win column with 3-2 record.
Thompson fired five triples to end up with 19 points, Andrew Wiggins had double-double 18 points and 10 rebounds, Jordan Poole had 11, while James Wiseman and Green ended with 10 apiece for GSW.
Jimmy Butler tallied 27 points, eight assists and six rebounds, Bam Adebayo chipped in 26 markers, while Strus and Kyle Lowry had 14 and 12, respectively, as the Heat dropped to 2-4.
Meanwhile, Oklahoma City Thunder renewed its mastery of Los Angeles Clippers with a come-from-behind 118-110 victory over at the Paycom Center in Oklahoma City.
The Thunder had a dominant start behind Shai Gigeous-Alexander to take a 30-12 lead in the first quarter. The Clippers bounced back behind John Wall and Paul George to take a 60-53 halftime edge.
The Thunder kept the match close in the third quarter as they took an 89-87 edge before pulling away in the fourth quarter behind triples by Aleksej Pokusevski and Tre Mann.
Gilgeous-Alexander, who started his NBA career with the Clippers, ended with 24 points, while Lutguent Dort added season-best 21 markers as the Thunder tied the Clippers with 2-3 record./PN
BOX SCORE:
GOLDEN STATE 123 — Curry 33, Thompson 19, Wiggins 18, Poole 11, Wiseman 10, D. Green 10, Looney 7, J. Green 6, Moody 6, Jerome 3.
MIAMI 110 — Butler 27, Adebayo 26, Strus 14, Lowry 12, Vincent 9, Martin 8, Herro 7, Jovic 4, Robinson 3.
Quarterscores: 31-30, 63-59, 92-87, 123-110.
