Curry’s 62 points propel Warriors to win
Stephen Curry exploded for 21 of his career-high 62 points in the first quarter on Sunday, helping the Golden State Warriors take a lead they never relinquished in a 137122 victory over the Portland Trail Blazers in San Francisco.
It was a rematch of a 123-98 Trail Blazers win on Friday in a game also played at the two-year-old Chase Center.
Curry topped his previous high of 54 with two free throws with 2:23 minutes to play. But he wasn’t done. With the Warriors comfortably ahead, Curry bombed in consecutive 27-footers, the second of which came with 42.2 seconds left to cap his 62-point night.
The 50-point night was the NBA’s first of the season, while the 60-pointer was the first for a Warrior since Klay Thompson had 60 in 2016. The last Warrior to record more than 62 points in a game was Rick Barry with 64 in 1974.
At Memphis, LeBron James had 22 points, 13 rebounds and eight assists, and the Lakers pulled away late to defeat the Grizzlies 108-94.
Anthony Davis had 17 points, nine rebounds and three blocks; Montrezl Harrell added 16 points and nine boards; and Wesley Matthews contributed 14 points on five-of-seven shooting, including four of six three-pointers, as the Lakers won their third in a row.
Dennis Schroder added 11 points.
Kyle Anderson scored 18 points and Jonas Valanciunas chipped in 14 points and 10 rebounds for the Grizzlies. Tyus Jones also scored 14, while Desmond Bane had 13.
At Phoenix, Paul George scored 39 points and the Clippers snapped the Suns’ four-game winning streak with a 112-107 victory.
Kawhi Leonard scored 15 points on four-for-21 shooting, and Luke Kennard
and Nicolas Batum scored 14 points apiece for the Clippers.
Devin Booker had 25 points and eight assists, Deandre Ayton had 24 points and eight rebounds, and Chris Paul and Dario Saric finished with 15 points each for the Suns, who entered the day tied for the best record in the NBA at 5-1.
At Detroit, Jayson Tatum hit a fallaway jumper with 2.9 seconds remaining to give the Celtics a 112-120 win over the Pistons.
Jaylen Brown led Boston with 31 points, and Tatum had 24 points, 12 assists, eight rebounds and two blocks. Marcus Smart had 17 points and 10 assists, Daniel Theis contributed 15 points and Tristan Thompson added 12 with 11 rebounds.
Jerami Grant had 22 points and six rebounds for the Pistons, and he tied the game at 120 with two free throws with 22 seconds remaining.
At Chicago, Zach LaVine led all scorers with 39 points and Coby White scored 21 of his 23 points after half-time to boost the Bulls to a 118-108 victory against Dallas for their third win in four games.
LaVine shot 14 of 25 from the floor and was eight of nine from the free throw line, outdueling the Mavericks’ Jalen Brunson, who scored 31 points on 11-for-17 accuracy from the field.
Dallas were without Luka Doncic, who suffered a quad contusion during Friday’s game against Miami.
RESULTS
(home team in CAPS)
Boston 122 DETROIT 120; Washington 123 BROOKLYN 122; LA Lakers 108 MEMPHIS 94; Denver 124 MINNESOTA 109; Utah 130 SAN ANTONIO 109; CHICAGO 118 Dallas 108; LA Clippers 112 PHOENIX 107; GOLDEN STATE 137 Portland 122