Curry carries Warriors over Cavs

▶ Thunder roar back

Lhasa Hohhot Chengdu Stephen Curry scored 42 points to lead the Golden State Warriors to a 129-105 victory over the Cleveland Cavaliers on Wednesday in an NBA Finals rematch in name only.

Curry drained nine three-pointers and Kevin Durant added 25 points on nine of 16 shots as the Warriors pulled away in the second half against a Cleveland team that bears little resemblance to the LeBron James-led Cavs that battled the Warriors in the last four championship series.

Curry, looking fully recovered in his third game back from a groin injury that sidelined him for 11 games, added nine rebounds and seven assists.

The Warriors were back in Cleveland for the first time since June, when they beat the Cavs to win their second straight NBA title and third in four years.

Since then the Cavs have seen James depart as a free agent to the Los Angeles Lakers. Forward JR Smith was also absent from the team, Kevin Love was nursing a foot injury and Kyle Korver was recently traded to Utah.

Rookie Collin Sexton led the Cavaliers with 21 points.

The Warriors improved to 17-9 – still fourth in a Western Conference led by the Denver Nuggets, who edged the Orlando Magic 124-118 in overtime for a seventh straight victory that pushed their record to 17-7.

They finished the night half a game in front of the Oklahoma City Thunder, who erased a 23-point deficit with less than five minutes to play to beat the Brooklyn Nets 114-112.

“This is a special night,” said Thunder forward Paul George, who scored 25 of his 47 points in the fourth quarter.

Russell Westbrook finished with 21 points, 17 assists and 15 rebounds, his 108th career triple-double moving him past Jason Kidd for third place on the NBA’s all-time list.

Only Oscar Robertson with 181 and Magic Johnson with 138 have achieved more tripledoubles – reaching double digits in three key statistical categories.

The Los Angeles Clippers, who came into the night tied for the lead in the West, fell a game behind the Nuggets with a 9686 loss to the Memphis Grizzlies.

Memphis avenged their overtime loss to the Clippers less than two weeks ago, holding them to their lowest points total of the season.

In Los Angeles, LeBron James scored 20 of his 42 points in the fourth quarter as the Lakers beat the San Antonio Spurs 121-113.