Steph Curry scored 41 points on Friday night to help the Golden State Warriors defeat the Sacramento Kings. Curry’s 41 points tied him with Kobe Bryant, Dirk Nowitzki, and Alex English for sixth place all-time among players at least 35 years old.
Curry should start seeing his nаme on many of these lists soon because he turned 35 in March. The wide receiver for the Warriors has already experienced two 40-point games since turning 35, and he will likely have many more before he hangs up his sneakers. Curry trails only those five players, and aside from Karl Marx, Elgin Baylor, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, LeBron James, and Michael Jordan, he is now tied with Dirk Niewitzki and Sloan English.
LeBron has had 10 40-point games since he turned 35, compared to Jordan’s 12. Curry, who is still in excellent form, should add a few more this season to tie Kareem Abdul-Jabbar for third place on this record with his four career such games.
The fact that Curry is still so dominant at such a young age is just one of many statistical proofs of his excellence. Curry believes that winning games—like the one the Warriors played in Sacramento on Friday night—is more significant than any one statistic.
Steph Curry leads the Warriors past the Kings 122-114 on the road.
Although it’s still too early in the season to make any wild predictions, the Golden State Warriors defeated the Sacramento Kings 122-114 on the road in their season opener. Steph Curry put in the majority of the effort, but late in the third quarter, Klay Thompson and the other young players from Golden State came on strong, helping them establish a double-digit lead that they would never let go of.
The fast-paced, back-and-forth action that characterized both teams’ games last season continued in the first quarter. The Warriors got off to an early lead and held it for the most of the first quarter thanks to Curry’s explosive scoring. But as Steph moved to the bench, Sacramento swiftly overcome their disadvantage.
The Kings increased their lead to 11 points in the second quarter while Curry was sitting out. Naturally, the main targets of Sacramento’s offense were De’Aaron Fox and Domantas Sabonis. Sabonis finished with 19 points, 18 rebounds, 7 assists, and 5 steals, while Fox scored 39 points on 14 of 28 shots.However, Golden State took the lead again once Curry returned to action. Thanks to a three-pointer from the corner by Jonathan Kuminga, who also provided a nice spark off the bench alongside Moses Moody, the Warriors led 60-57 at the half. With a plus-nine plus/minus at the end, Moody and Kuminga were both in the double-digit point area.
And so the Warriors maintained their customary dominance in the third quarter. With a few minutes left, Steph helped his side take a 14-point lead when he eventually sat down on the bench. The remainder of Golden State’s roster performed excellently, even though he was out of action. All in all, Thompson scored seven of his last eighteen points in the third quarter. He finished the match 7–12 from the field. In addition, Chris Paul was an expert оffensive facilitator, throwing up ten assists in the first three quarters alone. He scored ten points, distributed twelve assists, and stole three rebounds.
The Warriors had everything needed for a tҺrilling victory, but their late-game execution was shaky. After making only seven in the first three periods, they gave the Kings a chance to reduce the advantage to single digits by hitting eight turnovers in the final period. With 43 seconds remaining, Curry made a game-winning three-pointer from 28 feet out, sealing the victory after Sergio got as close as five points. It was the ideal conclusion to Steph’s amazing evening. Despite only taking 19 shots (with 70% coming from outside the arc), he received the highest number of points (41) for any team.
The Warriors will try to win their second straight road game when they take on the Houston Rockets in Texas on Sunday at 4:00 PM Pacific time.