What we learned as Steph Curry’s 27 points topple Kings in Warriors’ blowout win originally appeared on NBC Sports Bay Area
SAN FRANCISCO – A little more than two months ago, the Warriors were responsible for granting the Sacramento Kings one of their eight wins on the season in a game where all three of their stars were out.
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Steph Curry, Jimmy Butler and Draymond Green suited up Friday night and made sure the Kings couldn’t reach their ninth win in a 137-103 victory at Chase Center. Those three did it all in a blowout win where the Warriors outscored the Kings 74-44 in the second half.
In a game where seven Warriors scored in double figures, Curry finished with a game-high 27 points on 10-of-21 shooting and was 6 of 12 from 3-point range. He also had a season-high 10 assists and blocked two shots for the fourth time this season.
Butler was a plus-20 with 15 points, six rebounds and six assists, and Green added 11 points, six rebounds, eight assists and made three 3-pointers.
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All three received the kind of help that was expected against a team that had lost six straight. The Warriors’ bench outscored the Kings 66-38. As a team, they also outrebounded the Kings by 10, had 16 more assists than them and made 12 more threes.
Here are three takeaways from the Warriors improving to 21-18 on the season:
No Stopping Steph
There’s one reason, and one reason only, Kings guard Keon Ellis started his fifth game of the season: To defend and disrupt Curry. Good luck with that.
Curry and the Warriors went right after Ellis to begin the game. Whether it was Curry crossing him up or Green setting a screen that had Ellis seeing stars, it wasn’t a fun night for the young Kings guard. He wasn’t alone in that regard, either.
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While Ellis took the brunt of Curry’s 11-point first quarter, nobody had an answer for him. Fellow guards tried. So did wings and big men. It didn’t matter. Curry got to 18 points at halftime and reached 27 through three quarters.
While the Warriors scored 40 points in the fourth quarter, they didn’t need any from Curry. He again was extremely efficient in his first double-double of points and assists of the season. Curry now has scored 25 or more points in 11 of his last 13 games.
The Group That Created Separation
No matter the jersey he wears, Dennis Schroder always finds a way to be a pest against the Warriors. After his rocky tenure here last season that sparked yet another trade for him, Schroder surely wanted to remind the Warriors who he is.
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With a little more than three minutes left in the third quarter, Schroder hit a jumper to tie the game at 84 points apiece and had some words for the Warriors’ bench. But Golden State had an answer.
And it was a group of Butler, surrounded by stingy bench players. Butler, along with Brandin Podziemski, De’Anthony Melton and Al Horford, went on a 13-0 run to close the quarter. Melton scored six straight points and had nine of the 13, followed by two each from Richard and Horford. Butler assisted three of the five made shots in that run.
After scoring 20 points for the first time in over two years, Melton wound up with 19 off the bench. The Warriors are now 5-0 when he makes multiple threes this season.
Earned Rest
When the Warriors led by 16 points entering the fourth quarter Wednesday night against the Milwaukee Bucks, they could have quickly put the game away and allowed their veteran Big Three of Curry, Butler and Green to take a seat the rest of the way. That didn’t happen in an eventual seven-point win.
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Curry played a team-high 34 minutes against the Bucks. Butler was second with 32 and Green was third with 29. Thanks to the separation that was created at the end of the third quarter and continued into the fourth, the stars got the rest they earned.
Butler watched the entire fourth quarter against the Kings from the bench and played just 23 minutes. Curry played six-plus minutes in the fourth and was the only Warrior to play more than 30 minutes. Green spent a little more than five minutes on the floor in the fourth and ended at 27 minutes.
Though the Warriors don’t have a back-to-back until the last two games of their current eight-game homestand, they get little time for rest and recovery in between games. Against their Northern California rivals, the stars never needed to exhaust themselves.
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