Stephen Curry scored a season-high 36 points and the Golden State Warriors held off a late comeback attempt from the Oklahoma City Thunder to come away with a 127-116 win in Sunday's clash between two of the Western Conference's top teams so far this season. (More Sports News)
Curry had seven of the Warriors' 21 makes from 3-point range to help Golden State improve to 8-2, tied with the Thunder and Phoenix Suns for the West's best record. The Warriors also received 20 points off the bench from Jonathan Kuminga and 19 points and 10 rebounds from De'Anthony Melton.
Oklahoma City lost for the second time in three games following a 7-0 start after trailing by as many as 30 points in the third quarter and losing starting centre Chet Holmgren in the first. The 7-footer did not return after injuring his right hip following a hard fall just over five minutes into the contest.
Shai Gilgeous-Alexander paced the Thunder with 24 points but was held to 6-of-17 shooting. Jalen Williams went 9 of 15 from the field while recording 20 points.
The Warriors trailed 33-26 after one quarter but took control in the second, using a 10-2 run to open up a 58-49 lead with less than two minutes before half-time. Kuminga tallied 12 points in the second quarter as Golden State went into the break owning a 65-58 advantage.
Curry then took over in the third quarter, scoring 17 points on 7-of-10 shooting. Golden State outscored the Thunder by a 42-21 margin for the frame to take a commanding 107-79 lead into the fourth.
The Thunder made a late bid by putting together an 18-4 spurt that cut a 20-point deficit down to 114-108 with under five minutes to go. Kuminga answered with an alley-oop dunk on the next possession, however, before Curry's 3-pointer with 3:23 remaining helped put an end to the threat.
Kings halt Suns' seven-game win streak with overtime victory
DeMar DeRozan poured in a season-high 34 points, including eight in overtime, as the Sacramento Kings put an end to the ailing Phoenix Suns' seven-game winning streak by rallying for a 127-118 victory.
De'Aaron Fox also had eight of his 21 points in extra time to help Sacramento to its sixth win in eight games following an 0-2 start. Fox added 11 rebounds and eight assists, while Domantas Sabonis contributed 20 points and 12 rebounds and Keegan Murray compiled 14 points and 14 boards for the Kings.
In their first outing since Kevin Durant sustained a strained calf that's expected to sideline the perennial All-Star for around two weeks, the Suns played much of Sunday's game without another key starter after centre Jusuf Nurkic sat out the second half and overtime due to lingering soreness in his ankle.
Tyus Jones did step up in Durant's absence by scoring 22 points to complement the Suns' two other superstars, Bradley Beal and Devin Booker. Beal finished with 28 points and eight rebounds and Booker recorded 23 points and 12 assists. Jones finished 6 of 10 from beyond the 3-point line.
Phoenix looked on the way to another win after taking a 92-81 lead on Booker's jumper with 8:58 left in regulation. The Suns held a seven-point advantage with four minutes remaining in the fourth quarter, but Murray's 3-pointer ignited a 7-1 Sacramento run that brought the Kings within 105-104 with two minutes to go.
Murray tipped in DeRozan's missed shot with four seconds left in regulation to give the Kings a 111-110 edge, but was called for a foul on the ensuing in-bounds play to allow Booker to make the tying free throw and force overtime.
DeRozan then took control during the extra period, scoring the first eight points of a 10-1 spurt early in OT as Sacramento opened up a 121-114 lead with 2 1/2 minutes to go.
The Kings were up by 11 points early in the third quarter before Phoenix put forth a 9-0 run to pull within 66-64 with 7:47 remaining in the period.
Porter's late basket lifts streaking Nuggets over Mavericks
Michael Porter Jr. hit a tie-breaking jumper with 6.5 seconds remaining to give the Denver Nuggets a fifth straight win with Sunday's 122-120 victory over the Dallas Mavericks.
The Nuggets scored the game's final four points after Dallas' Kyrie Irving snapped a 118-118 deadlock by banking in a shot with 1:39 to go.
Nikola Jokić tipped in his own missed shot in the final minute, however, to pull Denver back even. After Irving misfired on a 3-point try on the other end, Porter drove the lane and got a 14-footer to fall before Irving again couldn't connect on a 3-point attempt just prior to the final buzzer.
Irving had made his first six shots from beyond the arc prior to those two late misses, part of a 43-point performance in which the eight-time All-Star went 17 of 22 from the field.
Denver countered with a dominant 37-point, 18-point, 15-rebound effort out of Jokic, the two-time NBA MVP's fourth consecutive triple-double. Porter finished with 17 points and seven rebounds and the Nuggets also received 18 points and six assists from Jamal Murray.
Dallas was dealt a second straight defeat despite Irving's huge night and the presence of Luka Dončić, who played through a groin strain that had him questionable coming into the contest and recorded 24 points, nine rebounds and nine assists in 41 minutes.
