Stephen Curry scored 46 points, nearly half of them in a pivotal run in the third quarter, to help the visiting Golden State Warriors earn a 125-120 win over the San Antonio Spurs on Wednesday in the first of two games between the teams in three days in the Alamo City.
The squads will battle again on Friday in an NBA Cup clash.
The Spurs led by as many as 16 points in the first half and by seven at the break before Golden State leapfrogged to the lead with a dominating third quarter in which Curry scored 22 of the Warriors’ 43 points.
Golden State took a 92-84 lead into the final period and never let the Spurs grab the reins again. San Antonio pulled to within a point on a De’Aaron Fox layup with 10:10 to play, but the Warriors pulled away behind the duo of Jimmy Butler III and Curry, who combined for 18 points in the final quarter to help salt away the win.
Butler finished with 28 points and Moses Moody had 19 as Golden State won for the second time in its past three outings.
Victor Wembanyama led the Spurs with 31 points while taking 15 rebounds and distributing 10 assists. Stephon Castle added 23 points and 10 assists, with Devin Vassel hitting for 15 points, Fox scoring 13, Luke Kornet contributing 12 and Harrison Barnes tallying 11. San Antonio had a three-game winning streak snapped.
San Antonio built an eight-point lead seven minutes into the game when Castle tipped in a layup. The Spurs then scored nine of the final 12 points of the first quarter capped by a 3-pointer by Champagnie and carried a 28-14 lead after the period.
The Spurs built their advantage to 33-17 after a Wembanyama 3-pointer at the 10:28 mark of the second quarter.
Golden State methodically got back in the game, culling its deficit to eight points on Curry’s three-point play five minutes later. Castle responded and pushed San Antonio’s lead to 56-40 on a dunk with 3:29 to play until halftime.
But that’s when the Warriors found their stride, finishing the period with a 9-0 run (with five of those points from Curry) to claw to within 56-49 at the break.
Curry had 15 points before halftime to lead Golden State while Moody had 14 and Butler hit for 10. Castle’s 14 points paced the Spurs with Wembanyama adding 13 over the first two quarters.
