OAKLAND — In what was supposed to be a challenging Sunday evening tilt at Oracle Arena against the Wizards, the Warriors went into cruise control mode and secured a relatively easy 137-115 win over Washington.
Steph Curry played one of his best games of the season, scoring 42 points, handing out 8 assists and hitting 9 of his 14 3-point attempts. In the process, he hit his 300th 3 of the season. Curry produced multiple highlight reel plays, one of which went viral from our Twitter account. John Wall and Bradley Beal are having tremendous seasons, but neither of them had any answers for Curry on Sunday.
Just stop it, Steph pic.twitter.com/vZfJvddR7U
— KNBR (@KNBR) April 3, 2017
The win marks the Warriors’ 11th in a row — all have come since the infamous rest game in San Antonio on March 17. Arguably the toughest stretch of the regular season schedule, Golden State defeated Memphis, San Antonio, Houston twice and Washington. Of the five remaining games — Minnesota, at Phoenix, New Orleans, Utah and the Lakers — only the Jazz have qualified for the postseason. You may Steve Kerr opt for some rest prior to the postseason, which will kick off on April 15.
The Warriors started to make their move in second quarter behind a pair of wily veterans. Shaun Livingston finished a half court Alley-oop from Draymond Green and scored a season-high 17 points and 5 rebounds of the bench. Andre Iguodala brought his scorching hot March into April. Aggressive with the basketball, Iguodala made 3 of his 5 shots and scored 9 points. Steve Kerr lobbied for him to get sixth man of the year award votes, and he just might after this incredible stretch to close the season.
The Wizards were able to trim a 22 point deficit to 10 in the fourth quarter, prompting Kerr to use his starting lineup to close the game instead of the garbage time unit. Livingston scored 5 straight points late in the quarter to end any threat and give Golden State the breathing room they needed for this still feel like a blowout victory.
The contributions of Green and Klay Thompson cannot be ignored, either. Green recorded a triple-double at the urging of the crowd. With 8 points and 39 seconds left, Green buried a deep 3 to the delight of Oracle Arena. He finished with 11 points, 13 assists and 11 rebounds. Thompson came firing out of the gates and finished with 23 points on 4 of 10 made 3s.
The Warriors will face the Timberwolves at home on Tuesday.