He is back from injury and it shows: Stephen Curry scored 31 points to give Golden State the victory against the Los Angeles Lakers of LeBron James, author of 40 points on Saturday (128-121). The Lakers, deprived of Anthony Davis who left in the first quarter due to an injury to his left eye, were unable to take advantage of the excellent performance of the man with more than 40,000 points in the NBA. “It’s a great victory for us,” Curry said. “I don’t know when we last won here (in Los Angeles, Editor’s note) against them. It’s strong.”
Without him, injured in his right ankle, the Warriors had lost two of their last three matches. They have won only once in his absence, losing five times this season, underscoring their dependence on the 36-year-old two-time NBA MVP. Top scorer on his team, Curry also had six rebounds and offered five assists. James grabbed eight rebounds and offered nine assists. “People will always talk about him and me,” Curry smiled. “But the victory is that of a whole group tonight. We need a whole team to win.”
Unusually, the match was interrupted for several minutes due to a shot clock failure. “I’ve never seen that in my career. Usually they have a backup clock or something like that,” Curry responded. In the Western Conference standings, the Warriors are 9th, just ahead of the Lakers.
The Oklahoma City Thunder won 118-112 in Memphis against the Grizzlies to join the Nuggets at the top of the Western Conference. The Thunder and Denver, reigning NBA champion, are tied with 47 wins and 20 losses. Jalen Williams scored 23 points, grabbed seven rebounds and delivered six assists, while rookie Chet Holmgren scored 22 points and grabbed 11 rebounds for the Thunder.
The Timberwolves are third in the hotly contested Western Conference, with just one more loss than the top two. Thanks to Anthony Edwards’ 31 points and Mike Conley’s 25, they beat the Utah Jazz 119-100. All-Star point guard Jalen Brunson did it again by scoring more than 40 points again, in this case 42, to allow the New York Knicks to win 98-91 in Sacramento against the Kings.
