Steph's 47-point masterpiece saves Warriors, but issues remain

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SAN FRANCISCO – In the moments after he rescued the Warriors from an epic meltdown of their own making, Stephen Curry met Draymond Green on the Chase Center floor for a long embrace that told a short story.

Survival. Relief. Joy. The End.

For now.

Curry’s superman act, which peaked during a fourth-quarter comeback, was enough to gift the Warriors a 116-113 win that for most of Monday night seemed destined to become a sixth consecutive loss.

The entire Golden State team seemed to exhale. Coach Steve Kerr was grinning while walking off the court and Green was conspicuously grateful that Curry is his teammate, perhaps because the sky was falling until Curry shot it back into place.

“Not that it felt like a playoff game or something,” Green said, “but we knew we had to win that game and it was just kind of a breath of fresh air to pull it out.”

“I’ve never been more happy about a win in Game 11 of the regular season,” Curry said. “We needed it.”

Curry played 38 minutes, scoring a season-high 47 points – 17 coming in the fourth quarter while leading a surge that wiped out a 11-point deficit. Curry with a measure of foreshadowing, making his first seven shots, and then he closed it by making his last three – all in the final two minutes.

“I would just say that Steph was just breathtaking,” Kerr said. “He’s obviously one of the greatest players of all time, and he plays so well on so many nights. But this even seemed like something special for him: 17-of-24, with eight rebounds, eight assists and no turnovers. Hitting every big shot. He just put us on his back.”

Curry is the first player in recorded NBA history to submit at least 47 points, eight assists and eight rebounds – and zero turnovers. His near perfection transcended a very imperfect team performance.

The Warriors had done so much to give this game away, to let Kings come into their house and extend their losing streak, most stunningly a 33-10 run by Sacramento in the first half that had the Warriors reliving the stubborn problems that surfaced on their 0-5 road trip.

When the substitutions entered, the energy ebbed, the defense crumbled, and the ball-movement slowed. A 27-15 lead with 3:50 left in the first quarter had become a 48-37 deficit with 6:34 remaining in the half.

With the Warriors being outrebounded, giving away 11 points off turnovers and allowing the Kings to 45.5 percent (10-of-22) from distance in the first half, they spent the rest of the evening trying to catch up.

“We didn’t follow the game plan all of the way,” Kevon Looney said. “We let (Malik) Monk get some clean looks and they got comfortable, feeling good from the 3-point line, and they got some confidence going.

“That is something that we talked about going into the game. Getting them off of the line and we didn’t stick to the game plan in that first quarter. When that happens early, guys get comfortable, and they get to rolling.”

The comeback began with 8:50 remaining and the Warriors trailing 95-84. A Curry 3-point play cut it to eight, followed by a Klay Thompson 3-pointer that cut it five. When the Kings pushed back, hiking their lead to eight (100-92), Curry (14) and Andrew Wiggins (eight) combined for 22 of Golden State’s final 24 points over the final six minutes to close it out.

“The other guys played with great energy – I thought the starting group did everything necessary to win the game,” Kerr said. “Wiggs with a couple big 3s. Klay’s defense, Draymond and Loon were all fantastic.

“But that was just Steph Curry deciding we were going to win.”

RELATED: Kerr explains Warriors' adjusted rotations in win over Kings

Leave it to Curry to spare the Warriors a night of misery, followed by three days of regret. He completed his mission. 

Pardon Curry if at the end he was too exhausted to summon his trademark “night-night” gesture and simply settled into the arms his longtime teammate.

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