SAN FRANCISCO — Six months later, the Splash Brothers were still feeling it from all over the court against the Celtics and delivered one of their team’s signature wins of the season so far.
Klay Thompson scored 34 points, Stephen Curry added 32 with six 3-pointers and Golden State beat Boston 123-107 on Saturday night in a rematch of this year’s NBA Finals won by the Warriors in six games.
“We gutted it out,” Warriors coach Steve Kerr said. “Steph and Klay obviously had it rolling so we were making shots.”
💦 SPLASH BROS 💦
— NBA (@NBA) December 11, 2022
Steph & Klay each dropped 30+ points to lead the @warriors to the win in a rematch of last szn's NBA Finals! #DubNation@StephenCurry30: 32 PTS, 6 REB, 7 AST, 6 3PM@KlayThompson: 34 PTS, 5 REB, 2 STL, 4 3PM pic.twitter.com/MJKys1yM53
Jordan Poole had 20 points starting in place of injured Andrew Wiggins despite shooting 1 for 9 from long range.
Thompson scored 12 of his points in the opening quarter shooting 5 of 9 and had 24 by halftime. Curry shot 12 for 21 and had seven assists and six rebounds playing 37 minutes.
The Warriors were coming off a 124-123 loss at Utah on Wednesday night that Thompson called a “collapse.”
“It’s always nice to respond with a great performance and we did that tonight,” Thompson said.
Jaylen Brown had 31 points and nine rebounds, Jayson Tatum scored 18 points and Malcolm Brogdon added 16 off the bench for Boston, which had won eight of nine and three straight and faced Golden State’s stingy defense.
“They tested us,” Celtics interim coach Joe Mazzulla said. “They forced us to work to make the right play.”
Brown scored five straight midway through the fourth with his 3-pointer at the 6:37 mark pulling the Celtics to 105-97. Grant Williams was ejected with 1:52 left.
Poole found Draymond Green for a transition dunk the next time down for the Warriors.
Kevon Looney grabbed a season-high 15 rebounds as Golden State held a 53-39 advantage on the boards.
Tatum missed two free throws with 5:02 remaining then was called for goal-tending moments later on the other end and Curry connected from the top of the arc the next time down to make it 114-99.
“The crowd was excited. We were excited, just the feeling of going against the team the team that you just played in the finals, especially the way they’ve played this year, they’ve just been so good, so dominant,” Kerr said. “I thought we needed a game like that. We’ve been a little bit stuck in the mud.”