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 But when it does make itself available, he demonstrated Friday
night he has no problem using it to catapult him to even greater
heights.
Curry rallied the Warriors into a halftime lead with nine late
second-quarter points after getting nailed with a technical foul,
and Golden State rolled on from there to a 110-99 victory over the
San Antonio Spurs.
"I try to have an edge every time I start a game," the All-Star
said. "But things happen and you react to it. That technical foul
lit a little fire under me. I enjoy playing in that moment."
The technical occurred when Curry reacted in disbelief to having
been called for a foul on the Spurs' Tony Parker with 5:08 remaining
in the first half. Warriors coach Steve Kerr also got nailed with a
"T" for backing his star, and when Parker hit both free throws, San
Antonio held a 44-41 lead.
A fired-up Curry responded by nailing a 3-pointer shortly
thereafter, then added six more points before halftime as Golden
State built a 62-55 lead at the break and never trailed again. "I wanted my opinion to be heard," Curry said of drawing the
technical. "It is good at times to show that. We were playing pretty
good at that point. That was a little something to get us over the
edge."
Playing for the second consecutive night, the Spurs stayed within
arm's length for most of the third quarter, before reserve forward
Andre Iguodala buried a pair of 3-pointers in an 11-0 burst at the
end of the period that propelled the Warriors to what turned out to
be a comfortable win.
"We really didn't play badly," observed Spurs veteran backup Manu
Ginobili. "They were just inspired."
The Warriors (43-9), who had lost five in a row to the Spurs,
improved to 24-2 at home by opening their post-All-Star Game
schedule with the same type of dominant win that that had been so
prominent while building the league's best record entering the
break.
Curry hit four of his eight 3-point attempts overall en route to a
game-high 25 points for the Warriors, who had lost to the Spurs
113-100 at home on Nov. 11. Curry also found time for a game-high 11
assists to complete a double-double.
Shooting guard Klay Thompson backed Curry with 20 points, small
forward Harrison Barnes added 16, and Iguodala (14) and forward
David Lee (11) also reached double figures in scoring off the bench.
Twelve of Iguodala's 14 points came on a season-high four
3-pointers, as Golden State connected on 17-of-33 (51.5 percent)
from beyond the arc. The Warriors shot 48.6 percent overall.
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"It's pretty simple for us," Warriors coach Steve Kerr noted.
"Defend like crazy, take care of the ball and move the ball. When we
do that, we have enough weapons to score enough points. That's it."
Small forward Kawhi Leonard and center Aron Baynes had 12 points
apiece for the Spurs (34-21), who were coming off 119-115 loss in
Los Angeles against the Clippers.
Power forward Tim Duncan, who played 32 minutes in the L.A. loss,
was limited to eight points and three rebounds in 21 minutes in the
second half of the back-to-back. Parker, who had played a team-high
35 minutes the night before, endured an 0-for-4, two-point nightmare
against the Warriors.
"It was just one of those games," Parker lamented. "I was never able
to get into a rhythm. I had six assists but only took four shots. It
just happens sometimes."
The Spurs, who shot 48.1 percent overall but missed 13 of their 19
3-point attempts, were playing their fifth consecutive road game
sandwiching the All-Star break, with still four games remaining on
their trip. They get the weekend off before resurfacing in Utah on
Monday.
NOTES: The last time the Warriors had beaten San Antonio was in the
second round of the 2013 playoffs during a best-of-7 that was won
4-2 by the Spurs. ... The double-digit margin of victory was the
32nd of the season for the Warriors, which already ties the
franchise record set in 1975-76. ... The Warriors were playing their
second and final home game in February. The Spurs also have just two
home games this month. ... Spurs coach Gregg Popovich took a few
steps out of the locker room after a brief cooling-off period
following the loss, but then returned to his office without taking
any questions from the media. He could be subject to an NBA fine.
... The Warriors debuted a Chinese New Year uniform for Friday's
game, becoming the first team in NBA history to do so.
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