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 The Warriors, who held only four of their previous 18 opponents
under 100 points, limited the Wizards to one field goal over a
9-minute, 58-second stretch bridging the third and fourth quarters
in building an insurmountable lead.
The result was Golden State's franchise-record-tying 67th win of the
season.
Stephen Curry led four Warriors starters in double figures with 26
points as Golden State (67-7) pulled five games ahead of the San
Antonio Spurs in the race for top seeding in the Western Conference
playoffs.
The win was the Warriors' 10th in their past 11 meetings with the
Wizards, who fell into 10th place in the Eastern playoff chase.
Washington (36-38) sits three games behind the Indiana Pacers
(39-35), who currently reside in the eighth and final postseason
slot.
The Warriors closed the first half on a 12-0 run to take a
three-point halftime lead, but they were on top just 72-70 after
Wizards forward Markieff Morris buried a 3-pointer with 2:20
remaining in the third period.
 However, Washington made only one more field goal -- a layup by Nene
-- in nearly the next 10 minutes, during which the Warriors rolled
up a 95-76 advantage with under 5:00 remaining in the game.
A fastbreak layup by backup Jared Dudley with 4:22 to go ended a
Wizards drought that saw them miss 12 of 13 shots.
The Warriors, meanwhile, went up 79-72 on a 3-pointer by Draymond
Green with 6.8 seconds remaining in the third period, then eased
away in the fourth quarter thanks in part to Curry's sixth 3-pointer
of the game, one he banked in from straight away with 6:07 to go.
Curry, who had 51 points when the Warriors won 134-121 at Washington
earlier this season, finished 9-for-20 from the field and 6-for-8 on
3-pointers. He also found time for seven rebounds and seven assists.
Green contributed 15 points, a game-high 16 rebounds and nine
assists to the win, and Klay Thompson, the reigning Western
Conference Player of the Week, added 16 points.
Thompson shot just 2-for-8 from 3-point range, but the two successes
brought his total for the month of March to 76, breaking the NBA
record of 75 for the month set last year by Curry.
Harrison Barnes was a fourth Warriors starter in double figures with
14 points to go with nine rebounds.
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Bradley Beal had 17 points to lead the Wizards, who were playing for
the second time on a five-game Western swing and lost for just the
third time in their past nine games.
Morris (15), Otto Porter Jr. (11) and Nene (10) also scored in
double figures for the Wizards, but star point guard John Wall was
limited to eight
points, ending his streak of consecutive games in double figures at
31.
Wall, who led Washington with 11 assists, had recorded
double-doubles in his previous nine games. He burned the Warriors
for 41 points in the earlier meeting this season.
Marcin Gortat was Washington's top rebounder with 11.
After trailing by as many as eight in the first quarter, the Wizards
shockingly spurted into a 46-37 lead late in the second period.
Wall had a hand in all four field goals in a 9-0 run that produced
the nine-point lead, hitting a pair of shots and assisting hoops by
Beal (a 3-pointer) and Gortat.
But just when it appeared the Warriors would be saddled with a rare
halftime deficit at home, they countered with a flurry of their own,
scoring the final 12 points of the second period.
Curry led the charge, burying two 3-pointers and a layup before
assisting a Shaun Livingston dunk in a 12-0 spree that exhausted the
final 2:24 of the half and produced a 49-46 halftime advantage.
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