OAKLAND, California—Stephen Curry missed his first three tries from deep, got a little frustrated and forgot about the 10 points he needed for another major milestone.
Curry had 20 points and seven rebounds while adding another accomplishment to his long list, leading the Golden State Warriors past the Memphis Grizzlies, 110-93, on Monday night.
Curry became just the fifth player in Warriors history to score 15,000 points during the regular season—joining the company of Wilt Chamberlain, Rick Barry, Paul Arizin and Chris Mullin.
“It was a pretty cool moment, again just reflecting on the entire nine-and-a-half years and more to come,” Curry said. “Definitely appreciative of the opportunity, the milestone, hopefully a lot more to come.”
Kevin Durant scored 23 points to go with five assists and passed Larry Bird (21,791) for 33rd place on the National Basketball Association’s (NBA) all-time scoring list. Klay Thompson contributed 16 points with five rebounds.
Golden State led by as many as 25 points in the second quarter in quickly turning the game into a rout. That allowed Coach Steve Kerr to rest many of his regulars as the Warriors began a busy stretch with eight games before the end of the year, including Christmas night at home against LeBron James and the Lakers.
Marc Gasol had 15 points, six rebounds and six assists for the Grizzlies, who lost their third straight and fifth in six. This marked Memphis’ final visit to Oracle Arena before the Warriors move to new Chase Center in San Francisco next season. Omri Casspi added a season-high 20 points against his former team.
Gasol said the Grizzlies must talk as a team about ways to be better.
“There’s a few things that we need to do more of that we are doing well, and things that we’re not doing so well, do a little less,” he said.
Jonas Jerebko made Golden State’s only two threes in the opening quarter and finished 16 points off the bench.
The Warriors were 17 of 18 from the free-throw line in the first half to eight for 10 by Memphis, which trailed 61-38 at the break.
Curry’s three-pointer at the 7:37 mark of the second quarter put him in the 15,000 club.
Kerr knows the number is hardly important to his star point guard, saying: “He’ll probably be at 16,000 before too long, and won’t be aware of that either.”
Curry is thrilled to join such elite company.
“Just a pretty humbling experience in terms of how long I’ve been here and all the success that we’ve had in recent years, and individual accolades and milestones come out of that,” he said.
Chamberlain leads the way with 17,783, followed by Barry (16,447), Arizin (16,266) and Mullin (16,235).
“It’s a lot of points and the thing to me what’s most impressive is how he creates them. They’re not just wide-open, catch-and-shoot threes, his creativity with the ball in his hands,” Memphis Coach J.B. Bickerstaff said. “The shot-making from all three levels, the left hand, the floaters, the three off the bounce, the walk across that half court line and shoot a three. He has a variety of ways he puts the ball in the basket. You can probably count on one hand how many guys that we’ve seen with the shot-making creatively and the ability that he has.”
HARDEN’S 47 POWERS ROCKETS
ROCKETS Coach Mike D’Antoni has witnessed James Harden have the only 60-point triple-double in NBA history, lead Houston to the Western Conference finals and win his first Most Valuable Player award.
But what Harden has done for the previously underperforming Rockets in the last three games has topped anything the veteran coach has seen from his superstar player.
“I know he’s the MVP and everything, but this level the last three or four games is where it’s really high,” D’Antoni said. “It’s as good as he’s ever played.”
Harden scored 47 points to help the Rockets hold off the Utah Jazz, 102-97, on Monday night for their fourth straight win.
It was Houston’s first victory over the Jazz this season after dropping the first two meetings. The team’s current winning streak comes following a three-game skid.
Monday’s performance came after Harden had 50 points, 10 rebounds and 11 assists in a win over the Lakers on Thursday and another triple-double of 32 points, 12 rebounds and 10 assists in Saturday’s win at Memphis.
“He’s the best offensive player I’ve ever seen—like, seriously,” teammate Chris Paul said. “He can drive. He can shoot. He’s got ballhandling, so it’s going to be a tough night for you, whoever it is. I don’t care what you’re doing.”
Houston led by double digits early in the fourth quarter, but poor shooting left the Rockets tied with about two minutes left. A three-pointer by Harden put Houston back on top and he added two free throws with about a minute remaining to make it 99-94.
Donovan Mitchell was fouled by Eric Gordon on a three-pointer and made all three free throws to cut the lead to two with 35 seconds left.
Then, under heavy pressure from Ricky Rubio, Harden stepped back and hit a three to make it 102-97 with 13.3 seconds left, securing the victory.
Harden brushed off talk of his recent dominance, insisting that it’s something he has to do with the Rockets (15-14) in 10th place in the Western Conference.
“We’re in a hole,” he said. “I keep saying the same thing, but if you look at the standings, it [stinks] to look and see you’re not where you’re supposed to be. We just continue to work and build our way up there.”
Mitchell had 23 points for the Jazz, who have lost four of five.
“We had a hard time scoring for a while, and that was about the same time we weren’t close enough to [Harden], and he rose up and hit a big three and made a series of plays,” Jazz Coach Quin Snyder said.
Harden, who hit 15 of 16 free throws, had six rebounds, five assists and five steals.
“He’s been getting really hot the last week, playing really aggressive, and we let him get to the free throw line, which was one of the things that we were talking about trying to avoid,” Rubio said.
The Rockets had a 10-point lead after three periods and Harden put them up by 11 on a three-pointer with about nine minutes left in the fourth. Mitchell had a nifty spinning lay-up before the Rockets missed five shots over their next two possessions and Danuel House turned it over the next time down.
Mitchell’s lay-up started a 9-0 run for the Jazz, capped by a three from Rubio that got them to 90-88 with about five-and-a-half minutes left.
Harden scored Houston’s first points in more than 3:30 minutes after that, and things between him and Rudy Gobert got a little testy after that. Gobert fouled Harden as he dribbled down the court and Harden approached Gobert after the call. There was some minor pushing between the two before Harden walked away.
The Rockets led by 13 at halftime but Utah opened the third quarter with a 12-2 run to get to 52-49 with about eight-and-a-half minutes left in the period.
Utah used a 7-0 spurt later in the quarter to take a 58-57 lead. But Harden took over after that, scoring all of Houston’s points in a 9-2 run that gave the Rockets a six-point lead with about 5 1/2 minutes left in the quarter. Harden converted three-point plays on consecutive possessions before hitting a three after a turnover by Jae Crowder.