SAN FRANCISCO — Steph Curry sprained the thumb on his shooting hand in the Warriors’ most recent game against the Cavaliers, putting him on the official injury report and forcing him to use only his left hand at Wednesday’s light practice.
It was impossible to tell on Thursday night.
Playing with his thumb wrapped, Curry drained all eight of his 3-pointers. He finished with 30 points, 10 assists and six rebounds.
“Sometimes when you have a little injury or something that’s random, it kind of forces you to focus a little bit,” Curry said postgame. “And just be free. Just happy I got to play.”
The Warriors won his minutes by 32 points. He has the NBA record for games with at least eight 3-pointers, but he’d never made that many without missing a single one. His previous record for perfect 3-point shooting was 6-for-6.
The 76ers had their entire big three of Joel Embiid, Tyrese Maxey and Paul George healthy for a change, but the Warriors (17-16) embarrassed them, 139-105. Curry led the charge as the Warriors shared the ball beautifully, played with pace and tamed Philadelphia’s three-headed monster.
In the Warriors’ highest-scoring game since the season opener, they assisted on 42 of their 52 made field goals. Golden State shot a scorching 60.9% from the field and 56.4% from behind the arc.
“My game was indicative of how we all played,” said Curry, who passed Michael Jordan for most 30-point games among guards at least 35 years old. “It was a beautiful brand of basketball. It seemed like everyone who stepped on the floor had conviction about what they were trying to do, and we need to maintain that.”
Heading into 2025, the Warriors were optimistic they could put their roster-wide shooting woes behind them. The win over Philadelphia certainly looked like proof of concept. It was their first time shooting at least 50% from the field in 22 games — since Nov. 10.
“Really bad,” said Draymond Green (15 points, seven assists, six rebounds) said when asked how much this team needed a game like that. “Just to see the ball go in. We started the year off as a great shooting team, and then it just went to hell. Good to get a night like tonight.”
Dennis Schroder, who has struggled mightily on offense in his first few weeks as a Warrior, drained each of his first three 3-pointers. Jonathan Kuminga (20 points, five assists, five rebounds) hit a yank-back 3 over Joel Embiid as part of a seven-point burst in three minutes. Moses Moody made another to break Philadelphia’s zone. Even Buddy Hield, who had sank just two of his last 25 3-pointers, canned a corner 3.
The Warriors shot 7-for-11 from deep in a 35-19 first quarter. On the other end, the Sixers sure looked like they were on the second night of a back-to-back. A step slow and uncalibrated, Philadelphia missed their first seven 3s and Embiid started 2-for-6 from the floor against Trayce Jackson-Davis and Green.
Steve Kerr wants to keep the current starting lineup — and substitutions behind it — mostly intact for the time being. Even against Embiid, bigs Kevon Looney and Kyle Anderson remained out of the rotation, which is essentially cut to nine.
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Part of the biggest keys with the current rotation is featuring Kuminga in various ways: as the focal point of the second unit, alongside Steph Curry and Green as a slasher and while playing starter’s minutes.
With the ball in his hands more often, Kuminga has had arguably the best few weeks of his career. On Thursday, he dished four assists in his first stint (and could’ve had two more). He finished with 20 points, five assists and five rebounds.
“I think this was his fifth straight great game,” Kerr said. “Even that last game he didn’t shoot well, I loved his rebounding, loved his effort. I just think Jonathan is continuing to break through and understand exactly what his role is, what we need from him. He was brilliant again tonight.”
Even when the Sixers found their outside stroke, the Warriors kept pace, taking a 16-point lead into halftime. Their small-ball lineup with Kuminga at power forward next to Green generated a myriad of clean looks, especially against Philadelphia’s zone. Golden State had 22 assists on 26 buckets in the first half.
As they were hitting shots, the Warriors could feasibly play smaller even against 76er lineups with Embiid and Guerschon Yabusele. They drew those bigs away from the paint and worked outside-in. To constantly break Philadelphia’s box-and-one on Curry, the Warriors found cutters along the baseline for easy layups.
Like always, it started with Curry. He hit his first six 3-pointers, including a banked-in heat check over Paul George. After that somehow went down, he put his hands on his head in disbelief.
During Curry’s flurry, Kerr tried to sub Schroder in for Curry. Instead, Schroder asked to wait until Curry missed; that’s when Curry banked in his 3. The next possession, he skipped back on defense after threading a cross-court dime to Andrew Wiggins in the corner. Then he hit a step-back two over Eric Gordon to put the Warriors up 25 — then their biggest lead of the night.
Curry scored 13 in the third quarter, planting the Sixers way back on their heels.
Just for the fun of it, Curry nailed two more 3s minutes into the fourth quarter, pushing both his scoring total and Golden State’s lead to 30. He and the rest of Golden State’s regulars watched the last eight minutes of the game from the bench.
“He deserves these nights,” Kerr said. “Everything he does for us and endures. It’s so much fun to see him do this. Our fans and our coaches — we’re all spoiled, you know, watching him play night after night. We need to cherish these nights. He’s not going to be around forever. And he’s one of the most beautiful basketball players who’s ever lived, and we’re lucky to be watching him.”
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