It didn’t start pretty, but the Warriors’ 110-98 triumph in San Antonio on Wednesday was perhaps the team’s most satisfying victory of the season.
GAME LEADERS
Playing on the back end of a back-to-back, the Dubs spotted the Spurs a 22-point lead in the opening quarter, but made a game of it by halftime, took the lead in the third quarter and wound up with a 12-point win over an elite team on their home court that has given the Dubs nightmares through the years.
Stephen Curry led the way with 29 points and 11 assists – his fourth straight double-double – while David West turned in a huge performance off the bench as the Dubs increased their lead atop the West to 3.5 games over the Spurs with seven games left in the season.
The Dubs were 1-for-11 from the field with six turnovers through the first minutes of the game and at one point trailed 29-7 before they began their largest comeback of the season. Andre Iguodala knocked down a buzzer-beating jumper to end the first quarter with a 16-point deficit, and the Dubs continued to chip away in the second period.
Klay Thompson went scoreless in the opening period and got it going with 11 of his 23 points in the second quarter. Thompson played a key role in a 16-2 run that tied the game at 45-45, but the Spurs then rallied for seven straight points and took a 57-54 lead into halftime.
Momentum, however, had shifted and the Warriors were in control. The Dubs opened the third quarter with an 8-0 spurt powered by a pair of 3-pointers from the Splash Brothers, and David West put the Warriors in front for good with a 16-foot jumper with 2:55 left in the period. Turns out West was just getting started.
West, who played for the Spurs last season, torched his old team with 11 of his season-high 15 points, three assists and a block in the final quarter. That effort was part of another tremendous bench effort for the Dubs that included 14 points from Iguodala.
The Dubs’ reserves combined for 45 points as the team picked up their ninth straight win. With the victory, the Warriors join the 1995-96 and the 1997-98 Chicago Bulls as the only teams in NBA history to post 30 road wins in consecutive seasons.
Now 61-14 on the season, the Warriors will play six of their seven remaining regular season games at Oracle Arena, and the home-heavy stretch begins on Friday as the Warriors take on the Rockets for the second time this week.