Stephen Curry scored 37 points and Brandin Podziemski added 28 with a career-high eight 3-pointers as the visiting Golden State Warriors continued their late-season surge with a 123-116 victory over the Los Angeles Lakers on Thursday.
Jonathan Kuminga scored 18 points for the Warriors (45-31), while Jimmy Butler III had seven of his 11 points in the fourth quarter. Golden State is 20-4 since Butler joined the team in a February trade from the Miami Heat.
LeBron James scored 33 points and Austin Reaves added 31 with a career-high nine 3-pointers for the Lakers (46-30), who dropped to 3-5 since March 20.
Rui Hachimura scored 24 points and Luka Doncic added 19 for Los Angeles, which is in fourth place in the Western Conference and just one game better than Golden State. The Lakers already won the season series between the teams by coming out on top in the first three matchups this season.
The Lakers were within 88-80 with 11:39 remaining before the Warriors went on a 5-0 burst to take a 93-80 advantage with 10:10 left. Golden State reached the century mark for a 100-87 lead with 8:16 left on a turnaround jumper from Butler.
Reaves got the Lakers to within 105-98 on a 3-pointer with 5:23 remaining and Doncic made it 105-100 on a jumper to cap an 11-2 run with 4:37 to go.
Curry and James exchanged 3-pointers as the Lakers remained within striking distance at 114-107 with 1:51 left before Podziemski dealt the decisive blow on a 3-pointer with 1:32 left for a 117-107 lead.
The Lakers had a chance to cut the deficit to two points with 20 seconds remaining, but Dorian Finney-Smith missed a 3-point attempt.
The Warriors led 60-47 at halftime after getting a 34-foot 3-pointer off the backboard at the halftime buzzer from Podziemski, who had six 3-pointers before intermission. Podziemski scored 22 points in the first half, while Curry had 12.
–Field Level Media
