Draymond Green’s return, Stephen Curry’s 47-point bomb lead Warriors past Wizards

Draymond Green reunited with birthday boy Stephen Curry and Klay Thompson for a powerful offensive performance Monday night as the Golden State Warriors both passed and shot the ball brilliantly in a 126-112 romp over the Washington Wizards in San Francisco.

Returning from a disc injury in his back that kept him out since January, Green contributed 6 points, 7 rebounds, and a team-high 6 assists to Golden State’s fourth straight win in just 20 minutes off the bench.

Other than a seven-second cameo in Thompson’s season debut on January 9, Green shared the court with Curry and Thompson for the first time in 1,005 days — since the night Thompson tore a knee ligament in Game 6 of the 2019 NBA Finals.

Curry, who turned 34 on Monday, March 14 (Tuesday, March 15, Manila time) seemed to benefit most from Green’s reappearance, shooting 16-for-25 overall, and 7-for-14 from three-point range in a game-high, 47-point performance. Curry also found time for 6 rebounds, and 6 assists. The 40-point performance was his seventh of the season.

Making four three-pointers, Thompson put up 20 points, as did teammate Jordan Poole. Jonathan Kuminga chipped in 12 to complement a game-high 8 rebounds.

The Warriors finished with 26 assists on 45 buckets, and shot 54% as a team despite missing All-Star Andrew Wiggins, who sat out the game with an illness.

Kristaps Porzingis tallied 25 points and a game-high 8 rebounds for the Wizards, who completed a winless four-game Western Conference swing.

Kentavious Caldwell-Pope had 19 points, Deni Avdija 13, Rui Hachimura 12, Ish Smith 11 to go with a game-high 7 assists, and Kyle Kuzma with 11 to complement 8 rebounds for the Wizards, who lost despite shooting 51%.

The Warriors trailed only briefly in the eighth minute of the game, and went up by as many as 19 in the second quarter. Golden State was held scoreless for almost four minutes in the fourth quarter as the Wizards climbed within 110-101 with 5:25 to play.

Curry ended the drought with a layup and then bombed in his sixth and seventh 3-pointers of the night, increasing the margin to double digits again, and paved the way to a comfortable win. – Rappler.com