Steph Curry accomplished yet another impressive scoring milestone on Friday as the Golden State Warriors continued their positive momentum on the court following the NBA’s trade deadline earlier this month. Curry notched 20 points in the Warriors’ 132-108 victory against the Sacramento Kings, making him the 21st player in NBA history – and the first from Golden State – to score 20 or more points in 700 games. Warriors head coach Steve Kerr, upon being informed of this achievement, openly expressed his astonishment, commenting, “That’s pretty impressive.”
Curry achieved the 20-point mark by converting 7 of his 13 field goal attempts, including sinking four three-pointers and both of his two free throw attempts. Meanwhile, Moses Moody and Buddy Hield led the scoring for the Warriors with 22 points each, with second-year guard Brandin Podziemski contributing 21 points.
The Warriors’ victory on Friday continued their upward trajectory following the trade deadline and the notable addition of Jimmy Butler from the Miami Heat. With Butler in the lineup, the Bay Area team has now secured a 4-1 record, with the 35-year-old veteran contributing 17 points, seven assists, and three rebounds in the win over the Kings, as they aim to climb the Western Conference standings. Presently occupying the ninth spot in the conference, the Warriors find themselves two-and-a-half games outside the playoff positions.
Emphasizing the significance of the latter part of the season post the NBA All-Star break, Curry highlighted the team’s focus on a late-season surge up the standings in the highly competitive Western Conference. “We have a 27-game playoff push. I mean, we finished before the break 3-1 with Jimmy on the squad, and the Dallas game (on Sunday) and tonight are huge to keep momentum and maintain it coming to this first stretch out the break,” Curry shared with reporters after the victory over Sacramento. “So you don’t want to talk it up too much because every game is important to be honest, but from practice yesterday, shootaround this morning, we were pretty locked in, it was a good energy, a good understanding about what we needed to do to win this particular game, and now we’ve got to do it again we lost a week ago. So every game is important.”
In other games on Friday, the conference leaders – the Oklahoma City Thunder in the West and the Cleveland Cavaliers in the East – returned from the All-Star break with commanding wins. The Thunder defeated the Utah Jazz 130-107, while the Cavaliers triumphed over the New York Knicks 142-105. To stay updated with more CNN news and newsletters, create an account at CNN.com.
