Stephen Curry led the Golden State Warriors with 32 points as they snapped their miserable six-game losing streak against the Houston Rockets on Monday, before declaring: “We needed this one”.
The Warriors had slumped to 6-8 after making a promising start to the season, with their losing run taking in two double-headers against the Minnesota Timberwolves and the Oklahoma City Thunder.
Curry had been forced to sit out two of those games with a knee injury, but the two-time NBA MVP looked back to his best at Chase Center on Monday.
He managed a game-high 32 points, including five three-pointers, as the Warriors held off a late Rockets resurgence to claim a 121-116 win, clinching just their second home-court victory of the season.
Curry’s performance also saw him extend his latest NBA record, becoming the first player in league history to manage at least four three-pointers in his first 13 appearances of a season. He is already comfortably the league’s all-time leader for three-pointers made, with 3,462.
Relief was the overriding emotion for Curry after he helped the Warriors end their skid, saying: “Haven’t had good energy walking off this floor in a while.
“We needed this one, for sure.”
On Warriors Ground pic.twitter.com/bmzMWkPAwF
— Golden State Warriors (@warriors) November 21, 2023
Klay Thompson supported Curry with a season-high 20 points, while Chris Paul racked up 15 points and 12 assists as the Warriors improved to 7-8 for the campaign.
Head coach Steve Kerr hopes the result will serve as a turning point in what has been a troubled campaign for the team, who are still without banned forward Draymond Green following his ejection for putting Minnesota’s Rudy Gobert in a headlock last week.
“We weren’t perfect but in this case you just need to win,” Kerr said. “That was the focus. Hopefully this is a good sign and we can get back on track.”
The Warriors sit 10th in the Western Conference standings despite Monday’s victory and are next in action when they visit the 7-6 Phoenix Suns on Wednesday.
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