LOS ANGELES, March 17: Stephen Curry scored 31 points in his return to Golden State’s lineup, Klay Thompson added 26 off the bench and the Warriors beat the Los Angeles Lakers 128-121 on Saturday night in a pivotal Western Conference matchup.
LeBron James had 40 points, nine assists and eight rebounds for the Lakers, who had to play without Anthony Davis for the final three quarters after he suffered an eye injury.
The Warriors inched ahead of the Lakers by a percentage point into ninth place in the West after winning a game that dragged to the finish because of a pair of replay reviews — one that overturned an apparent 3-pointer by James — then a malfunctioning clock.
Davis got poked in the left eye by Golden State’s Trayce Jackson-Davis while driving to the basket for a layup with 2:47 remaining in the first quarter. Davis kept playing for the next few minutes, but his eye was swollen shut as he went to the locker room.
The Lakers described the injury as an eye contusion.
Golden State took advantage of Davis’ injury as it dominated inside and regularly drove into the paint. The Warriors outrebounded the Lakers by six and had a 62-54 advantage in points in the paint.
Jonathan Kuminga added 23 points for the Warriors and Draymond Green had six points, 12 rebounds and 13 assists after he missed the last game due to back soreness.D’Angelo Russell added 23 points and 13 assists for the Lakers, who have dropped their last two.
Jalen Brunson scored 42 points, becoming the fourth player in franchise history with 40 or more in consecutive games, and the New York beat Sacramento.
Brunson had 45 points in Thursday’s win at Portland, his seventh 40-point game of the season. He’s the first Knicks player to reach that total in back-to-back games since Carmelo Anthony on Feb. 19 and 21, 2014.
Hall of Famers Bernard King and Patrick Ewing are the other Knicks to do it. (AP)
