FILE – Stephen Curry #30 of the Golden State Warriors warms up prior to the game against the Los Angeles Lakers at Chase Center on October 18, 2022 in San Francisco, California. Ezra Shaw/Getty Images/AFP
Stephen Curry scored 28 of his game-high 33 points in a record-setting first half Sunday night and the Golden State Warriors outlasted the visiting Sacramento Kings 130-125 in Mike Brown’s return to San Francisco.
Sacramento’s third straight loss — its second in two nights — featured its new coach, Brown, getting a hero’s welcome in front of Warriors faithful who watched him help the franchise, as an assistant coach, to three titles in the last six seasons, including one last year.
Brown in turn witnessed a fireworks show in the first half, one in which the Warriors outscored the Kings 89-71. Remarkably, there were only a total of 95 points scored in the second half when the Kings rallied to within 126-120 with 2:27 to play on a layup by Kevin Huerter.
But typical of the final 24 minutes, both offenses bogged down and neither team scored again until Chimezie Metu dunked with 1:04 to go to get the Kings within four.
However, after another Kings stop, Malik Monk misfired on a 3-pointer that could have made it a one-point game with 42.5 seconds left, and the Warriors iced their second win in three games with two Jordan Poole free throws and an Andrew Wiggins dunk.
The first-half points explosion included a franchise-record 50 by the Warriors in the second period. The output equaled the third-most scored in NBA history in a second quarter, trailing only the 57 by the Phoenix Suns in 1990 and 52 by the Baltimore Bullets in 1965.
Curry had six 3-pointers to account for a majority of his 28 points in the first two periods, contributing to the 89 first-half points, which were the fifth-most in NBA history. The Warriors were one of the four teams with more, having poured in 92 — No. 2 on the list — against the Chicago Bulls on Oct. 29, 2018.
33 PTS | 11-22 FG | 7-12 3FG
Stephen got buckets on #WarriorsGround @UAbasketball || Second Look pic.twitter.com/qb1R5dIVqq
— Golden State Warriors (@warriors) October 24, 2022
Wiggins (18), Poole (12) and James Wiseman (12) had also recorded double figures in points before the break.
Wiggins and Poole finished with 24 points apiece, while Wiseman totaled 14.
The Kings also had four players in double figures in the first-half shootout, led by De’Aaron Fox with 17, Domantas Sabonis with 14, Keegan Murray with 13 and Monk with 10. Sacramento fell as many as 22 points down in the half despite shooting 52 percent.
Fox wound up leading the Kings with 26 points, followed by Sabonis with 19, Murray and Monk with 16 apiece, and Richaun Holmes with 15.
Fox, with a game-high 10 assists, and Sabonis, with a game-high 14 rebounds, recorded double-doubles.