LOS ANGELES — After Stephen Curry came up limping from another blow to his sore left leg, Golden State coach Luke Walton thought the reigning MVP should take the rest of the night off while the Warriors wrapped up another blowout win.
Walton also knows Steph wouldn’t be Steph if it was that easy to keep him off the court.
Klay Thompson scored 22 of his 36 points in the first quarter and Curry added 17 before sitting out the fourth to rest his ailing leg in Golden State’s 109-88 victory over the Los Angeles Lakers Tuesday night.
The defending champion Warriors became the first NBA team to win 33 of its first 35 games.
Curry stayed in the game after knocking legs with Roy Hibbert in the third quarter, leaving the star guard with obvious frustration on his face. He missed two games with a bruised lower left leg last week before returning for Golden State’s past three games, unwilling to take more than the minimum time away from the Warriors’ 33-2 season.
“It’s frustrating and annoying,” Curry said. “Long-term, it’s not something I have to worry about. It’s just playing through an injury.”
Curry only agreed to go to the locker room before the fourth quarter, after the Warriors had scored 22 straight points to put it away. He said he has been told it would take four weeks to fully heal his leg, “but I’m not sitting out four weeks.”
Bryant sat out his third straight game with a sore right shoulder for the Lakers, whose three-game winning streak ended.
The Warriors never trailed while beating the Lakers at Staples Center for only the fifth time in franchise history.
Bulls 117, Bucks 106: Chicago’s Jimmy Butler scored a game-high 32 points and had 10 assists in the Bulls’ 117-106 win over the Milwaukee Bucks at the United Center Tuesday.
Coming off a 42-point performance, which included 40 second-half points, against the Toronto Raptors Sunday, Butler continued to have the hot hand against the Bucks.
He scored 12 points in first quarter and had 20 points by halftime. He shot 11 of 21 from the field and 8 of 8 from the free-throw line for the game.
Knicks 107, Hawks 101: Arron Afflalo and Carmelo Anthony each scored 23 points to help the New York Knicks to a 107-101 victory over the Atlanta Hawks.
New York nearly wasted a 16-point second-half lead as Atlanta pulled within two and did not secure the victory until Jose Calderon scored on driving layup with 18 seconds left.
Mavericks 117, Kings 116 (double OT): Deron Williams hit a three-pointer at the buzzer finished that lifted Dallas to a 117-116 double overtime win over the Sacramento Kings at American Airlines Center.
