SAN FRANCISCO — The Warriors were down eight points and on the verge of dropping their fourth straight game with about two minutes left in regulation Saturday night.
But Stephen Curry did everything in his power to ensure that wouldn’t happen.
Curry scored 13 of his game-high 36 points in the fourth quarter and blocked a Bucks shot to force overtime, where the Warriors outlasted the Milwaukee Bucks, 125-116.
Curry knocked down a trio of 3s and made a breakaway finger-roll layup over the last two minutes of regulation to tie the game at 111. As the game clock wound down, Curry denied Jrue Holiday’s layup attempt to put the ball in the Warriors’ hands with 1.9 seconds left.
After a timeout, what would’ve been a go-ahead 3-pointer by Draymond Green rimmed out at the buzzer, sending the game into overtime.
Curry scored another nine points in the extra period as the Warriors snapped the East-leading Bucks' three-game win streak.
Two-time league MVP Giannis Antetokounmpo missed his third straight game with hand soreness, but it didn’t matter. The Bucks had a balanced attack on offense, with six players scoring 12 or more points, to outlast Golden State and hand the defending champs their fourth straight loss.
Saturday was another slow burn for the Warriors. The only thing that kept them in the game was that the Bucks got off to just as poor of a start.
The Warriors came to life early in the third to pull ahead by 13, but they lost steam as the time went on. Then, it was the Bucks' turn to pounce. Milwaukee started to create separation in the fourth, going on an 8-0 run to pull ahead 100-92. But Curry turned on the turbo jets from there and took over the game.
The last time the Warriors were at Chase Center, Klay Thompson said they wanted to secure a top-four seed so they can have home-court advantage in the first round of the playoffs.
But after a disappointing 3-0 road trip, the Warriors are back battling just to avoid the play-in. Golden State moved into sixth place in the Western Conference standings with Saturday’s win.
The Warriors will play the Phoenix Suns on Monday before hitting the road again for a five-city trip. Warriors fans will have to wait another season yet again to see Kevin Durant in action as he’s currently sidelined with an ankle sprain.
