Stephen Curry, Warriors send Suns to 13th straight loss

Stephen Curry isn’t in this season’s MVP conversation, but Wednesday night against the Suns, he reminded everyone that maybe he should be.

Curry – the league’s MVP the previous two seasons – produced 42 points and 11 assists, leading the Golden State Warriors to a 120-111 win in a battle of two teams dribbling in opposite directions.

With its season-high 13th consecutive win, Golden State (65-14) clinched the Western Conference’s top postseason seed for the third consecutive season. They’ll have homecourt advantage throughout the playoffs.

With their 13th consecutive loss, the Suns tied a franchise record, previously set last season and in 1996. The good news for Phoenix fans: The Lakers beat San Antonio, a win that puts them 1.5 games ahead of the Suns in the race for potential draft positioning at the bottom of the Western Conference.

The Lakers (23-55) have four games remaining. The Suns (22-57) have three.

BOX SCORE: Warriors 120, Suns 111

Phoenix trailed by as many as 23 points, but as they have throughout this losing streak, they battled. With 7:03 left in the contest, forward Matt Barnes hit a free throw to give Golden State a 104-91 lead. The game looked over. Curry had not played all quarter.

The Suns scored the game’s next 10 points. Jared Dudley hit a jumper. Then Booker. And Marquese Chriss and Tyler Ulis, cutting Golden State’s lead to 104-101. Curry, however, put an end to the spurt. Rushed back into the game, he hit his eighth 3 to give the Warriors a cushion.

They held off the Suns from there.

Booker shot 7 of 24 but still led the Suns with 21 points. Dudley posted a season-high 19 points along with seven rebounds and six assists. Ulis had 20 points, five rebounds and six assists. Alan Williams chipped in 16 points and a career-high 17 rebounds.

Curry made 15 of 26 from the field and 8 of 13 from deep. Klay Thompson overcame a cold start, hitting big shots in the fourth quarter to finish with 22 points. Golden State played without forward Draymond Green and Andre Iguodala.

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Curry hit his first three shots of the contest, all 3-pointers, to lift Golden State to an early double-digit lead. He kept on going, scoring in transition, hitting another 3, the crowd responding to every bucket.

By the end of the first quarter, Curry had 23 points and Golden State led 41-18. The Suns regrouped and slowly got back into the contest. With Curry sitting out the second quarter’s seven minutes, Phoenix got defensive stops. Booker hit a 3 to pull the Suns within 45-32 midway through the quarter.

Curry returned with 5:07 left until halftime. Instead of Ulis, rookie wing Derrick Jones Jr. picked him up. At 6-7, Jones had length to maybe not bother Curry, but at least slow him. Curry pushed off to get free, but Jones stayed close. On the other end, Jones pounded the offensive boards.

With 2 minutes left, Jones rebounded a Williams miss and slammed it home, the second time he had done so in the first half. Overall, the Suns outscored Golden State 34-17 in the second quarter to pull within 58-52 at halftime. Curry had 28, hitting 6 of 9 from 3-point range.