One game after going without a point in the first half, Stephen Curry had nine points before the New York Knicks even scored.
Curry finished with 31 points and 11 rebounds and the Golden State Warriors rode a fast start for a 110-99 win at Madison Square Garden on Thursday.
The Warriors scored the game’s first 14 points, as the Knicks missed their first nine shots until Donte DiVincenzo converted a layup with 6:35 left in the opening quarter. By that time Curry already had nine points.
After failing to score in the first half in Tuesday's win over the Washington Wizards, Curry opened the scoring at MSG with a 27-foot 3-pointer 20 seconds after the opening tip. He finished 8-of-18 from 3-point range.
Jonathan Kuminga had 25 points and Klay Thompson had 16 points off the bench for the Warriors, who pushed their road winning streak to seven games. This is their longest road winning streak since reeling off 11 in a row in the 2018-19 season.
Overall, Golden State (31-27) has won 12 of 15 games following a 4-10 stretch.
New York (35-25), meanwhile, wrapped up a 4-8 February after going an NBA-best 14-2 in January.
Jalen Brunson led the Knicks with 27 points and DiVincenzo added 16, though he missed 15 of his 21 shot attempts.
As a team, New York shot 36.8 per cent - its worst shooting performance since shooting a season-worst 34.8 per cent in a 117-100 loss to the Minnesota Timberwolves on November 20.
Wembanyama stuffs stat sheet as Spurs beat Thunder
Victor Wembanyama recorded a stat line that had never been seen in an NBA game in the San Antonio Spurs' 132-118 win over Oklahoma City, ending the Thunder's six-game winning streak.
The rookie sensation finished with 28 points, 12 rebounds, seven assists, five blocked shots and five 3-pointers.
He is the first player in NBA history with at least 10 boards, five assists, five blocks and five made 3s in a game.
Wembanyama won the battle of first-year big men, coming up with a huge block of Chet Holmgren in the final minutes.
Although the Spurs (12-48) have the worst record in the Western Conference, they beat a Thunder team that was hoping to move into a tie with the Timberwolves atop the conference.
Oklahoma City (41-18) had won its last six games by an average of 20.2 points, but shot just 29.0 per cent from 3-point range (9 for 31).
Shai Gilgeous-Alexander paced the Thunder with 31 points, while Jalen Williams scored 26 and Holmgren added 23.
Devin Vassell had 28 points and nine assists for the Spurs, who were playing in San Antonio for the first time since February 3 following a 1-8 road swing.
Nuggets hold on to beat Heat in NBA Finals rematch
Meeting for the first time since Denver captured the franchise's first NBA title last June, the Nuggets held on for a 103-97 win over the Miami Heat.
The Nuggets looked like they were going to win easily, leading by 16 in the fourth quarter, but the Heat pulled within 99-97 on Jimmy Butler's floating bank shot with 11 seconds to play.
The Heat would get no closer, however, as Denver (41-19) improved to 5-0 since the All-Star break and moved within 1 1/2 games of the Timberwolves for the best record in the West.
Michael Porter Jr. had 30 points and 11 rebounds, while Nikola Jokic had 18 points, 11 boards and seven assists.
Denver overcame an injury to Jamal Murray, who sprained his right ankle when he landed on Aaron Gordon's leg just before half-time.
The Heat (33-26) arrived in Denver riding a five-game winning streak, in which they were averaging 113.0 points, but they had just 70 points through three quarters against the Nuggets.
Bam Adebayo led Miami with 22 points and eight rebounds, while Butler had 21 points and seven boards.
'I'll look back when I retire' – Brunson will not rest on his laurels after 47-point Game 4 haul
Jalen Brunson will not spend too long thinking about his 47-point haul in Game 4 against the Philadelphia 76ers as he looks towards the second round of the playoffs.
The New York Knicks took a 3-1 lead in their first-round series thanks to a 97-92 victory on Sunday.
Brunson inspired the Knicks with a stunning 47-point performance, while he also chipped in with 10 assists.
But with the Knicks just one win away from progressing, Brunson is not resting on his laurels.
"I'll look back when I retire," Brunson said.
"Seriously. It's great right now, it helped us get a win.
"But it's not going to do anything for us going forward."
Brunson's haul was a franchise record, as he surpassed Bernard King (46) for the most points scored in a playoff game for the Knicks.
Knicks coach Tom Thibodeau said: "I think we learned that throughout the course of the season. Jalen has played at such an incredibly high level all season long, and we can play off that.
"We have a little bit of everything. And the rebounding has been terrific. Everyone questioned the rebounding with Josh [Hart] at the power forward. We've been the best rebounding team all year. Everyone questioned Jalen being a leader.
"We have a lot to prove. It takes four to win a series, that's what we have to focus on."
The Sixers are staring down the barrel of an early exit, but Joel Embiid, who finished with 27 points and 10 rebounds, does not believe the pressure is on Philadelphia.
"One at a time," said Embiid. "We know we're good enough. We didn't make shots, so we just got to keep trusting ourselves.
"We got no pressure. We're the seven seed, down 3-1, a lot of guys are hurt.
"I don't know why we would feel the pressure. So we should just go out there and go out and play our best basketball and one at a time, win one, come back home, win another one and then Game 7 over there. So, yeah, I'm looking forward to it. Yeah. No pressure."
Doncic says he's letting Irving down as Mavs slip to 2-2 in Clippers series
Luka Doncic believes he has let Kyrie Irving down in the first four games of the Dallas Mavericks' first-round series with the Los Angeles Clippers, which is level at 2-2 after they dropped Game 4.
Doncic had a triple-double with 29 points, 10 rebounds and 10 assists at American Airlines Center on Sunday, but he shot just 10-of-24 from the floor while struggling with a knee issue as the Mavs lost 116-111.
It looked like being a far more resounding defeat when the Clippers went 31 points up midway through the second quarter, but Irving scored all 40 of his points after that to drag Dallas back into it.
However, Paul George and James Harden enjoyed big fourth quarters to deny the Mavs a third straight win and leave the series in the balance ahead of Game 5 in Los Angeles on Wednesday.
After the defeat, Doncic said he had given his fellow Mavs star too much to do, saying: "I've just got to help him more.
"I feel like I'm letting him down, so I've got to be there. I've got to help him more. He's given everything that he has, and he's been amazing for us the whole series."
Doncic has averaged 29 points through the series but has shot just 38.6 per cent from the floor and made 26.5 per cent of his 3-point attempts, while he was exploited on the defensive side on Sunday as George and Harden each had 33 points.
The MVP finalist, however, is refusing to use the soreness in his right knee as an excuse, saying: "It's hurting, obviously.
"But it shouldn't be an excuse, man. I just came out and was a little sloppy, so I've got to be way better than that."
The Clippers announced Kawhi Leonard is out indefinitely due to right knee inflammation ahead of Game 4 but Dallas failed to take advantage of his absence, leaving Los Angeles in buoyant mood with home-court advantage back on their side.
"We dug ourselves in a hole," Irving said. "There's no time to complain about it or look to each other for any excuses. It was just time to get it going.
"We fell short, but this is a consistent thing in this series so far where Kawhi doesn't play and we're just dealing with a barrage of James Harden and Paul George getting off."
NBA: Edwards scores 40 as Timberwolves complete sweep of Suns
For the first time in two decades, the Minnesota Timberwolves have won a playoff series.
The Timberwolves are the NBA's first team to advance to the conference semifinals after defeating the Phoenix Suns 122-116 on Sunday to complete a first-round sweep.
Minnesota reached the Western Conference second round for the first time since 2004 by recording the first play-off sweep in franchise history.
Anthony Edwards led the way with 40 points, and had a thunderous dunk with just over 2 minutes remaining to help kickstart the Timberwolves' celebrations.
Edwards had a quiet first half before erupting after half-time, scoring 31 points in the final two quarters. He hit four 3-pointers in the fourth quarter and had 16 points in the final period to help third-seeded Minnesota pull away.
He finished with seven 3-pointers, and also added nine rebounds and six assists, while Karl-Anthony Towns had 28 points and 10 boards.
The Timberwolves played the final 1:41 without their coach after Mike Conley collided with Chris Finch on the sidelines.
Finch went down hard, appearing to injure his right knee, and had to be helped to the locker room.
Minnesota, who will face the winner of the Denver Nuggets-Los Angeles Lakers series, prevailed despite a 49-point performance from Devin Booker.
Booker was 13 of 21 from the field and made 20 of 21 free throws, while Kevin Durant added 33 points on 12-of-17 shooting.
The rest of the Suns combined for 34 points on 36.1 per cent shooting, as Phoenix suffered their first playoff sweep since 1999.
Brunson's historic performance leads Knicks over 76ers
Jalen Brunson is in the record books and the New York Knicks are one win away from a trip to the Eastern Conference semifinals.
Brunson scored a playoff career-high 47 points - the most ever by a Knicks player in a post-season game - in a 97-92 victory over the Philadelphia 76ers.
Brunson made two free throws with five seconds remaining to seal the win and surpass the franchise record of 46 points scored by Bernard King in 1984.
With the victory in Philadelphia, the second-seeded Knicks grabbed a 3-1 lead in the first-round series.
New York have the opportunity to eliminate the 76ers in Game 5 back home at Madison Square Garden on Tuesday.
Brunson, who added a game-high 10 assists, struggled with his shot in the first two games of the series in New York, but found his touch in Philadelphia.
After totalling 46 points on 29.1 per cent shooting in Games 1 and 2, Brunson had 39 points on Thursday, followed by his record-setting performance in Game 4 while shooting 50.8 per cent.
OG Anunoby added 16 points and 14 rebounds for the Knicks, while Josh Hart played a big role despite missing all seven of his field-goal attempts by grabbing 17 rebounds.
Joel Embiid led the 76ers with 27 points, 10 rebounds and six assists, while Tyrese Maxey scored 23.
Philadelphia were undone by their struggles from long range, shooting 27.3 per cent on 3-pointers (9 of 33) after making 48.4 per cent of their shots from beyond the arc in their Game 3 win.
Clippers hang on after blowing lead of 31 to even up Mavs series
The Los Angeles Clippers emerged with a 116-111 victory over the Mavericks in Dallas to even up their first-round series at 2-2.
The fourth-seeded Clippers looked like they would roll to an easy win, as they led by 31 points midway through the second quarter, but the Mavericks came storming back to set up a thrilling final few minutes.
After Kyrie Irving hit an off-balanced layup with 2:15 remaining to put Dallas ahead 105-104 - the Mavs' first lead since they were up 8-7 less than five minutes into the game - Paul George responded with an incredible fadeaway 3-pointer from the corner and James Harden followed with a driving floating jump shot to put Los Angeles back up by four points.
George and Harden each finished with 33 points, and between them scored all the Clippers' final 18 points in the last five minutes of the fourth quarter.
Irving had 40 points on 14-of-25 shooting and Luka Doncic had 29 points, 10 rebounds and 10 assists in his fourth career play-off triple-double, but was clearly bothered by a sore right knee and misfired on eight of his nine 3-point attempts.
Before the game, the Clippers announced Kawhi Leonard is out indefinitely due to right knee inflammation.
With the Game 4 win, however, Los Angeles improved to 2-0 in this series in games without the two-time NBA Finals MVP.
In this series, each team has won once on their opponents' court. Game 5 is Wednesday in Los Angeles.
SportsMax is the Caribbean sports channel of choice, committed to providing sporting content of the highest quality to the Caribbean, delivered by a team of highly innovative, passionate and qualified professionals.
(876) 619-7629
digitalmedia@sportsmax.tv
