Curry scores 50 points, leads Warriors past Kings 120-100 in Game 7

SACRAMENTO,Calif. (AP)— Stephen Curry scored a playoff career-high 50points and answered time and again to will the defending championson in their quest for a repeat, Kevon Looney grabbed 21 rebounds,and the Golden State Warriors advanced to the Western Conferencesemifinals by beating the Sacramento Kings120-100 inSunday’s winner-take-all Game 7.

Curry’spoints are the most in NBA history in a Game 7, topping formerteammate Kevin Durant’s 48 for the Nets against Milwaukee in2021.

TheWarriors fell behind 2-0 in this series then won twice on the roadin front of a hostile, cowbell-clanging crowd in the state capitalto become the first reigning champion to drop the first two gamesand win any postseason series.

Now, bringon LeBron James and the Los Angeles Lakers in the WesternConference semifinals with all that NBA Finals history with Jamesand Golden State dating to his Cleveland days. Game 1 is Tuesdaynight at Chase Center.

Sacramento’s special comeback season is over long before theseyoung Kings had planned. After snapping a 16-year playoff drought —longest in NBA history — under Coach of the Year Mike Brown,playoff-starved Sacramento earned a No. 3 seed but missed advancingto the second round for the first time since 2004. No more Lightthe Beam at Golden 1 Center this season.

Curry shot20 of 38 with seven 3s and delivered after almost every big play bySacramento as Splash Brother Klay Thompson struggled on both endsagain. But Thompson came through in some crucial moments, too.

MalikMonk’s putback and three-point play with 14.6 seconds remaining inthe third pulled Sacramento within six only for Thompson to hit along 3 and convert a four-point play to make it 91-81 heading intothe final 12 minutes.

DomantasSabonis had 22 points, eight rebounds and seven assists but theWarriors held De’Aaron Fox in check as he scored 16 points on5-for-19 shooting in his third game playing with a broken indexfinger on his shooting hand.

Trailing58-56 at halftime, the Warriors opened the second half with a 13-4burst to take a 69-62 lead and force a Kings timeout at the 7:50mark.

Sacramentoscored early on with a beautiful combination of classicgive-and-goes and long jumpers off crisp passing around theperimeter.

But Currykept coming, and Looney kept scrapping to create second and thirdopportunities during his brilliant series on the boards.

Curry firedfrom way back with precision and fearlessly drove to the basketwith jaw-dropping acrobatics all afternoon to send Kings fans tothe exits late in the fourth.

Thompsonbegan 1 for 10 missing his first five 3s before connecting at the9:18 mark of the third. Golden State, playing just its fourth Game7 under Steve Kerr since the 2014-15 title run, was smart down thestretch after 18 turnovers in Game 6 led to 23 Kings points andKerr calling his team “wildly undisciplined.”

Kerr had nodoubt before the deciding game — and he went back to Draymond Greenin the starting lineup for Game 7 with the season on the line afterthe fiery forward came off the bench the previous two contestsfollowing a Game 3 suspension for stepping on Domantas Sabonis.

“These guysare champions, defending champions from a year ago, four in thelast eight years, these guys know the deal,” Kerr said. “There’s asense of confidence and a sense that we’re going to go get itdone.”

Just beforethe final buzzer, Kerr offered a long embrace to Brown — GoldenState’s former top assistant who once coached the Warriors duringKerr’s health absence and just guided the Kings’ remarkableturnaround.