SAN FRANCISCO — Two days after overcoming a 20-point deficit to stun the New Orleans Pelicans, the Golden State Warriors faltered early again Friday night, but overcame the slow, sloppy start against the San Antonio Spurs to pull out a 130-115 victory.
Stephen Curry scored 33 points, Klay Thompson had 31 and Jordan Poole added another 27 off the bench to lead Golden State to its fifth win in six games.
The Spurs’ fate has already been decided. They join the Houston Rockets and Detroit Pistons as having the best lottery odds to land the No. 1 overall pick of the upcoming draft and presumably French phenom Victor Wembanyama.
But Friday was still a high-stakes game for the Warriors, who are trying to maintain their spot outside the play-in tournament in the Western Conference standings.
The Warriors turned the ball over five times in the first five minutes of the game, and the Spurs jumped ahead by as many as nine points in the opening quarter. San Antonio led for most of the second quarter, too, before a late 12-point burst by Poole and a Kevon Looney dunk helped the Warriors see a three-point advantage at the break.
There was a scary moment during that run, where Draymond Green appeared to injure his right knee after colliding with Spurs guard Tre Jones. Green went to the locker room before the second quarter ended but was good to go to start the third. He finished the game with four points, 11 assists and six rebounds in 29 minutes.
After the Spurs tied the game at 90 with 10:51 left in the fourth, Curry and Poole led the Warriors on an 8-0 surge over the next minute and 10 seconds.
Golden State kept the Spurs at bay from there, putting the game away outscoring San Antonio 32-25 over the final 9:40.
Thompson scored 27 points in the second half.
The Warriors remain in sixth place in the Western Conference standings. They have the same record (41-37) as the fifth-seeded Clippers, though Los Angeles currently wins the tiebreaker by having a better division record.
The Warriors will travel to Denver to play the West-leading Nuggets on Sunday before returning home to host the Oklahoma City Thunder on Tuesday for their final home game of the regular season.
