Memphis, Tennessee: Stephen Curry scored 21 of his 33 points by half-time as the Golden State Warriors ended their two-game losing streak on Monday by routing the Memphis Grizzlies 101-84 to level the NBA Western Conference semi-final at 2-2.
Atlanta and Washington are also even at 2-2 in their second-round play-off after Jeff Teague scored 26 points, including a key 3-pointer, to lead the Hawks over the Wizards 106-101.
The Warriors hadn’t lost three straight games all season, and they never came close as they took back home-court advantage. Curry hadn’t scored more than 23 points in this series, and he nearly had that by half-time.
Draymond Green had 16 points and 10 rebounds for the Warriors while Klay Thompson had 15 points, Harrison Barnes 12 and Andre Iguodala 11.
Marc Gasol had 19 points and 10 rebounds for Memphis while Zach Randolph had 12 points and 11 rebounds. Mike Conley finished with 10 points and seven assists but was 4 of 15 from the field. Memphis pulled its starters with 3:00 left.
Game 5 is on Wednesday night at Golden State.
The Warriors led by as many as 26 points, and they had their best game shooting outside the arc knocking down 14 3s.
In Washington, Paul Pierce missed a 3-point attempt that would have levelled scores for the Wizards with less than 10 seconds left, just two days after hitting a buzzer-beater to win Game 3.
Al Horford had 18 points and 10 rebounds, and Paul Millsap added 19 points, six assists and five rebounds.
Washington point guard John Wall missed a third consecutive game with a broken left hand.
Game 5 is on Wednesday night at Atlanta.
The Hawks led most of the game, but Washington cut the deficit to 101-97 with under 2 minutes remaining. Teague’s 3-pointer with 72 seconds left got the margin back to seven.
Still, after Washington’s Bradley Beal blocked a shot by Dennis Schroder in the lane to keep Atlanta’s lead at 104-101, the Wizards had the ball and called a timeout with 9.5 seconds remaining. They got Pierce an open look at a 3, but it went off the rim.
Beal had a career play-off-high 34 points, seven assists and six rebounds, and Pierce had 22 points, including five of Washington’s 12 3-pointers.
