The Golden State Warriors came back from 25 points down and defeated the Los Angeles Lakers 112-95 on Friday night in an NBA Cup matchup at Chase Center, according to the Associated Press. Stephen Curry led Golden State with 31 points, six assists and four rebounds, while Luka Doncic finished with 37 points, seven rebounds and five assists for Los Angeles.
The result came a week after the Lakers beat the Warriors in the teams' season opener in Los Angeles, and it denied Los Angeles a second straight lopsided win over Golden State.
Why it matters
According to the AP, the 17-point winning margin is the largest in the shot clock era for a team that trailed by 20 or more points at the end of the first quarter. The previous mark dated to March 4, 1976, when Golden State fell behind Chicago 41-18 after one period and still won 124-110 by 14 points.
The comeback also placed Golden State in rare statistical company. Per the AP, the Warriors are the first team in the shot clock era, playoffs included, to trail by at least 23 points at the close of the first quarter and be tied or ahead by halftime.
Doncic's fast start, Golden State's matching answer
Doncic opened the game in dominant form. He scored 21 points in the first quarter on 7-for-12 shooting, including five 3-pointers, and added five assists and two steals as Los Angeles built a 38-15 lead, the AP reported.
Golden State responded by winning the second quarter by the identical 38-15 margin, pulling level by the intermission. Brandin Podziemski supported Curry with 21 points, six assists and five rebounds. De'Anthony Melton added 16 points off the bench, and fellow reserve Georges Niang contributed 11, according to the AP.
The third quarter brought a series of individual duels. Curry connected on a 3-pointer over Doncic with 6:22 remaining in the period, and Doncic answered with a deep shot of his own on the next possession, the AP reported. Doncic was assessed a technical foul with 21.8 seconds left in the third while fans chanted at him, and Lakers teammate Matisse Thybulle received a technical in the fourth.
Los Angeles turned 17 Golden State turnovers into 25 points, ten of those takeaways coming in the opening quarter, per the AP. That advantage was not enough to hold off the Warriors' surge.
Curry moves up the scoring list
In the fourth quarter, Curry passed Dominique Wilkins (26,668 career points) to take 18th place on the NBA's all-time scoring list, the AP reported. The milestone came during the closing stretch of a game Golden State controlled after halftime.
The AP reported the game from San Francisco. CBS Sports carried live score and statistics through its Gametracker, and ESPN published a full game recap.
Golden State's next opportunity to build on the win, and the Lakers' chance to respond, will come as the NBA Cup schedule continues; watch whether Los Angeles can correct the second-quarter collapse that undid its fast start.
