When the Golden State Warriors faced the Lakers without LeBron James last month, Stephen Curry made huge shots right away, and the team's dominance helped ease some of the pain from a double-overtime collapse. On Thursday night, when both teams returned from the All-Star break, Curry led the Warriors to a 128-110 victory over the Lakers with 32 points, six 3-pointers, and eight assists.
Curry has decided to be more aggressive in his pursuit of his shot from the opening tip given the composition of the Golden State team. After dishing up his 6,000th career assist, Curry joined James, Russell Westbrook, Kobe Bryant, James Harden, Oscar Robertson, Jerry West, and John Havlicek as the only NBA players with at least 23,000 points and 6,000 assists. After scoring 16 points in the first quarter, Curry scored nine of his first twelve shots, including five three-pointers, for a total of 25 points before the half.