Golden State Warriors head coach Steve Kerr made known after Monday’s win over Sacramento that Stephen Curry hero ball would not be sustainable over the course of an 82-game season.
Curry clearly didn’t get the memo.
Curry got a little more help in Golden State’s 106-101 win over the Cleveland Cavaliers, but things played out eerily similar to his domination of the Kings. He finished with a game-high 40 points with four rebounds and five assists in 34 minutes. His 15 points over the final 5:05 of the game were enough to give the Cavaliers just their fourth loss of this season.
After losing five consecutive games, the Warriors have now won two in a row to improve to 5-7. Curry totaled 87 points in those two victories, at 34 years old becoming the oldest player to score 40 or more in consecutive games since Michael Jordan in 2002, according to ESPN Stats & Info. In Sacramento on Sunday, the Warriors will attempt to win their first road game.
With 17.6 seconds left in the game and the Warriors leading 103-99, Curry stepped up to the free-throw line and gnawed on his trademark mouthpiece while MVP chants echoed throughout Chase Center. If the Warriors can continue to build on these wins, his case for the award will be just as strong as anyone else, as his career-best scoring season remained on track with another clutch, sharpshooting performance. Curry is shooting 67% from field and 55% from 3 over last three games.
Lost in Curry’s performance was the play of Draymond Green. He recorded a season-high 13 assists in the win with 10 rebounds and a steal. Jordan Poole had one of his more efficient performances in recent games, adding 18 points on 6-of-13 shooting from the field, 4-of-8 from 3-point range off the bench. Andrew Wiggins, who had 20 points, was the only starter other than Curry to reach double figures in scoring.
DiVincenzo returns: Donte DiVincenzo returned from an eight-game absence on Friday. He was placed on a 20-minute restriction in his first appearance since Oct. 23 and wound up playing 16 minutes off the bench.
DiVincenzo attempted just one shot, but looked particularly good on defense, most notably in switch situations when forced to match up with Cleveland’s bigs. That defensive aggression did get him into some early foul trouble, as he got whistled for two in his first seven minutes on the court.
DiVincenzo’s return gave Curry and Jordan Poole more flexibility to play off the ball. One of his three assists resulted in a 3-pointer for Curry, and the other two came early in the fourth quarter to Poole and Kevon Looney during a 9-2 run to start the period.
Rotation notes: Kerr trimmed his rotation down to nine players against Cleveland.
James Wiseman, Moses Moody, JaMychal Green and Ty Jerome didn’t make the cut. But for the second consecutive game, Anthony Lamb did.
Lamb, one of two Warriors two-way players currently on the active roster, had another strong performance against Cleveland. He scored seven of his 10 points in the first half and finished with four rebounds (two offensive) and one assist in 24 minutes. He was very active at both ends of the court, keeping possessions alive, knocking down timely shots and playing tough, physical defense.
The Warriors were plus-6 with Lamb on the court. And outside of Poole, no other Golden State reserve scored.
C.J. Holmes covers the Warriors for The San Francisco Chronicle. Email: cj.holmes@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @CjHolmes22
