Stephen Curry racked up a season-high 56 points, going 12 of 19 on 3-pointers as the Warriors beat the Magic for their fifth straight win.
Stephen Curry scored a season-high 56 points, making 12 3-pointers and outscoring Orlando by himself in the third quarter of another astounding performance, leading the Golden State Warriors to a 121-115 victory over the Magic on Thursday night.
Curry was 12 for 19 behind the arc in his NBA-record 26th career game with 10 or more 3-pointers. He was 16 of 25 overall and made all 12 of his free throws in Golden State's fifth straight victory.
Paolo Banchero scored 41 points for the Magic and Franz Wagner added 27.
Curry had 22 points in the third quarter, in which Golden State turned a 14-point deficit into a five-point lead. Orlando managed 21 points in the period.
Quinten Post came off the Golden State bench with 18 points and five rebounds, including 10 straight Warrior points in the second period. Draymond Green had 12 points and 10 rebounds.
With Curry on the bench, the Warriors held the Magic scoreless for the first 3:08 of the fourth quarter, stretching a five-point lead to 12.
It was the Warriors' seventh win in eight games since acquiring Jimmy Butler in a trade on Feb. 6. Butler had five points on 1-of-7 shooting with seven assists in 32 minutes.
Curry ended the first half with a shot from well beyond halfcourt to keep the Warriors within 14 at 66-52, then opened the second half with another 3-pointer.
Curry's career scoring high is 62 points, set on Jan. 3, 2021, against Portland. His career high for 3-pointers in a game is 13.
Bucks overcome Jokic's latest triple-double
Giannis Antetokounmpo scored 28 points, pulled down a season-high 19 rebounds and dished out seven assists as the Milwaukee Bucks beat the Denver Nuggets 121-112.
The two-time MVP helped Milwaukee offset another brilliant performance from Nikola Jokic, who shot 13 of 16 and had 32 points, 14 rebounds and 10 assists. Jokic has 27 triple-doubles in the 53 games the three-time MVP has played this season.
This was the first matchup of the season between these two multiple-MVP winners. The Bucks play at Denver on March 26.
Brook Lopez added 22 points, Damian Lillard 19, Kyle Kuzma 16 and Gary Trent Jr. 15 for the Bucks, who have won five of their last six.
Jamal Murray scored 20 points for the Nuggets.
Denver has followed a nine-game winning streak by dropping two of three. After trailing by 12 with four minutes left, the Nuggets got the margin down to five with two minutes remaining but could not get any closer.
Antetokounmpo made just his eighth 3-pointer of the season to give Milwaukee a 67-66 lead with just over seven minutes left in the third quarter. He got a dunk off Taurean's Prince steal 35 seconds later to cap a 12-4 run that put the Bucks ahead for good.
LeBron keeps Lakers surging
LeBron James had 33 points and 17 rebounds and the Los Angeles Lakers won their fourth straight game, holding off the Minnesota Timberwolves 111-102.
Austin Reaves added 23 points and Luka Doncic had 21 and 13 rebounds to help the Lakers improve to 14-3 since Jan. 21.
Terrence Shannon Jr. led Minnesota with a career-high 25 points. The Timberwolves have dropped three of four and five of seven.
The Wolves were able to rally despite All-Star guard Anthony Edwards being ejected with 5:27 remaining in the third quarter after picking up his second technical foul. Edwards threw the ball into the stands after being ejected. If both technical fouls are upheld, he will be suspended one game for picking up 16 technicals this season.
Minnesota were down 92-77 less than three minutes into the fourth quarter before it made a 13-1 run.
Doncic though, stifled the Timberwolves' momentum by making an off-balance 3-pointer with 3:37 remaining and while the shot clock was winding down to put the Lakers up 98-91.