Matt Steinmetz

The Warriors played in the mud most of Sunday night, which is what happens sometimes when you play the Memphis Grizzlies. It took Stephen Curry’s fourth-quarter flurry to finally get the Warriors some separation and they rode it to a 106-94

Golden State (59-14) has now won seven consecutive games and lead the San Antonio Spurs by 2.5 games in the battle for the No. 1 seed in the Western Conference.

LINK TO “WARRIORS WRAPUP,” THE POSTGAME SHOW ON 95.7-FM THE GAME WILL BE POSTED WHEN READY.

Curry was in the midst of a so-so game when he came back into the game midway through the fourth quarter and the Warriors up just five. Curry promptly delivered a nice pass that turned into an assist after David West buried a jumper and then he followed that up with a 3-pointer. That bucket gave the Warriors a 96-86 lead — their biggest of the game.

Curry finished with 21 points and took care of the finish. Klay Thompson had 31 points, including 7-for-11 from 3-point range, and took care of much of the third quarter. Mike Conley led the Grizzlies with 29 points.

After bumping and grinding for more than a half, the Warriors seemed poised to finally put some distance between themselves and the Grizzlies late in the third quarter. Getting contributions from Matt Barnes and Andre Iguodala the Warriors took an 81-72 lead, their biggest of the night up to that point. But Conley spearheaded a quick and efficient 9-0 run and just like that it was all tied. The Warriors took a two-point lead heading into the fourth. It stayed tight till Curry did his thing.

For a good chunk of the first half Memphis did Memphis things to the Warriors, slowing them down and making them appear disjointed. Meanwhile, at the offensive end, the Grizzlies made sure to play at their glacial pace, which is always a good way to try to go about slowing down the Warriors.

But it’s tough to totally slow down the Warriors when they go 17-for-31 from the 3-point line, which they did. Meanwhile the Grizzlies made just 8-for-29 from 3-point range.

That’s six wins in a row for the Golden State Warriors. Seemed like just a short time ago this team was in chaos, having lost 5 of 7, which represented their worst stretch of basketball in the Steve Kerr era.

But a 114-100 victory over the Sacramento Kings at Oracle Arena on Friday night kept the Warriors rolling and gives them a 2.5 game lead over the San Antonio Spurs in the battle for home-court advantage throughout the playoffs.

Stephen Curry fought off some defensive rustiness but made up for it and then some with 27 points, 12 assists and six steals. Draymond Green finished with 23 points and eight assists.

LINK TO “WARRIORS WRAPUP” FROM THEIR 1114-110 WIN OVER SACRAMENTO KINGS.

Things get a little tricky now for the Warriors. They play the Grizzlies on Sunday night, then travel to Houston and San Antonio for a back-to-back. Then the Warriors play at home against the Rockets and then against the Wizards. That’s a tough, little stretch.

The Warriors didn’t play a great first half, but they did have a lot of players make contributions. Eleven Warriors’ players scored in the first half, helping them to a 57-50 lead.

While much of the focus on Curry has centered on his 3-point shooting fall-off, what’s been discussed less is perhaps his step back defensively. Last season, Curry seemed to make strides defensively; he was active and focused on a consistent basis.

But this season he’s been taken advantage of more than in 2015-16. Some of that is likely that teams are attacking Curry more frequently this season, identifying him as the team’s weakest link at that end of the floor. The other part is on Curry.

Ty Lawson ran circles around Curry in the first half, going into intermission with 18 points on 7-of-8 shooting from the field. Maybe the most alarming part of that performance was Lawson’s ability to get to the rim with as much frequency as he did.

The best part of of the Warriors’ 112-87 win over Dallas on Tuesday didn’t happen on the court. It happened just off of it, on the sidelines.

That’s where Kevin Durant almost jumped out of his seat to celebrate a David West dunk in traffic in the second quarter that nobody saw coming. Durant had accompanied the Warriors on their two-day trip to Oklahoma City and Dallas and sat on the bench both nights.

West took a nice feed from Shaun Livingston among a sea of bodies and started pivoting to gain an advantage. Out of nowhere, West, 36 rose up and threw one down, sparking a big-time reaction from everyone. That bucket gave the Warriors a 32-25 lead.

LINK TO “WARRIORS WRAPUP” FROM WARRIORS’ VICTORY OVER DALLAS.

Durant injured his knee in a game earlier this month against the Washington Wizards. The Warriors said he would be re-evaluated in four weeks, and he obviously will. But that didn’t stop Durant from shooting around before the game and he looked pretty pain free. His bench explosion sent the same message. It’s hard not to take all of that as a positive sign if you’re a Golden State Warriors fan.

Talking points from the game:

–The Warriors don’t have a lot of weaknesses, but one they do have is defending waterbug type guards. And Dallas has a few of them in Yogi Farrell, J.J. Barea and Devin Harris — not to mention Seth Curry, who might exactly fit the description but pretty close.

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