Considering the workout he gave it Tuesday night, Stephen Curry’s right foot appears to be just fine.
Curry returned from a one-game absence to lead all scorers with 32 points, Klay Thompson added 17 points and the Golden State Warriors defeated the Washington Wizards, 114-107.
The guard missed Sunday’s loss at Indiana with the sore foot and played nearly 34 minutes. He hit 11 of 18 field goal attempts — many with impressive degrees of difficulty — including five of nine from 3-point range.
“It’s good to have Steph Curry back doing what he does,” Thompson said. “Mesmerizing the crowd, mesmerizing us and keeping us in the first half.”
Paul Pierce led the Wizards with 25 points, including 18 in the second half. Marcin Gortat added 16 points and 11 rebounds, while John Wall chipped in 16 points and 11 assists.
Curry played all but four seconds of the first quarter, scoring 13 points, as the Warriors rallied from an early deficit.
“It’s still not pain free, but it felt fine,” he said of his foot.
“Once you start playing the adrenalin kicks in and you don’t feel anything. It was good to just break a sweat in the first quarter, and feel active and not limited at all.”
Marreese Speights added 16 points off the bench for the Warriors, who have won five of six.
The Wizards shot 53.2 percent and outrebounded Golden State, 45-29, but committed a season-high 26 turnovers while the Warriors gave it up just nine times.
“I’ve never seen a turnover disparity like that where the game turned out to be close at the end,” Golden State coach Steve Kerr said. “Little weird but we got it done.”
After dropping their fourth consecutive game and the ninth in their past 11, the Wizards bemoaned the turnovers, but not their effort in taking Golden State to the final minutes after a pair of blowout losses.
“To give them that many more possessions, 11 more shots, makes it tough on you,” coach Randy Wittman said. “Our effort was great. We play the way we play tonight, we take care of the ball better, we’ll get back to winning games.”
Washington’s Rasual Butler hit a 3-pointer to tie the score at 90-90 with 8:32 left, but the Warriors answered with a 6-0 spurt capped by Andre Iguodala’s jumper.
Washington got to within three twice in the final minutes, including when Nene made a basket to pull within 102-99, but Iguodala responded with a 3-pointer.
Pierce scored 14 of his points in the third quarter as the Wizards rallied to from six points down to briefly take the lead, but he had to be helped off the court after banging knees with Golden State’s Draymond Green in the game’s closing seconds.
“I saw something different today than I did the last two games,” said Pierce, who believed he’d be fine. “Outside of our turnovers, we played with much more urgency.”
Curry scored Golden State’s final nine points in the third quarter, connecting for a pair of free throws, 3-pointer from the top of the key, jumper from the wing, and finally a baseline floater.
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