Los Angeles (AFP)
The Golden State Warriors offered themselves the leaders of the Eastern Conference on Monday.
The Philadelphia 76ers, beaten 107-96, came up against the grace of Stephen Curry, author of 49 points.
Ingenuity has flown to Mars, Stephen Curry has flown over him in the NBA since early April: the 33-year-old star, who had already scored 47 points in the loss to Boston on Saturday, signed his 11th consecutive game with 30 points or more.
By the way, a crucial victory in the play-off race for the Warriors, ninth in the Western Conference.
The double MVP (2015 and 2016) signed yet another breathtaking performance in a few days.
In five matches, he has exceeded the threshold of 40 points three times as well as once that of 50. All for an average of 31.4 points per game this season which places him as favorite in the race for the title of MVP. .
"I don't know what else to say," reacted his trainer Steve Kerr to the level displayed by his leader.
- "Simply incredible"
"When you ask me after every game what I think of Steph and his performance, well, what I said after the last one, reuse it. Because it's the same after every game - a utter amazement at the talent, heart, mind and focus of guys. Simply amazing to watch. "
"No one has ever shot like that in the history of the game," even Kerr judges.
The game was tied at half-time (55-55), but the Warriors took a five-point lead at the end of the third quarter, before Curry put on a dazzling spectacle late in the game to allow in the fourth quarter at Golden State to beat Philadelphia 32-26, including 20 from Curry.
The Sixers, leaders in the East, see their streak of four wins come to an end despite 28 points scored by Joel Embiid and 15 by Curry's younger brother, Seth.
On the other floors, a free throw transformed by Devin Booker 0.3 seconds from the end of extra time allowed the Phoenix Suns to snatch a 128-127 victory over the Milwaukee Bucks of Giannis Antetokounmpo (33 pts) and to consolidate their second place in the West.
- Chris Paul in front of Magic Jonhson -
The evening also allowed the leader of Phoenix, Chris Paul (22 pts, 7 rebounds, 13 assists), to make his entry into the top 5 of the best passers in the history of the NBA.
With 10,142 assists, he is one unit ahead of Magic Johnson.
In Denver, Nikola Jokic stacked 47 points and guided the Nuggets to victory against the Memphis Grizzlies 139-137 after two overtime.
They therefore remain fourth in the Western Conference still dominated by Utah thanks to its comfortable victory at the Staples Center over the Los Angeles Lakers (111-97), still deprived of stars LeBron James and Anthony Davis.
Jordan Clarkson was the top scorer in Jazz with 22 points, Rudy Gobert stood out with 14 points and 10 rebounds.
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