Curry scores 37 points and Warriors beat Lakers 123-116 in a potential first-round playoff preview

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LOS ANGELES (AP) — Stephen Curry scored 37 points, Brandin Podziemski added 28 and the Golden State Warriors defeated the Los Angeles Lakers 123-116 on Thursday night for their fourth win in a row in a potential first-round playoff preview.

Podziemski had a career-high eight 3-pointers on a night when Curry was 4 of 11 from long range. Curry was coming off a 52-point effort, including 12 3-pointers, at Memphis on Tuesday.

LeBron James had 33 points and nine assists to lead the Lakers. Austin Reaves added 31 points, including nine 3-pointers, Rui Hachimura had 24 points and Luke Doncic had 19 points, missing all six of his 3-point attempts.

Doncic's basket got the Lakers to 105-99 in the closing minutes. Curry and Podziemski hit back-to-back 3-pointers and James and Reaves answered with ones of their own, leaving the Lakers down by seven.

James and Curry traded scoring runs in the third, when the Lakers closed within eight after trailing by 16 in the second quarter. James had 12 of 14 points for his team early on. Curry ran off 13 in a row and then made three free throws to send the Warriors into the fourth leading 88-77.

Jonathan Kuminga added 18 points and nine rebounds off the bench for Golden State, which beat the Lakers for the first time in four games this season. The Warriors’ last win in LA came a year ago.

Warriors: They closed a six-game trip — tied for longest of the season — with a 4-2 mark. They remain in a tight battle to hold onto a top-six seed and avoid the play-in tournament with six games left.

Lakers: James went over 11,000 points as a Laker on a 3-pointer in the second quarter, becoming the 10th player in franchise history to do so.

Reaves made a 3-pointer coming out of a timeout to leave the Lakers trailing 121-116 in the closing seconds. But Doncic fouled Curry, who made both.

The Warriors won without needing Jimmy Butler, who had 11 points on 4-of-7 shooting. He'd been averaging 17.3 and had 27 against Memphis.

Both teams complete back-to-backs on Saturday. The Warriors host Denver and the Lakers host New Orleans.

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AP NBA: https://apnews.com/hub/nba