Stephen Curry lifts Golden State to over-time win against LA Lakers

Stephen Curry wasn't having one of his better games.

Fortunately for the Golden State, the star guard had an extra five minutes to turn things around.

Curry scored 13 of his 28 points in over-time to lift the Warriors to a 127-123 victory against the Los Angeles Lakers at Staples Center in the opener of a six-game road trip yesterday morning (Singapore time).

"He had a horrible start to the game, but what makes Steph Steph, on a night like tonight, he still can make huge plays, which he did down the stretch," Golden State coach Steve Kerr said.

"It takes a special player to bounce back within the same game and be able to reverse things, and that's what he did."

Kevin Durant scored 29 points and Klay Thompson had 20 for the Warriors (16-6).

Brandon Ingram scored a career-high 32 points to lead the Lakers (8-13). Kentavious Caldwell-Pope and Jordan Clarkson contributed 21 points apiece, while Julius Randle added 20.

Curry was one of seven from three-point range before starting over-time with back-to-back three-pointers to give the Warriors a 115-109 lead. He shot five of six from the free-throw line in the final 1:14 to hold off Los Angeles.

"It just comes with experience and knowing how to deal with bad shooting nights, trying to stay with it," Curry said of his turnaround in over-time. "Obviously, I was happy I made shots in the over-time, but I get back to the locker room and (a sportswriter) tells me I air-balled three times."

Draymond Green had 15 points, 11 rebounds and nine assists, and Zaza Pachulia matched his season high with 11 points for the Warriors.

It just comes with experience and knowing how to deal with bad shooting nights, trying to stay with it. Stephen Curry of the Golden State Warriors

The score was tied 84-84 to start the fourth quarter and was knotted nine more times in the period, the last on Durant's three-pointer with 46 seconds left, but both teams missed their final shots of regulation.

Lakers rookie point guard Lonzo Ball scored eight consecutive points in the third quarter as Los Angeles went from four points down to four points ahead, but neither team could sustain a run.

Ball finished with 15 points and 10 assists, and he helped the Lakers force 22 turnovers.

"I loved the way our guys competed defensively," Lakers coach Luke Walton said.

"We set a challenge to them. Let's be aggressive, but be smart. We want high hands. The Warriors are struggling with turnovers so far this year, so we wanted to use that to our advantage and get some stops and be able to get out and run."

The Lakers shot 12 of 16 in the second quarter and closed with an 18-4 run to take a 54-50 lead into the locker room.

Ingram scored 14 points in the first half and Randle had 12.

"Just going into this game, I wanted to have a clear head. I wanted to compete," Ingram said.

"I just wanted to try and lead this team to a victory. We competed, played together, just fell short."

The Warriors committed five turnovers in the first four minutes of the game but still managed to lead by as many as 11 in the first quarter.

Golden State came in tied for 27th in the NBA at 16 turnovers a game.

"We've got to be able to take better care of the ball and make better decisions," Kerr said.

"Maybe I'll try a different tact from here on out, I don't know."

Golden State took a 30-20 lead into the second quarter and led by 10 four other times in the quarter before Ingram made a three-pointer with 4:15 left in the first half to spark the 18-4 run.

Randle made the 10th consecutive field goal for Los Angeles to stretch the advantage to 54-50.

The Lakers played without leading scorer Kyle Kuzma, who was ruled out after experiencing back spasms during warm-ups.

Kuzma, a rookie forward out of Utah, is averaging 16.7 points, 6.1 rebounds and shooting 50.4 per cent from the floor. - REUTERS

OTHER RESULTS:

Detroit 131 Phoenix 107, Orlando 121 Oklahoma 108, Philadelphia 118 Washington 113, New York 115 Miami 86, Toronto 126 Charlotte 113,

Houston 118 Indiana 97, New Orleans 102 Minnesota 120, Dallas 104 Brooklyn 109, San Antonio 104 Memphis 95.