A dominant third quarter sends Warriors over Spurs 140-88

It didn’t take long in the third quarter for the Warriors to break open a seven-point halftime game. Beginning the quarter on a 9-2 run, before going on a 12-0 run shortly there after, Golden State rolled through the Spurs on Sunday night in San Francisco, winning 140-88, taking the third game of the four-game season series.

Stephen Curry erupted on offense, scoring 42 points with eight rebounds and nine assists. For the fifth straight game, Curry had at least six three-point field goals, finishing the night with six, bringing his season total to 381 and passing James Harden’s 378 for second most in a single season. Curry is now just 21 threes from tying the NBA record of 402 that he set in the 2015-16 campaign.

Jaylen Brown had an outstanding performance of his own, scoring 23 points on 7-for-10 shooting and adding nine boards and eight assists. In total, the Warriors had eight players score in double figures.

San Antonio and Golden State swapped the lead for much of the first quarter, with the Warriors taking the lead for good on a Ky Bowman triple to begin the second quarter. The tides began to turn late in the quarter following a Derrick White three that cut a seven-point Warrior edge to just four with 1:14 to play in the half. From there, the Warriors went on a 6-3 run to end the quarter, taking the seven-point lead into the half.

Then came the Warrior third, a trademark of the last six years of Golden State basketball. It began with a three from Brown to begin the 9-2 run and push the lead into double figures. San Antonio responded simply enough, cutting the lead to 12, only to watch Curry orchestrate the game-sealing 12-0 run. Curry began the run with a triple and a layup, before setting up Jaylen Brown for a triple of his own and a Kris Dunn transition layup to end the run.

As the offense sizzled to the tune of 71 percent shooting in the quarter and a 19-0 fastbreak points advantage, the Spurs offense was held in check. San Antonio shot just 27 percent from the floor, while being outrebounded 19-9 and beaten in the paint 24-9.

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Golden State faces the Denver Nuggets on April 1.

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