Stephen Curry was going ballistic again, but this was nothing new.
The same Golden State superstar whose worst game in the past 10 days involved 27 points was at it again at the AT&T Center.
A game earlier, Curry had exchanged haymakers and circus shots Dallas with Luka Doncic.
The Spurs did not have a Doncic on Monday. But they did have a Dejounte.
Dejounte Murray turned in the game of his life, with 27 points, 10 rebounds and a career-best eight steals to help the Spurs erase more Curry heroics and emerge with a 105-100 victory.
The win improved the Spurs to 14-10, the first time they have been four games over .500 since the end of the 2018-19 campaign.
That is also the last time they made the playoffs.
Curry did not disappoint for the shorthanded Warriors, who for the third consecutive game were playing without any player taller than the 6-foot-7 Andrew Wiggins.
A game after scorching his way to 57 points against the Mavericks, Curry went for 36 against the Spurs, along with six 3-pointers.
Testament to how smoking Curry has been lately, it was his second-lowest scoring output of the month.
It was the 24-year-old Murray, however, who hit the game’s biggest shot. It was a page from the Book of Steph.
With the shot clock winding down on a busted possession, Murray stepped back and launched a corner 3-pointer — well-guarded by Wiggins — that put the Spurs ahead 101-97 with 12.6 seconds remaining.
Curry never got the chance to tie. On Golden State’s final possession, Draymond Green — apparently thinking the Spurs intended to foul him — tossed a 50-footer at the rim that clanked harmlessly and aimlessly off the backboard.
Just as it was in Dallas, when Doncic’s 42 points and 11 assists sent Golden State away with a two-point defeat, the Warriors squandered another Curry masterpiece Monday.
For that, they can blame Murray.
Here are three takeaways from the Spurs’ victory, which Golden State can attempt to avenge in a rematch Tuesday at the AT&T Center.
Curry can’t beat you if he’s not on the floor
The Spurs had little answer for Curry, but few teams do these days. The key Monday was for the Spurs to maximize the minutes in which Curry was resting.
They did not do such a good job of this in the first half.
The Spurs were down by nine points after Curry’s first-quarter shooting gallery display. With he and Green on the bench for the first half of the second quarter, Golden State extended that lead by a point.
When Curry returned with 6:04 remaining until half, the Warriors had pushed their lead to 47-37.
The game turned for good in a similar situation to open the fourth.
With the Warriors’ pair of All-Stars resting, the Spurs started the final frame on a 15-3 tear. When Curry and Green returned with 5:33 to play, the Spurs had transformed a 2-point deficit entering the quarter into a 93-86 lead.
The Spurs would go cold from there — a pair of Murray 3-pointers were their only field goals in the final seven minutes — but the cushion was enough to hold Golden State at bay.
Poeltl looms large against small ball
As noted, the Warriors rolled into town undersized with 7-foot rookie phenom James Wiseman and the 6-foot-9 Kevon Looney on the injured list.
The Spurs made them pay with the 7-foot Jakob Poeltl.
Starting his third consecutive game for the ailing LaMarcus Aldridge, Poeltl had 14 points and 11 rebounds and equaled his season-high with four blocks.
He was active in the paint, aggressive rolling to the basket, and the Spurs’ ballhandlers — be it Derrick White, DeMar DeRozan or Rudy Gay — found him on his rim runs.
Poeltl has superior size, but is mobile enough to hold his own even against the mini-Warriors.
He has been a force with Aldridge out, totaling 35 points, 30 rebounds and nine rebounds.
The Spurs will welcome Aldridge back when his sore hip flexor allows, but for now there’s nothing wrong with giving Poeltl an extended run.
Draymond bails out the Spurs
With 8.7 seconds left, the Spurs went ahead 103-100 on a pair of DeRozan free throws.
Even the cardboard cutouts who occupy most of the AT&T Center’s capacity knew what was coming next.
Curry, who had just swished an impossible 3-pointer on White to bring the Warriors within three, was almost certainly going to get a shot at the tie.
Those cardboard cutouts also knew what was not happening next. The Spurs were not going to foul in order to prevent Golden State from attempting a 3-pointer, because they never do in that situation and never will so long as Gregg Popovich is the coach.
Green apparently did not get the memo. He took Curry’s inbound pass, saw White approaching and immediately fired a 40-footer off the backboard.
It was an odd choice, considering how incendiary Curry has been and given the fact Green had missed a pair of foul shots only moments earlier.
DeRozan secured the rebound and hit two more free throws, and the Spurs survived without having to hold their breath on one final Curry dagger.
After the game, Warriors coach Steve Kerr took the blame, saying he should have reminded his players the Spurs were not going to foul there.
Even the cardboard cutouts should have known better.
jmcdonald@express-news.net
Twitter: @JMcDonald_SAEN
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