Brilliant Curry scores 50 to set up NBA playoff clash with Lakers and LeBron

Stephen Curry scored a playoff career-high 50 points and answered time and again to will the defending champions on in their quest for a repeat.

Kevon Looney also grabbed 21 rebounds, and the Golden State Warriors advanced to the Western Conference semi-finals by beating the Sacramento Kings 120-100 in Sunday’s winner-take-all Game 7.

Curry’s points are the most in NBA history in a Game 7, topping former teammate Kevin Durant’s 48 for the Nets against Milwaukee in 2021.

The Warriors fell behind 2-0 in this series then won twice on the road in front of a hostile, raucous Sacramento crowd to become the first reigning champion to drop the first two games and win a postseason series.

Now, bring on LeBron James and the Los Angeles Lakers in the Western Conference semi-finals. The Warriors and James have plenty of NBA finals history, dating back to his Cleveland days. Game 1 is on Tuesday night at Chase Center.

Sacramento’s comeback season is over long before these young Kings had planned. After snapping a 16-year playoff drought – the longest in NBA history – under Coach of the Year Mike Brown, playoff-starved Sacramento earned a No 3 seed but missed advancing to the second round for the first time since 2004.

Curry shot 20 of 38 with seven threes and delivered after almost every big play by Sacramento as Splash Brother Klay Thompson struggled on both ends again. But Thompson came through in some crucial moments, too.

Malik Monk’s putback and three-point play with 14.6 seconds remaining in the third pulled Sacramento within six only for Thompson to hit a long three and convert a four-point play to make it 91-81 heading into the final 12 minutes.

Domantas Sabonis had 22 points, eight rebounds and seven assists but the Warriors