PHILADELPHIA — Steph Curry did his best to will a comeback win, but the Warriors were too thinned out by Jimmy Butler’s absence to pick him up.
Butler missed his first game as Warrior with back spasms, and the Warriors felt the pain. Golden State won Curry’s minutes by 12 in a seven-point loss.
Curry finished with 29 points and a season-high 13 assists, but Sixers guard Quentin Grimes outshined him with a career-best 44 points on scorching 18-for-24 shooting. The Warriors (32-18) tied the game up late in the fourth after trailing almost the entire night, but couldn’t get over the hump in a 126-119.
The 76ers, who had lost nine straight games entering Saturday night, shot 19-for-33 from deep and got outstanding performances from Kelly Oubre Jr. and Guerschon Yabusele beyond Grimes’ career night.
The Warriors’ season flipped when they traded for Butler. They’d gone through a 7-17 stretch, then suddenly felt like they could walk into any arena and win. Losing him for a game was a test case to see if the vibes they’ve built with him could persist through an absence.
Vibes are easier to come by when Curry’s playing like he is.
A significant Warriors fan contingent in Wells Fargo Center oohed and aahed as Curry pulled up from the logo for his third 3-pointer of the first quarter. The Warriors initially looked unsettled, with three turnovers in the first four minutes, but Curry took control.
Fresh off his 56-point avalanche in Orlando, Curry collected 12 points and four assists in the opening period. When Philadelphia overextended to try to bottle him, he dished to open teammates.
Quinten Post, inserted into the starting lineup for Butler, hit a pair of 3s and got to work on the glass on both ends of the court.
But Butler wasn’t around to keep bench units afloat while Curry sat. In the seven minutes Curry rested between the first and second quarter, Golden State got outscored 18-7. When he checked back in, Philadelphia had some swagger.
Grimes and Oubre got going and Draymond Green struggled, tricking a pair of layups and getting frustrated with both his play and the officiating.
The Sixers won the second frame 37-25, capping it with a Grimes buzzer-beater. The Warriors seemed to have it all figured out with Butler, but suddenly reverted back to searching without him. Steve Kerr played an 11-man rotation in the first half.
Green turned it around and opened the second half with an and-1 and Post knocked down a couple more 3s, but Grimes and Oubre kept cooking. Grimes converted an and-1 to reach 30 points just three minutes into the third quarter.
As the Warriors held Maxey and George to five combined points through the first 29 minutes, Grimes racked up 34 points in his first 21 minutes. He started 16-for-20, hitting five of his six 3-point attempts.
Grimes exceeded his previous career-high with 38 points entering the fourth as the Warriors inched within six.
Philadelphia started the final frame on a 7-0 run, leading Kerr to sub Curry back in much earlier than usual — at the 10-minute mark. They’d gotten destroyed with Curry on the bench all game, perhaps the biggest impact of Butler’s absence.
Curry leaked out for his first slam dunk since the 2018-19 season, pointing at his bench afterward to try to spark a comeback.
It worked.
Gui Santos stole an inbounds pass for a jam and Gary Payton II made it three straight dunks. Payton tied it at 112 and again at 116 — off Curry’s season-high 13th assist — with under two minutes left, closing in a small-ball unit with Green at center.
But Grimes muscled his way inside and Yabusele nailed his fifth 3 of the game to give Philadelphia a two-possession lead.
The only place Grimes missed all night was the foul line. Fouled on a 3-pointer with a minute left, he went 1-for-3, keeping the Warriors alive; he shot 2-for-8 at the stripe overall. Yet Philadelphia won a challenge to keep possession and George sank a tough fadeaway to seal the game.