The Rundown: Thompson leads Warrios past Bucks, Clarkson drops career-high 45

Scoreboard

Timberwolves 113, Heat 104

Bulls 101, Cavaliers 91

Pacers 119, Spurs 108

Warriors 122, Bucks 109

Raptors 127, Nuggets 115

Jazz 134, Kings 125

Trail Blazers 127, Wizards 118

What went down

The game plan of defending champions Milwaukee Bucks looked simple enough: lock down Steph Curry at all costs and let the other guys beat them.

The other guys took the challenge. Curry finished the game attempting only seven shots, but the Golden State Warriors won by a convincing 13-point margin.

Four players not named Steph put on big games against the Bucks. Jonathan Kuminga chipped in 14 points and 11 rebounds off the bench. Andrew Wiggins added 21 points. Jordan Poole kept it hot with 30 points on five 3s.

But it was Klay Thompson who made the most out of the phenomenon that was Steph Curry sucking in the defense for the entire game. Thompson got hot early and didn’t cool off one bit, hitting a season-high eight 3s. Thompson led all scorers with 38 points.

Giannis Antetokounmpo was his usual 31-point self, but it wasn’t enough to keep in step with the Warriors gang. The Bucks are still in solo second in the East while the Warriors are tied with the Memphis Grizzlies for second in the West.

Both teams are obviously poised to go deep in this year’s playoffs, but the most telling part in this game was how the Warriors dominated without Curry carrying the scoring load. He just brought gravity and everything else was affected around him because of his existence.

Big-time ballers

It was Jordan Clarkson night against the Sacramento Kings. Clarkson flamethrew his way to a career-high 45 points on seven 3s off the bench.

🔥 A career-high 45 points for Jordan Clarkson! pic.twitter.com/ridq1Dm4Ut

— NBA (@NBA) March 13, 2022

Josh Hart played huge for the Portland Trail Blazers, a team that’s depleted to its core. Hart slid in to a starting spot and dropped a career-high 44 points on only 21 shots. 

33 points & counting! @joshhart | #RipCity pic.twitter.com/LP3wpmxWIQ

— Portland Trail Blazers (@trailblazers) March 13, 2022

What he said

This Pat Beverley tweet is Pat Bev in his A-game:

Already fixed @kanyewest 🙏🏾?? https://t.co/1pSTG2YMyI

— Patrick Beverley (@patbev21) March 13, 2022

Did you see that?

The Milwaukee Bucks didn’t have a chance against a scorching Klay Thompson, but Giannis Antetokounmpo made sure he got to take home a poster with him:

GIANNIS 🔨 pic.twitter.com/jCDJzISwqb

— NBA TV (@NBATV) March 13, 2022

Something tells me we’ll get to see more of Jonathan Kuminga in the future:

OH MY!

Kuminga had the rim at eye-level 🤯 pic.twitter.com/D0isn9Qv0B

— NBA (@NBA) March 13, 2022