OAKLAND, Calif. — The Golden State Warriors clinched the home-court advantage through the NBA playoffs on Thursday night, riding a strong defensive performance to a 112-101 victory over the San Antonio Spurs in a historic meeting of the league’s top two teams.
Stephen Curry had a game-high 27 points and the Warriors (70-9) held the Spurs (65-13) to 19 field goals in the first 30 minutes of the first-ever regular-season meeting of teams with 65 or more wins.
Andrew Bogut had 11 rebounds and Harrison Barnes eight as the Warriors dominated the boards to the tune of 43-32 en route to becoming just the second team in NBA history to win 70 games in the regular season.
Golden State now needs two victories in its last three games to tie the all-time wins record set by the 1995-96 Chicago Bulls, who went 72-10. A three-game sweep of the remaining games would give the Warriors the record.
The Warriors will face the Memphis Grizzlies twice in the final three games of the season, with a rematch against the Spurs in San Antonio in between on Sunday.
Limiting the Spurs to 19-for-51 shooting (37.3 percent) while running up a 71-48 margin at the midpoint of the third quarter, the Warriors were thoroughly dominant in improving to 9-0 following a loss.
Neither the Warriors nor the Spurs has lost in a game immediately following a defeat this season. No team in NBA history has ever gone through the regular season without consecutive defeats.
The Warriors led by as many as 15 points in the second quarter and then 23 in the third en route to just their second win in their last four home games after a 36-0 start at Oracle Arena.
Barnes had 21 points and Draymond Green 18 for the Warriors, who shot 54.2 percent from the field and 12-for-25 on 3-pointers.
Curry (11-for-19), Barnes (8-for-13) and Green (7-for-12) all hit better than half of their shots.
Kawhi Leonard scored a team-high 23 points for the Spurs, who had a four-game winning streak snapped.
The loss assured the Spurs of the No. 2 seed in the Western Conference playoffs.
Tony Parker (4-for-10, 10 points), LaMarcus Aldridge (5-for-16, 11 points) and Tim Duncan (2-for-6, four points) all struggled for San Antonio, which lost to Golden State for just the fifth time in their past 29 regular-season meetings.
San Antonio forward Kyle Anderson had eight points and a team-high 11 rebounds off the bench.
The Spurs’ best offensive spurt of the game, a 5-for-6 start to the fourth quarter, allowed them to get back within 93-80 with 8:48 to go.
However, Barnes and Green hit subsequent 3-pointers as the Warriors expanded the lead to 18 one more time before coasting to their 41st double-digit winning margin of the season.
NOTES: Spurs C Tim Duncan played in his 1,390th game, which broke a tie with SG Reggie Miller for eighth place on the NBA’s all-time list. … The Spurs began the night with a better season point differential (plus-884, fourth-best in NBA history) than the Warriors (plus-843, sixth-best). … Spurs coach Gregg Popovich announced before the game that he would rest some veteran players Friday in Denver, and have all hands on deck once again for the rematch with the Warriors in San Antonio on Sunday. … The first two meetings between the Warriors and Spurs this season could not have been more different. Golden State won 120-90 at home on Jan. 25, before San Antonio held the Warriors to a season low in points in an 87-79 victory at home on March 19. … When asked in his pregame press conference to explain Tuesday’s home loss to Minnesota, Warriors coach Steve Kerr stole from “Animal House” and labeled his players “fat, drunk and stupid.”