Curry returns from 1-game absence, hands Wizards 4th straight loss

The Washington Wizards could have used a dose of good luck, coming into Tuesday night's home date with the NBA-best Golden State Warriors having lost three straight games and eight of their past 10.

It looked, for a minute, like they'd get the friendly bounce they needed to get back on track. Warriors point guard Stephen Curry sat out the team's previous game on Sunday - allowing the Indiana Pacers to steal an extremely rare win at Oracle Arena - and was still complaining of some discomfort in the foot on Tuesday.

But Curry ultimately decided to suit up, and that decision proved to be a death knell for the Wizards. 

Curry did all sorts of Steph Curry things, continually knocking down back-breaking triples or conjuring something from nothing on broken possessions in which the Wizards defense had more than done its job.

Seriously, does this look like a guy playing on a bad wheel? 

The Wizards had no answer for Curry (because nobody does), and he finished with 32 points (on 11-of-18 shooting), eight assists and zero turnovers. 

In the process, he wasted what may have been Paul Pierce's best game as a Wizard. The 37-year-old small forward was everywhere on this night, making big-time plays at both ends of the floor that kept his team in the game any time the Warriors threatened to pull away. 

Pierce poured in a team-high 25 points on just 11 shots, going a perfect 9-of-9 from the stripe, and the Wizards outscored the Warriors by 13 points when he was on the floor. He hit the deck after what looked like a knee-on-knee collision on the last play of the game, and had to be helped off the floor. No update has yet been provided on his condition. 

In the end, the game came down to the Wizards' inability to execute down the stretch. The Warriors' swarming defense forced them into 26 turnovers, their second-highest total of the season, including eight from point guard John Wall. 

The Warriors walked off with a 114-107 win, improving their league-best record to 44-10. The loss was the Wizards' ninth in 11 games, but they have a good chance to reverse that trend, with their next two games coming against the Minnesota Timberwolves and Philadelphia 76ers.