Santa Clara products clash as Warriors meet Thunder

The Golden State Warriors expect to have Stephen Curry available on Wednesday when they play a second game in two days, facing a rested Oklahoma City Thunder squad in San Francisco.

The Warriors chose to give Curry the night off Tuesday, and they found a way to win. His replacement, Dennis Schroder, scored 23 points in a 114-103 home triumph over the Utah Jazz.

Curry, who has been bothered of late by sore knees and a painful right thumb, warmed up prior to the Tuesday game before a decision was made to keep him fresh for the visit from the Western Conference's top team.

"It felt like with three games in the next four nights, his knees where they are, let's be smart about it and go from there," Warriors coach Steve Kerr said, referencing a schedule that includes a visit from the Phoenix Suns on Friday.

"This is all part of just being proactive. It made sense to give him the night off and get him right for the rest of the week."

Curry sat out Golden State's 105-101 home loss to the Thunder on Nov. 27, the rematch of the Warriors' 127-116 road win 17 days earlier. Curry went for 36 points at Oklahoma City.

While the Warriors have fallen out of the top 10 in the West after a 12-3 start, the Thunder have been streaking in the opposite direction, winning 22 of their past 25 games.

They began a two-game Western swing with a 118-108 win at Portland on Sunday, getting 35 points from Most Valuable Player candidate Shai Gilgeous-Alexander and 24 from Jalen Williams.

The Wednesday game represents a bit of a homecoming for Williams, who played college ball at Santa Clara in the San Francisco Bay Area. The Denver native has been on the winning side in each of his past three visits, contributing 16, 22 and 13 points.

Williams played the 2019-20, 2020-21 and 2021-22 seasons at Santa Clara before becoming the Thunder's first-round pick, 12th overall. In his wake, Brandin Podziemski transferred in from Illinois for one season before he was drafted 19th overall by the Warriors.

They've gone head-to-head five times the past two seasons, with Williams winning each scoring duel by an average of 19.8 points to 9.0 points.

Podziemski had 20 points, seven rebounds and six assists in the Warriors' win over the Jazz on Tuesday. An NBA All-Rookie first-team selection last year, the lefty has averaged 15.7 points while making nine 3-pointers in the past three games.

"Just seeing what (Williams) did, that kinda boosted my confidence," Podziemski said of transferring to Santa Clara. "If he could do it, I could do it, too. And here we are."

Williams, who made the 2022-23 All-Rookie first team, would love to return to San Francisco next month as a first-time All-Star. Teammate Isaiah Hartenstein is pushing for it.

"We have an All-Star in Dub," Hartenstein said of Williams. "To me (he is) probably one of the most underrated defenders in the league."

--Field Level Media