Steph Curry’s 12 rebounds, 21 points lead Warriors to Game 1 win

SAN FRANCISCO — Steph Curry’s triumphant return to the Western Conference finals didn’t exactly come in typical Curry fashion Wednesday night, other than the triumph, of course.

Curry gathered 12 rebounds, the fourth-most of his extensive playoff career.

He missed three free throws in the first half, extending a bizarre trend in these playoffs.

He opened 0-for-6 from 3-point range, only to shoot his way out of that skunky funk, like the expert marksman he is.

Oh, he also got called for an offensive foul, by merely shoving a basketball into his defender’s face en route to the hoop.

Sure enough, it was trademark Curry who led a third-quarter push that distanced the No. 3-seed Warriors in an eventual rout of the No. 4 Mavericks.

Curry finished with 21 points in the 112-87 laugher before a Chase Center crowd decked out in yellow, giveaway T-shirts.

Who’d of thunk Curry be Game 1’s leading rebounder — and scorer?

He had seven defensive rebounds in the first half alone, including three off Luka Dončić misses.

Then came a third-quarter sequence that captured all of that: Dončić misses a 28-foot jumper, Curry grabs the rebound, dishes the ball to Draymond Green, who flipped it back to Curry for a 28-foot jumper than swished for a 64-47 lead.

When Green scored with 5:03 to become the sixth Warrior in double figures, Curry stood up from the bench and led the cheers amid an ensuing timeout. Yes, the bench. Curry only played 31 minutes.

Seeking his fourth NBA championship (and first since 2018), Curry wasn’t about to cede the conference finals stage to Dončić, who came away with 20 points (6-of-18 field-goal attempts, 3-of-10 from 3-point range). Dončić also emerged with a nasty scratch across his right cheek, having gotten clawed by Andrew Wiggins while dribbling in the opening minutes.