Steph Curry raced past Jimmy Butler, with his hands up and ready for the pass, late in the first half of Tuesday night’s game at Memphis. 

Curry received the pass he wanted and, some 30 feet away from the rim on the right wing, launched a rainbow shot. The ball ripped the net and gave him 32 first-half points, the 22nd time in his career that Curry had scored 30 points in the first half. 

It was arguably the most spectacular of his dozen 3-pointers, two off the record former teammate Klay Thompson holds. 

Against a Grizzlies squad that recently fired coach Taylor Jenkins, Curry played 36 minutes and poured in 52 points overall in a 132-125 Golden State victory. He also passed Jerry West for 25th on the all-time scoring list after shooting 16-of-31 from the field and 12-of-20 from beyond the arc. 

The Warriors (44-31) are the fifth seed after their third win in a row, now a half-game in front of the free-falling Grizzlies (44-32) and also ahead of Minnesota (43-32) in the play-in tournament slot.

Curry was the star, but he had help. Jimmy Butler was also uber-efficient and scored 27 points on 7-of-11 shooting from the field while making all 12 of his free throws. Draymond Green had 13 points, 10 rebounds and 12 assists. 

Brandin Podziemski put Golden State up by five with 1:11 left in regulation when he jumped over Grizzlies star Ja Morant (36 points) for a tip-in layup, and then Moses Moody gave the Warriors an eight-point lead on the next possession with a corner 3-pointer. 

The Warriors, who were a perfect 28-of-28 on free throws, salted the game away at the line.

In Curry’s last game at Memphis’ FedEx Forum, he went 0-for-7 from the field and scored just two points in a 51-point loss on Dec. 19. 

It was arguably the worst performance of his Hall of Fame career. 

In the rematch on Tuesday night, Curry didn’t take long to show there would be no such repeat performance against a seemingly-reeling Grizzlies team that had lost six of its last seven. 

He made his first five shots and scored 19 points in the first 12 minutes, one where Golden State set its season high for points in the first quarter with 45. 

The superstar made his first four three-pointers, many drawing cheers from what was supposed to be a hostile Southeastern crowd.

Despite missing forward Jonathan Kuminga and athletic defender Gary Payton II from the rotation, Golden State had no problems carving up Memphis’ defense. 

Golden State put former Defensive Player of the Year Jaren Jackson Jr. in foul trouble early, with Moody – who expected friends and family from nearby Arkansas to be in attendance – inducing Jackson’s second infraction only three minutes into the game. 

At one point down by 17, Memphis, led by interim coach Tuomas Iisalo, fought back and cut the deficit to 58-56 with 5:37 left in the first half. 

Grizzlies bigs Jackson Jr. (6-foot-10), Santi Aldama (7-0) and Zach Edey (7-4, 300 pounds) pounded Golden State – sans 6-9 Kuminga – inside. They combined for 50 points.

That size continued to give Golden State issues in the second half. Jackson drove right through the Warrior defense with six minutes left in the third quarter to give Memphis an 85-84 lead. 

The teams battled back and forth after that point, but Warriors came out on top. 

The Warriors finish their six-game road trip with a showdown with the No. 4 seed Lakers in Los Angeles on Thursday. After that, the Warriors will face third-seeded Denver at Chase Center on Friday.