SAN FRANCISCO — Something appeared awry with Jordan Poole's eye when Steve Kerr called timeout 33 seconds into this one. That early stoppage, however, proved to be the spark plug for a 22-point performance from the hot-or-not third-year shooting guard, whose scorching hot hand Wednesday night led the Warriors to a 114-92 win over the Hornets.

The Warriors connected on nearly 40% of their shots from deep, allowing Golden State to keep pace with Charlotte despite sloppy play and a quiet night from Stephen Curry. Poole 7 3-pointers were the most of his career, and his 22 first-half points trail only Curry for the most by a Warriors player in a half this season.

Golden State took charge with a 21-6 run to close the third quarter, including a stretch of almost 8 minutes without allowing a Hornets field goal.

The Warriors overcame 16 turnovers, including 10 in the first half. Playing fast and loose with the basketball continues to bite the Warriors, who say their goal is to keep it to a dozen or fewer giveaways a game but have met that mark just once.

Poole answered the call Wednesday night, but it took longer for others.

More than halfway through the first quarter, the Warriors still had more turnovers than field goals. They didn't begin to build their decisive lead until after halftime.

Charlotte's Miles Bridges nearly matched Poole bucket-for-bucket. His fourth of five 3-pointers (and 32 points) put the Hornets up 7 with 6:35 left in the first half, but Poole answered with a long ball of his own, and the Warriors pulled ahead to lead by 1 at intermission.

Andrew Wiggins kicked off the decisive stretch at the end of the third quarter with a 3-pointer and led the way with six of Golden State's 21 points during the run. He finished with 14 points, behind Poole, Curry (15) and Damion Lee (15), who returned from a game away with a shoulder injury. Gary Payton II also had 14 points and made perhaps the most impact of anyone off the Warriors bench, with some scrappy rebounds, hard-nosed defense and a couple thunderous dunks.

Kerr, on the ESPN broadcast, credited the defense for stepping up at the start of the second half. After surrendering a LaMelo Ball dunk with 9:40 to go in the third, the Warriors forced seven turnovers and 11 straight misses from the field, before P.J. Washington finally connected from deep to make it an 80-67 game heading into the final period.

Payton stripped Ball with just under 3 minutes left — his third steal in 17 minutes — leading to a breakaway layup for Poole's 30th and 31st points and a commanding 107-92 lead.

After hearing concerns about his four-game streak without scoring in the fourth quarter, Steph Curry showed it can happen at any time. Once again, the Warriors were fine.

This time, Curry waited until the fourth to come alive. He started the final period with five points and finished it with 15, connecting on his first four shots of the fourth quarter, including a bold 31-footer to kick things off and keep the lead in double-digits.

The leading scorer in the NBA with 27.8 points per game, Curry's first basket didn't come until early in the second quarter, and he connected on only two of his first nine attempts, stepping aside for Poole to take charge.