OAKLAND, Calif. -- Golden State Warriors star Stephen Curry found himself on the bench for almost the entire fourth quarter of Game 2 of the Western Conference finals Wednesday night.

Fortunately for the defending champs, it had nothing to do with the knee sprain he sustained in the previous series, or a misguided dive into the crowd in the first half Wednesday.

Rather, it was due mostly to about two minutes of sheer brilliance in the third quarter.

Curry exploded for 15 of his 28 points over a 1:58 stretch of the third period, helping the Warriors pull away from the Oklahoma City Thunder en route to a 118-91 victory that evened the best-of-seven series at one game apiece.

Curry, who had 11 points in the first 28-plus minutes of the game, poured in 17 in the game-breaking third quarter. Golden State, the West's top seed, rebounded from a Game 1 loss with a 12th consecutive victory in the game immediately following a defeat this season.

"After Game 1, we were obviously disappointed," Curry said of the Warriors' 108-102 defeat. "But we knew the chance for us to leave Oracle (Arena) and go to Oklahoma City with a 1-1 split was there. We had to go out and take the game. We were able to execute."

The series moves to Oklahoma City for Games 3 and 4 on Sunday and Tuesday.

"Being down 1-0, we had that fear," Warriors coach Steve Kerr said. "We knew we need a win tonight badly, and we responded well. Now we've got to go there and win a game."

With Curry having gone scoreless from the final minute of the first quarter until the fifth minute of the third, the Warriors found themselves in another tough tussle with the third-seeded Thunder until the two-time Most Valuable Player singlehandedly created some separation.

The spree began with a 3-pointer at the 7:09 mark of the third period, and it continued when he was fouled by Thunder star Kevin Durant on another 3-point attempt 36 seconds later.

Durant drew a technical foul for complaining about the call, leading to four Curry free throws, all of which he made to increase the Golden State lead to 71-57.

Curry then sandwiched two more 3-pointers with a toe-on-the-line 2-pointer, accounting for all the points in a 15-2 flurry that put the Warriors in a commanding position at 79-59 with 5:11 left in the third period.

"It's all about ball movement," he said. "We set great screens. We moved the ball from side to side. When I get open shots -- that's the game plan -- obviously I'm going to have to make them."

Curry had his 28 points in just 30 minutes for the Warriors, who also rebounded with resounding wins over Houston and Portland after they took their one and only loss in the first- and second-round series.

He connected on nine of 15 shots overall and five of eight 3-point attempts as the Warriors outshot the Thunder 50.6 percent to 44.9 and outscored them 39-21 on 3-pointers.

"I just expected nothing less from Steph," Kerr said. "He's the MVP for a reason. He knows he didn't have his best night in Game 1, and he came out and played exceptionally well.

"This is what he does."

Klay Thompson had 15 points on a 5-for-17 shooting night for Golden State, which also got double-figure scoring from Andre Iguodala (14 points), Marreese Speights (13), Festus Ezeli (12), Harrison Barnes (11) and Draymond Green (10).

Green led the Warriors with eight rebounds and seven assists.

"We got stops and we were able to get out and run," Green said of the key third-quarter burst. "You get a few things in transition, and all of a sudden things get easier. We started getting stops on the defensive end. and that created offense for us."

Durant was the game's top scorer with 29 points, 23 coming in the first half.

He was 11-for-18 from the field, but his teammates combined to miss 36 of 60.

"They were sending three guys; I was trying to make the right pass," Durant responded when asked why he attempted just five shots in the second half after he scored 23 points before the break. "I was turning the ball over playing the crowd, so maybe I just got to shoot over three people."

Russell Westbrook, who had a game-high 27 points in the Thunder's 108-102 Game 1 win on Monday, was held to 16 points on 5-for-14 shooting.

He did find time for a game-high 12 assists, giving him his second consecutive double-double.

Steven Adams had a game-high 10 rebounds to go with nine points for the Thunder, who also found themselves in a 1-1 tie in their previous series against Dallas and San Antonio before eventually eliminating both.

Oklahoma City had won three straight on the road.

"We're upset. Guys in the locker room, we weren't happy that we didn't play well," Durant said. "We're going home, but we can't relax. We've got to play our brand of basketball even better than what we did when we were in Oakland."

Thunder coach Billy Donovan added, "The series right now is 1-1, so you leave here wishing we would have played better. But give (the Warriors) credit because they played exceptionally well."

NOTES: Warriors PG Stephen Curry had his right elbow wrapped after the game as a result of his spill into the crowd late in the first quarter. He insisted he was fine, although he did mention the "tennis ball" just above his elbow. ... The Warriors outrebounded the Thunder 45-36 after having been outrebounded 52-44 in Game 1. ... Golden State reserves outscored their Oklahoma City counterparts 50-29. ... The Warriors have rebounded from their three defeats this postseason -- one in each series -- with wins by 27 (Houston), seven (Portland) and 27 (Oklahoma City) points, an average of 20.3. ... The Warriors never trailed in either of their first two series, but they fell behind 2-1 in both the Western semifinals against Memphis and NBA Finals against Cleveland last year. They responded with 101-84 and 103-82 victories, respectively, in Game 4 to even those series en route to eventual wins. ... In both cases, neither Warriors opponent ever won again nor reached 100 points in any subsequent game.