SAN FRANCISCO — One night after playing what Steve Kerr thought was his best game as a professional, Jonathan Kuminga pushed himself higher.

Kuminga tied his career high with 34 points and spent the fourth quarter hounding Kevin Durant on defense.

In a tied game with two minutes left, the Warriors scored a goal. Dennis Schroder, who struggled most of the evening, made his first big throw as a Warrior – a go-ahead 30-footer. He then knocked the ball out of Kevin Durant’s hands, resulting in a turnover.

Kuminga made two foul shots to retake the one-point lead with 29 seconds left, and the Warriors got one final stop. After foul shots from Schröder, Kuminga sealed the game with a contested defensive rebound and a free throw.

Kuminga scored 13 of his 34 points in the fourth quarter and shot 12 of 20 overall (plus 8 of 12 from the foul line). He prevailed against Durant (31 points, eight turnovers) and pulled the Warriors (16-15) over the top to get a much-needed victory.

In a battle of aging .500 Western Conference teams, the Warriors outlasted Phoenix 109-105. Kuminga, Trayce Jackson-Davis (16 points, 10 rebounds) and Draymond Green (16 points in the first half) helped the Warriors go on an 8-2 run.

Kerr spent part of his pregame press conference talking about how he can get Kuminga to play like he did in Friday night’s games with Steph Curry and Draymond Green. It was a main topic of his coaching meeting and touches on what is arguably the franchise’s central question: How much can Kuminga help now and how much better can he be in the future?

Against the Lakers and earlier this season against Houston, when Curry and Green sat, Kuminga had his two best games. If that kind of power is used alongside the Warriors’ tentpoles instead of independently of them, the Warriors can get back on track.

“I have no doubt he will make it,” Kerr said. “He works hard, he’s talented, he wants it. It’s just about experiencing and feeling all these things. It doesn’t happen right away.”

Midway through the first quarter, Kuminga entered a small-ball lineup with Green at center. As if on cue, the mix looked just as lethal as it had all season.

Kuminga fell for a layup against a mismatch caused by an overturned screen. Curry found him on a drive-and-kick for a corner 3. Then Curry and Green executed a pick-and-roll that ended with Kuminga doing the patented Golden State alley-oop off the short roll from the baseline .

After Kuminga’s entry, the Warriors went on a 10-1 run. Kuminga scored 10 points in his first five minutes and finished the first period with 12.

The Warriors lost momentum with six quick turnovers early in the second quarter – after only suffering one turnover in the first quarter – but got back on their feet when they went small again, with Green in the middle and Kuminga next to him.

Curry scored 15 points in the first half, including a magical buzzer-beater in which he went around the world and blasted a 17-foot floater while disappearing left.

Durant and the Suns tried to slow the game’s fast pace, but the Warriors turned Phoenix around and got on the counterattack. Kuminga fed Schroder for a fast-break layup and later made a save after beating Bradley Beal in the post for a basket.

When the Warriors handed Kuminga all the car keys and put both Green and Curry on the field to close the quarter, the Suns went on an 11-3 run. The lineup of Kuminga, Schroder, Buddy Hield, Lindy Waters III and Jackson-Davis clearly failed on both ends. The Warriors would have liked to have had Brandin Podziemski in place, but he was straining his lower abdominal muscles.

Kuminga needed a boost in the fourth round and gained momentum. With successive defensive players, he held his own against Durant in isolation. And at the other end he finished at the rim both times.

That combination cut Phoenix’s lead to 100-95 with 5:22 left.

With Kuminga protecting Durant’s face and the Warriors having the defense behind him every time he caught them, they took the Suns out of their offense.

Curry hit a floater in the lane, then Schroder finally got to the cup for a layup. Kuminga again stripped Durant and reached the line to give the Warriors a 101-100 lead with 3:28 left.

Curry looked good with less than a minute left to gain some breathing room, but he missed on a 3 and was too strong on a runner. After two Durant free throws, Kerr called a timeout to go ahead with a play with 29.9 seconds left. It worked, Kuminga conceded foul throws.

Almost everything worked for Kuminga and he equaled the career best he had set the night before.