STEPHEN CURRY scored 38 points and made eight 3-pointers to give him the most in postseason history, and the top-seeded Golden State Warriors began their quest for a three-peat by running away from the frustrated Los Angeles Clippers for a 121-104 victory in their playoff opener Saturday on a night tempers flared.

Kevin Durant and Patrick Beverley were ejected with 4:41 to go, just 19 seconds after they received double-technicals when Durant stripped Beverley and the Clippers guard fell into the scorer’s table. They both became enraged again, and official Ed Malloy immediately sent them both to the locker room. Durant high-fived fans as he exited and the home crowd went into chants of “Beat L.A.!”

Durant said Beverley has a “different type of grit” coming from Chicago.

“You know what he’s going to bring to the table, just the physicality, mucking up the game a little bit with his physicality, his talking, everything. That’s what he brings to each team he plays on. That’s his identity,” Durant said. “For me, I know that coming into the series. I thought it was fun tonight.”

Like Durant, Beverley said he had fun.“I got pushed, I got up and I got ejected. I guess the refs, I guess he saw something that I don’t know,” he said. “But that’s all right. I give them a lot of credit.”

Perhaps this old, heated rivalry still has all the testiness of years past — just with new faces all around.

“Pat’s going to talk, and that’s legal,” Clippers coach Doc Rivers said.

Curry shot 8 for 12 from deep to pass Ray Allen (385) for career postseason 3s with 386, had a postseason career-high 15 rebounds, seven assists and the 31st 30-point postseason performance of his career.

“To be in the same category and to pass a guy like Ray Allen and all the iconic moments he’s had in playoff games and finals games, it’s pretty surreal,” Curry said. “Definitely honored and grateful for those opportunities. I always joked, if I shoot a lot of 3s I better make a lot of them.”

On one of his marvelous 3s, the two-time MVP knocked one down from way back late in the third, nearly did a split in the air and landed on his back side — still smiling all the while.

These teams are meeting for just the second time in the postseason after the Clippers took a seven-game series in the first round in 2014, when the California franchises had a deep dislike for each other.

Draymond Green got Golden State going by making all five of his shots in the first quarter on the way to 17 points to go with seven assists and seven rebounds, while Durant scored 23 points as the Warriors ran their postseason winning streak to seven games.  (SD-Agencies)