NBA: Durant powers Warriors past slumping Spurs

LOS ANGELES, United States — Kevin Durant scored 19 of his 33 points in the third quarter Saturday as the Golden State Warriors took a stranglehold lead in the NBA Western Conference finals with a 120-108 blowout of San Antonio.

The Warriors now lead the Spurs 3-0 in the best-of-seven series with game four set for Monday in San Antonio.

No NBA team has ever come back to win a series after losing the first three games.

The host Spurs trailed by nine points at the half and came within 69-65 two minutes into the third quarter before Golden State seized command with another incredible scoring performance.

This was the Spurs’ chance to claw their way back into the series, but by the middle of the fourth quarter they appeared spent.

San Antonio players began settling for shots early in possessions and missed the majority of them as the Warriors compiled an 18-point lead in front of 18,700 mostly supportive spectators.

The Spurs’ hopes were severely damaged earlier Saturday when the team announced that star forward Kawhi Leonard would not play in game three because of his sprained left ankle.

Leonard originally injured it in game five of the second round against Houston and reinjured it in the series opener against the Warriors.

Stephen Curry added 21 points for the Warriors, who are now a perfect 11-0 in the post-season to match the best start in NBA playoff history. They have won 26 of their past 27 games.  CBB

source: sports.inquirer.net

Warriors trounce Spurs minus Leonard for 2-0 series lead

OAKLAND, California — Stephen Curry had 29 points, seven rebounds and seven assists in three quarters and the Golden State Warriors trounced on the Spurs missing Kawhi Leonard, running away from San Antonio for a 136-100 rout Tuesday and 2-0 lead in the Western Conference finals.

Kevin Durant added 16 points and Draymond Green provided another strong all-around performance with 13 points, nine rebounds, six assists, two steals and two blocks. Rookie Patrick McCaw had 18 points and five assists off the bench shooting 6 for 8 as Golden State earned its most lopsided victory of the playoffs to go to 10-0.

Jonathon Simmons scored 17 of his 22 points in the first half as the lone bright spot for the short-handed Spurs.

Leonard re-injured his left ankle in Sunday’s 113-111 Game 1 loss after coming down on Zaza Pachulia’s foot. Spurs coach Gregg Popovich on Monday called out the Warriors starting center for the “dangerous” and “unsportsmanlike” closeout — which had Pachulia insisting he is not a dirty player, was only playing hard, and felt badly that the All-Star forward was injured.

Game 3 in the best-of-seven series is Saturday in San Antonio.

Pachulia left the game injured for a Warriors team already without key reserve forward Andre Iguodala, held out because of soreness in his left knee that limited him to 10 minutes in Game 1.

Pachulia didn’t come out for the second half because of a bruised right heel. He was scheduled for an X-ray. The big man played nearly 7 minutes but sat the entire second quarter before Matt Barnes took his place.

Golden State quickly established its pass-happy, up-tempo style to take the Spurs out from the opening tip. It was a drastic difference from a game of catch-up two days earlier when the Warriors rallied from 25 down and a 20-point halftime deficit.

Klay Thompson, still struggling to find his steady shooting touch, had 11 points, six rebounds and four assists. The Warriors had 39 assists — the most by any team this postseason — including 30 on their initial 38 baskets.

Shaun Livingston scored in double figures for the first time this postseason with 10 points for Golden State.

Simmons started in Leonard’s place and made 6 of 9 shots to begin the game while the rest of the Spurs were 3 for 22.

The Warriors began 10 for 16 as Curry hit three quick 3s and Green added two more for a 25-12 lead late in the first and 33-16 advantage after one quarter.

LEONARD STATUS

Popovich wasn’t about to guess whether Leonard would return in time for Saturday’s game, saying it could be Friday or even game day before that would be determined.

“I have no idea. Just depends on how the ankle heals,” Popovich said. “I’d probably list him as questionable. But the thing that worries me is that he did it again, the exact same thing. So one would logically think maybe it will take longer, but I’m hoping that’s not true and we’ll have him for Game 3. But I don’t know. I don’t think we’re going to know until Friday and Saturday, probably.”

Popovich said before the game Leonard was back at the hotel “ordering dinner.”

TIP-INS

Spurs: The Spurs had another 23 offensive rebounds after 14 in Game 1. … Patty Mills, playing in place of the injured Tony Parker, had another quiet night. After he went 1 for 8 and missed all six of his 3s in the first game, he finally hit from long range midway through the second Tuesday.

Warriors: Coach Steve Kerr attended his second game this series but again watched behind the scenes as he recovers from a May 5 procedure at Duke University to repair a spinal fluid leak. … Golden State’s 23 first-half assists were its most ever in a playoff half, topping 22 against Phoenix on May 4, 1994. The Warriors notched their fourth 30-assist game this postseason. … Curry extended his NBA record by hitting at least one 3 in his 68th straight postseason game, every one he has played.

source: sports.inquirer.net

Warriors rally to take Game 1 as Spurs lose Leonard

OAKLAND, California— Stephen Curry scored 40 points and hit a tying 3-pointer with 1:48 remaining as the Golden State Warriors rallied from way down after Kawhi Leonard was lost to an ankle injury to beat the San Antonio Spurs 113-111 on Sunday (Monday, Manila) in Game 1 of the NBA Western Conference finals.

Draymond Green gave Golden State the lead for good on a three-point play after the Warriors trailed by as many as 25 points.

Leonard left in the third quarter after he re-injured his left ankle and the Warriors capitalized with an 18-0 run.

Kevin Durant scored 10 straight points during a key fourth-quarter stretch on the way to 34 points, while Zaza Pachulia had 11 points and nine rebounds.

Leonard had 26 points and eight rebounds. LaMarcus Aldridge delivered another clutch playoff performance with 28 points and eight boards.

Somehow, these unusually careless, cold-shooting Warriors found a way to keep their unblemished postseason record alive at 9-0.

Game 2 in the series is Tuesday night (Wednesday, Manila) back at Oracle Arena.

Curry scored 19 points in the third quarter and went 7 for 16 on 3s and 14 of 26 overall.

Leonard first went down after stepping on a teammate’s foot along the bench after taking a shot. Pachulia later slid into him as he came down from shooting and Leonard fell into the Spurs bench, grabbing his ankle.

Losing Leonard could be a story of this series. He shot 7 of 13 in 23 minutes to go with eight rebounds and three assists. He made all 11 of his free throws.

He sat out Game 6 of the last round against Houston, a 39-point, series-clinching win on Thursday, after injuring the ankle in a Game 5 overtime victory.

Durant has repeatedly spoken of elevating his game when it matters most — and he did it at the very moment the Warriors needed a huge lift on their home floor.

His 3-pointer with 7:53 to play got Golden State within 94-88, then he drove to his left and right by Kyle Anderson for an emphatic one-handed slam the next possession to ignite a deafening sellout crowd. Durant hit another 3 at the 6:10 mark and a jumper the next time down before Shaun Livingston’s driving dunk.

Gregg Popovich lost to good friend and old pupil Mike Brown, filling in as Warriors acting coach for the ailing Steve Kerr — who played for Popovich.

Yet for much of the afternoon, the Spurs outplayed the Warriors on both ends of the floor. They crashed the offensive glass as they so like to do — something Golden State stressed all week — going right at defenders in the paint and forcing the Warriors into tough shots. Even the open looks weren’t falling.

The Warriors missed their initial five 3-point tries before Curry hit 5:05 before halftime to ignite a stunned-into-silence sellout crowd as Golden State got within 46-32.

The next sequence the Spurs managed three offensive rebounds before scoring.

San Antonio had six steals among the Warriors’ initial nine turnovers and Golden State wasn’t getting the kind of easy shots it was used to going almost untested the first two rounds.

Even when the Warriors did things right the Spurs answered.

Kerr watched the game from behind the scenes in the arena a day after returning to the practice floor for the first time in more than three weeks.

“He’s gone through hell,” Popovich said pregame. “I’m sure most people don’t really know, and I’ll leave that to him to describe as much as he wants to describe. But it’s been very difficult for him. He’s shown a lot of courage getting through what he’s gone through.”

source: sports.inquirer.net

Klay Thompson’s dad ate burgers, watched WWE Raw during Game 7

There are things in life that dads pull off perfectly, like dropping puntastic jokes and walking around the house with a majestic beer gut.

Klay Thompson’s dad Mychal, though, may have done a move so epically dad-like it deserves a plaque, or maybe a burger.

When the Golden State Warriors completed their comeback against the Oklahoma City Thunder in Game 7 of the Western Conference Finals, Mychal wasn’t at Oracle Arena and he wasn’t even watching the game.

Golden State was down 3-1 in the series and had its 73-win season in jeopardy before winning the next three games to set up another championship series against the Cleveland Cavaliers.

Mychal talked with ESPN Radio’s Thompson & Trudel, as per CBS Sports.com, and the former no. 1 overall pick said he did not watch the game that gave his son another trip to the NBA Finals and instead bought some burgers and watched some wrestling.

“I went to In-N-Out to grab a burger and I couldn’t eat it, so I had to let it sit there for three hours,” said Thompson. “I was too nervous.”

He couldn’t concentrate on watching oversized men in baggy shorts chase a ball around, so he changed the channel to watch WWE Raw to watch oversized men in tights hit and slam each other to the mat.

Mychal said he recorded the game and put his phone face down to avoid seeing texts or notifications about Klay’s game.

“I was watching wrestling, knowing that the game was going on,” said Thompson. “So that was to take my mind off of the game a little bit.”

A few moments after the buzzer sounded, Mychal’s wife Jus called him, just before he could open the NBA app to let him know their son Klay just won.

“As soon as I answered, I went, ‘Hello,’ and she says, ‘Well, are you happy?'” Thompson said. “And when she said that, I went, ‘Oh, thank God.’ And then she said, ‘Mychal, there’s something seriously wrong with you.'”

Klay may be one of the best shooters of the game right now, but he’s still vulnerable to his dad’s shenanigans.

source: sports.inquirer.net