NBA Playoffs – playoffs – working day 23
The NBA champions have brought order at home. Golden State shut down the Lakers on Thursday to tie the West semifinals 1-1. The Warriors have won the second game 127-100 against the Angels on a night in which they made another display of their long-distance shooting. Klay Thompson hit eight 3-pointers and had 30 points in his best performance since March. The splash brothers, the partnership that Thompson has with Stephen Curry, together scored 50 points. The next meeting will be on Saturday at the Crypto Stadium in Los Angeles. Tickets for the third in a series that has generated great anticipation in California are selling for $500.
LeBron James and Anthony Davis, the great stars of the Lakers, finished the game in tracksuits and watching the action from the bench. After shining in the series opener, also in San Francisco, the duo has preferred to wait until they return home. Not without some frustration on their faces against a rival that came to go 32 points up on the scoreboard. However, it looked like James was in for another epic night. He opened the scoring for his team with a 3-pointer and finished the first quarter with 14 points to leave his team ahead 33-26 at the start. No one did more than him in the first half, where he scored 21 of his 23 points on the night.
Instead, Golden State once again displayed its lethality from distance. The Warriors fired 42 shots from behind the line with 50% shooting. No other NBA team has made as many 3-pointers in the first two playoff games. They have 21 in each match of the semifinal. You have to go back to 2016 to find another team with such a fine eye. It was LeBron James’ Cavs, with 40 triples, in the series in which they swept the Atlanta Hawks. Curry, in addition to his 20 points, gave 12 assists.
Steve Kerr, a veteran with 80 playoff wins, changed his strategy after Tuesday’s loss. This Thursday, he benched Kevon Looney, who two days ago had a career-high 23 rebounds. As a starting forward he used JaMychal Green, with whom he gained more offensive power, scoring 9 of 15 shots for 15 points. Draymond Green and Andrew Wiggins each had 11 points.
The Warriors scored 84 points in the second half compared to 47 for the Lakers. It is the first time that the San Francisco team has tied two quarters with more than 40 points in a playoff game. The key to neutralizing the Lakers was to reduce the fouls. The Angelenos had 25 points Tuesday from the free throw line. Tonight that faucet was closed. The Lakers only made 10 of 17 shots. Golden State committed 23 fouls, one less than in the previous game, against 15 of its rivals.
The help that Lebron needed came from the bench, from the hands of Rui Hachimura. The 24-year-old power forward, who is in his fourth year in the league, scored 21 points in 22 minutes of play. Davis, who had 30 points Tuesday, has scored just 11, though he had seven rebounds and four assists. Only four Lakers players had double-digit numbers (James, Davis, Hachimura and D’Angelo Russell). Los Angeles will witness who gets ahead in the series.
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