NBA Playoffs – playoffs – working day 19
The champions are still alive. The Golden State Warriors have eliminated the Sacramento Kings this Sunday in the seventh game of the series (120-100). The team is still alive thanks to Steph Curry, who scored 50 points in an away win over the team that had been a revelation in the Western conference. With his performance, the point guard has achieved a personal record in postseason games this afternoon and has become the player who has scored the most in the final game of a classification. The Warriors will host LeBron James’ Lakers at home on Tuesday to kick off the semifinals. It is the first time that both franchises have met since 1991.
Curry corrected this Sunday afternoon the course of Golden State, which began by losing two games in the tie. It was the first time the team started a series two down since the MVP wore the San Francisco franchise jersey. The Warriors won a pair on the road in the California capital, where they were greeted with hostility by a crowd that hadn’t hosted home games. playoff for more than 15 years. The team even raised doubts after their loss on Friday at home, where they had won 14 of the last 15 games. This Sunday, in what has been the seventh game in the Steve Kerr era, the fate of the champions hung in the balance until Curry wanted it.
The Warriors left the dressing room after halftime determined to finish off the playoff from Sacramento. In the third quarter they had a 13-4 run. Curry hit 20 of 38 shots inside the box in the game and made seven three-pointers. With his performance today, he joins other outstanding players who have scored almost 50 points in a seventh game. It’s a select list made up of Wilt Chamberlain, Rick Barry, Sleepy Floyd and Kevin Durant, who scored 48 points as a Nets player in the 2021 series against the Milwaukee Bucks.
The point guard received help from where he least expected. Kevon Looney grabbed 21 rebounds with as special a defensive night as Curry had on offense. Looney had a double-double, grabbed 10 offensive rebounds, at times doubling the Warriors’ chances on their rivals’ paint. Eight of the offensive rebounds came in the third quarter, where the visitors began to seal the tie with 35 points to 23 for the Kings.
Looney, who scored 11 points, had 106 rebounds in the seven games, almost 40 of which were offensive. This Sunday was his fifth game in a row catching ten or more rebounds. Looney and Curry have been the most reliable players for a franchise that has been erratic. Even Klay Thompson got off to a shaky start, making just 1 of 10 shots and missing his first few shots behind the 3-point line. Fortunately, his afternoon began to change from the third quarter. He closed the night with 16 points. Andrew Wiggins hit 17.
Domantas Sabonis rose among the Kings posting 22 points, eight rebounds and seven assists. Golden State’s defense managed to hold off De’Aaron Fox, who played his third game with a broken index finger on his shooting hand. The Sacramento star had 16 points, making 8-of-29 shots.
Kerr called his team unruly after Friday’s game. The Warriors turned over 18 balls, conceding 23 points from the Kings, who managed to tie the series at three wins by teams. Draymond Green then scored four points, after hitting 21 points in the fifth of the series. Despite this, Kerr bet on Green as the starter for the afternoon in which the season was played. “These guys are champions, they are defending a title from a year ago, the fourth in the last eight years. These guys know what to do”, the coach justified. His bet proved him right. Now they will face the Lakers, a team with which they have a record of 11 wins compared to 35 victories for the Angelenos.
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