The Warriors, reigning NBA champions, avoided elimination with a 120-100 win in Sacramento and met for an exciting Western Conference semifinal against LeBron James’ Los Angeles Lakers.
In one of the most astounding displays of his career, Stephen Curry was able to break his playoff scoring record with 50 points, a mark no player in history had reached in Game 7 of a playoff.
“I just tried to go for shots early. I also wanted to activate my teammates but when I go for shots, I think it usually works in our favor,” said Curry, who was asked at the press conference if he thinks there is someone who can stop him. .
“Let’s hope we never find out,” replied the 35-year-old point guard.
Curry, winner of four rings since 2015 as leader of the Warriors dynasty, achieved the mark with a series of 20/38 shooting from the field and also added 8 rebounds and 6 assists.
His recital came when Golden State needed him most, which finished the series 4-3 on aggregate and avoided being the eighth defending champion to be eliminated in the first round.
“I’m not surprised. We all take it for granted because it’s brilliant night after night and we’ve been watching this for ten years. But every once in a while we have to remind ourselves that it’s one of the greatest in the history of this game. “Warriors manager Steve Kerr said.
“I felt the same way during my playing days with Michael Jordan,” Kerr, a former Chicago Bulls player, compared.
“This is a seventh game that I will always remember as the Steph Curry game,” guard Klay Thompson summed up before recalling that his team has “championship DNA.”
The Kings, who were playing their first playoffs since 2006, dominated the scoring in the first half but after the break they couldn’t find a way to stop Curry and paid for their least experience in this duel of Californian franchises.
“You can always remember what it’s like in these kinds of environments. There’s always nerves because this matters, but we love these environments and have been doing it for a long time,” Curry said.
“We will definitely be better in the future thanks to this experience,” Kings coach Mike Brown said on his side. “Our guys are definitely hurting right now.”
Point guard De’Aaron Fox had 16 points on 5/19 shooting from the field, and Sacramento’s other star, Domantas Sabonis, finished with 22 points, 8 rebounds and 7 assists.
Next challenge, the Lakers
The Warriors had squandered the opportunity to qualify in front of their home crowd on Friday and had to make the 140 kilometers back to Sacramento for one last all-out duel.
In the first half, Curry fought almost alone to prevent the Kings from taking off on the scoreboard at the hands of Domantas Sabonis, who went to halftime with 16 points.
After the break, Curry began to display all his magic with several baskets and implausible three-pointers.
The point guard’s inspiration gave Golden State wings to take a slight lead in the third quarter that they defended tooth and nail.
Center Kevon Looney was the soul of that resistance until finishing with a fabulous record of 11 points and 21 rebounds, 11 of them offensive.
The Warriors took off to a maximum lead of 24 points and celebrated the victory with more relief than joy.
Golden State will collide from Tuesday with the Lakers of LeBron James, the superstar they faced in four consecutive Finals between 2015 and 2018 when ‘King James’ played in Cleveland.
“This is special from the first series we played against him in Cleveland,” Curry said. “We are blessed to continue playing at this level and we are excited about this new chapter.”
Heat en vilo por Butler
In the other game on Sunday, the Miami Heat defeated the New York Knicks 108-101 in the opening game of the conference semifinals.
Miami star Jimmy Butler finished with 25 points and 11 rebounds but sprained his right ankle on a drive for a layup with five minutes left that has the Heat on edge.
“I don’t know,” Heat coach Erik Spoelstra said of the extent of his leader’s injury. “You just don’t know with ankle sprains. We’ll have to wait.”
The Knicks, who had the loss of their figure Julius Randle, dominated the first half led by RJ Barrett (26 points) and Jalen Brunson (25) but they delivered the victory with a collapse in attack in the final stretch.
The Heat led 95-92 when Butler suffered the injury, and while the guard was on the court with very limited mobility, the Knicks scored just two points in the final five minutes.
gbv /cl
2023-04-30 22:54:00
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