NBA: Warriors strike first

05/19/2022 at 06:22

CEST

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Buoyed by a double-double of 21 points and 12 rebounds from Steph Curry, the The Golden State Warriors defeated the Dallas Mavericks 112-87., in which the Slovenian Luka Doncic scored twenty points, and hit first in the opening of the NBA Western Conference finals. Curry led a collective performance by the Warriors, in which every member of his starting lineup contributed at least 10 points, and knocked down a lackluster Mavericks, particularly on 3-pointers (11 of 48), after hitting 19 on Sunday in the win against the Suns in Game 7 of the series.

The Warriors are still perfect at home in these ‘playoffs’, where they won their seven games, and stopped, with an excellent performance by Andrew Wiggins, Doncic, who only scored two points in the second half, after starting with 18 in the first two rooms. Wiggins had 19 points, 5 rebounds and 3 assists, and Jordan Poole also had 19, while Klay Thompson had 15, despite going 1-for-4 from 3-point range. Draymond Green came close to the double-double with 10 points and 9 rebounds and was the protagonist of a new aggressive defensive performance. The Mavs made 31 of 86 shots, with Doncic contributing 20 points, 7 rebounds and 4 assists, but he also had 7 turnovers. Spencer Dinwiddie scored 17, with 3 triples.

Little brilliance in triples

A shower of three-pointers was expected between two usually forceful teams from the perimeter, with the Mavericks who, without great physical power in the paint, made 19 three-point shots against the Suns, and the Warriors with Curry, Thompson and Poole in the clue. And while both franchises did shoot consistently from the perimeter, their percentages were extremely low in the first half. The Mavs were just 7 of 29 on 3-pointers and 14 of 44 on field goals and the Warriors, 5 of 18. It took until the last minute of the second period for Curry to seal his first three-point shot and he and Thompson reached the halfway point of the clash with a modest 1 of 9. Andrew Wiggins was the leading scorer and the architect of the 54-45 with which the Warriors went to the locker room, supported by the 12, with 7 rebounds from a Curry who scored attacking the paint, on a surprisingly dull day from the free throw line (4 of 7).

Wiggins frena a Doncic

Wiggins also made an important defensive effort to contain Doncic, who was the protagonist in the first half, but absent in the last two quarters, in which he barely scored 2 points. The Slovenian received an involuntary slap in the face as soon as the game began, which caused a showy cut on his face, but that did not prevent him from leading the Mavs with 18 points at halftime, achieved on the side of the court where he was. sitting the German Dirk Nowitzki, the Dallas legend from whom he collected the legacy four years ago. The 9-point margin, considered 31% shooting versus 56% for the Warriors, still left the Mavs hopeful, but the Warriors stepped on the accelerator in the third period and ran away to 71-52, with the guide Curry, with two consecutive triples, and Klay Thompson. Steve Kerr’s team, with a Thompson who sealed 11 points in that quarter (5 of 7 shooting), achieved a 34-24 that left the Mavericks touched (88-69) despite Dinwiddie’s commitment, with 10 points. Doncic could only score 2 points and lost 4 balls.

A 10-0 run to open the fourth period fueled by Poole shot the Warriors’ lead to 98-69 and both teams decided to rest their stars ahead of Game 2, set for next Friday, again in San Francisco.

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