Golden State rolled into the second round of the National Basketball Association playoffs without injured superstar Stephen Curry, thoroughly embarrassing the Houston Rockets 114-81 on Wednesday to clinch the series 4-1.
Advertisement
“Obviously, going into the next series, which will be more hard, it’s good to have a few games under our belts without Steph, so we get a feel for it”, Kerr said.
Klay Thompson scored a team-high 27 points, with Shaun Livingston putting in 16, and Brandon Rush and Draymond Green finishing with 15 each.
Without their MVP, Curry’s fellow Splash Brother set the tone from the opening tip. “We are really lucky”.
Curry had so much fun during the close-out game against Houston on Wednesday that he picked up backup point guard Ian Clark off the floor during one celebratory moment.
The biggest danger to Stephen Curry’s sprained right knee is his backcourt mate Klay Thompson. He even worked the officials.
James Harden had 25 of the Rockets’ 37 first-half points and five of Houston’s 11 turnovers.
In his postgame interview, Thompson made a slight shot at Jason Terry, who told the Houston Chronicle prior to game 5: “That’s going to be a long flight for them to come back to Houston”. The Dubs will now be without Curry for two weeks, which could spell disaster for the back-to-back championship hopes of Golden State.
Curry tried to return in the second half of the game, after testing the knee by performing side-to-side movement, but was ultimately unable to return because of the pain.
“A lot of distractions, a lot of things didn’t go our way”, Harden said. “Steph was having a great time”.
Golden State Warriors’ Stephen Curry, right, and Shaun Livingston celebrate a score against the Houston Rockets from the bench during the first half in Game 5 of a first-round NBA basketball playoff series Wednesday, April 27, 20… Thompson started things off with a quick three-pointer, igniting the yellow-clad, “Strength in Numbers” sellout crowd at Oracle Arena. Green also hit from long range and Houston called a quick timeout.
In Los Angeles, CJ McCollum had 27 points, and Damian Lillard scored 16 of his 22 points in the fourth quarter as Portland earned a victory over short-handed Los Angeles to take a 3-2 lead in their Western Conference quarterfinal matchup.
We knew the Rockets needed to shoot better to have a chance tonight against the Warriors, and we know they haven’t been good at putting the ball through the net up to this point. Amused, Golden State just shrugged it off.
The Warriors will play either the Los Angeles Clippers or the Portland Trail Blazers, who own a 3-2 lead in that series. In a cruel bit of irony, Brewer hit his first three since March 25th, and it’s only effect was to bring the Rockets to within 30 points from down 33.
The Hornets have won three straight games in the series, and will take a 3-2 lead into a potential Game 6 clincher on Friday night.
Kerr is the third coach in Warriors history to win the award joining Don Nelson (1991-1992) and Alex Hannum (1963-1964).
General manager Bob Myers projected, based on typical Grade I MCL sprains, a minimum two-week absence.
If the Trail Blazers, up 3-2 in the series, can finish off the injury-ravaged Clippers at home Friday night, the Western semifinal best-of-seven would start Sunday in Oakland.
Advertisement
Dwight Howard can leave the team as a free agent next season. Overall, Walton was 39-4 while Kerr was out, and he finished eighth in Coach of the Year voting. “It’s easy to say let’s replace the best player in the world but that is the reality”.
