OAKLAND, Calif. (AP) – “We ain’t going home!” Curry repeatedly shouted into a frenzied crowd.
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In game two he tweaked his back when Festus Ezeli landed on top of him and then suffered the first assault on his man-parts when villainous Warriors forward Green kneed him amidships while making a layup.
The Thunder shot 2-of-14 (14 percent) on drives to the basket in Game 5, tied for their worst in a game this postseason.
The Warriors shot 41 percent and committed 21 turnovers that led to 18 Thunder points. He also totaled 14 rebounds.
Thunder coach Billy Donovan acknowledged that his team had been hurt by Adams’ early fouls. In the 38 minutes Durant hasn’t been on the floor, that number spikes to 118.1 points per 100 possessions, by far the highest number on the team.
Game 5 followed closer to the first game of the series, as Klay Thompson and Stephen Curry weren’t going to let Golden State go down without a fight. Unlike the Warriors, they were unable to get the kind of support from teammates that had carried them to within one victory of the NBA Finals. Golden State trails 3-2 and is trying to become just the 10th team to rally from a 3-1 deficit.
In their first two playoff series, the Warriors beat Houston and then Portland, each in five games.
Defending NBA champions the Golden State Warriors stayed alive in the play-offs with a 120-111 win over the Oklahoma City Thunder.
No denying it’s a daunting task for the defending champs – especially given that MVP Stephen Curry is a far cry from being completely healthy. Like Curry, he did serious damage at the free-throw line, going 13-for-13.
The Warriors hoped to regain their confidence in front of their usually raucous, yellow-shirted fans at Oracle Arena.
In fact, all game, it was as if in his play you could hear his words after their Game 5 loss: “The series isn’t over”.
Ask the 2007 New England Patriots how much that 16-0 mark comforts them while the Giants are walking the earth with those championship rings. “We were supposed to win at home, because we’re a team that’s only lost two games in the regular season and whatnot”. Yet just as we saw against the Mavs and Spurs, OKC couldn’t overcome their shaky fundamentals in the game.
The Warriors came out of the blocks quickly, taking a four-point lead at quarter-time before doubling that advantage by the half-time break. The Thunder averaged 55 points in the paint in Games 3 and 4. The Warriors’ Draymond Green and Andrew Bogut combined for nine offensive rebounds.
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“I’ve been a part of some really adverse situations”, he said.
