Still, the Warriors managed to dominate over Houston, claiming a 121-94 victory and putting them up in the series 3-1.
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The Spurs won 116-95 in Memphis to clinch their first round series 4-0 and will face Oklahoma City or the Dallas Mavericks in the Western Conference semi-finals.
Assuming Golden State finishes off Houston, next up will be the victor of the 4-5 series, where the L.A. Clippers lead the Portland Trail Blazers 2-1.
Lance Stephenson posted 26 points off the bench for the Grizzlies, who were inferior throughout the best-of-seven matchup.
Zach Randolph (20 points and 11 rebounds) and Matt Barnes (17 and 11) tried hard for the Grizzlies.
AUBURN HILLS, Mich. – Kyrie Irving scored 20 of his 31 points in the second half, and Cleveland finished off a four-game sweep of Detroit.
Remember, though, that most of those minutes came with Golden State’s second unit on the court, or sometimes even the third string to close out one of the Warriors’ many blowout wins. Reggie Jackson drove in for a dunk to cut the lead to two but missed a 3-pointer at the buzzer.
Paul Millsap scored 45 for the Hawks – a career playoff high and one off his all-time best – and added 13 rebounds.
Game 5 is Tuesday night in Atlanta.
However, the pain was too much and he was forced to return to the locker room.
“Let’s not fool ourselves. When you hit the shots we’re hitting, things are going to go your way”, Golden State’s Draymond Green said.
His assignment is James Harden, the star of Game 3, and that ought to be enough to get his attention.
Curry suffered a right knee sprain after he slipped in Sunday’s Game 4 playoff games against the Houston Rockets.
Curry will undergo an MRI on his knee on Monday.
Thompson was 7 for 11 from three-point distance, scored 23 points, and was +23. Mike (Jordan) told me, at All-Star (Weekend), “Go get the record. If we have that same emotion and intensity on Wednesday, we should be successful”. “We’ll see what happens with the MRI tomorrow”, Warriors coach Steve Kerr lamented.
“Well, we have a lot of confidence, and there are things that we can do that we hold back with, because our team doesn’t need it”, Iguodala said.
While defending Trevor Ariza’s last second jumper, Curry slid, landing awkwardly while hitting his right knee on the floor. For the last five seasons, Golden State has always played its best when its defense could get stops first, which then puts the offense into rhythm – from one flows the other – and the Warriors somehow found a Curry-less rhythm that was lacking in Game 3. Shortly thereafter, he headed back to the locker room and was ruled out just after the second half began, with Shaun Livingston taking his spot in the starting lineup.
And it is the third quarter that led to the Rockets’ final loss to the Warriors. After going out of the court, he did not come back to the game causing rumors to spread about his ability to be back with the team for the rest of the playoffs. He finished with six points. We’re gonna continue to play our game, continue to try to win basketball games, no matter who’s out there.
According to NBA.com/Stats, the Warriors were outscored by 3.7 points per 100 possessions during the regular season with Curry on the bench – the same net rating as the Denver Nuggets, who went 33-49.
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The Warriors sailed to victory in a game against the Houston Rockets Sunday. But before he could get to an actual question, Green cut him off.
