Golden State Warriors star Stephen Curry is confident of being fit to face the Oklahoma City Thunder this weekend despite suffering a badly swollen elbow in Game Two.
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Golden State led by as many as 14 in the early stages of the third quarter, but an ill-timed combination of a cold stretch on offense and a hot streak for Russell Westbrook led to the Warriors losing the second half by 19 points.
“When their shots go up, you can’t be watching, looking for the rebound”, Warriors forward Draymond Green said. This means four free-throws for Curry, and Curry hits all four.
“It’s a big shot, a big play, a very eventful night overall for a lot of different reasons”, Curry said. “It looks like it has a tennis ball on top of it, but it doesn’t affect range of motion”.
“If the swelling goes down, then I should be all right”.
From Golden State’s perspective, Game 1 was looking like business as usual for the home team. 15 points in 1:58 isn’t his most impressive scoring burst of these playoffs, but man, his third quarter informally ended the game 12 minutes early.
“We can’t give enough credit to (Ezeli) for what he did”, Warriors shooting guard Klay Thompson said. “We come back sharp the next game, and it’s a testament to everybody on this team”.
Warriors center Andrew Bogut went out of the game with an injury in the final period, and the Golden State ball movement slowed as well, which allowed the Thunder to push the ball and score on the fast break. “It was definitely what we needed”, Green said. Once I got over there I saw he was starting to get up, so it was good.
Despite the awesome play that OKC Thunder displayed in Game 1, they made a series of turnovers, lazy offense, and careless passing which cost them Game 2.
Durant provided a big assist during Curry’s flurry.
On the Warriors’ next possession, Curry faked Serge Ibaka into the air, shot another three, and stared down Ibaka as the ball splashed through the net.
He certainly didn’t seem too bothered by it Wednesday. We’ve got to focus on who we’ve got in front of us right now. An 8-0 run at the end of the half put the Warriors up 57-49 and triggered confidence the rest of the game. The 2015 NBA Finals MVP Andre Iguodala added 14, including a dazzling no-look lay up that was marvelous The Golden State bench was incredible.
The chatter in the Bay Area after Game 2 revolves around Steph Curry’s third quarter – and rightfully so.
Curry said he couldn’t wait for another chance after dropping the series opener for the first time since 2013. “Flying over the seats like that you don’t know if it’s a leg, if it’s an elbow, if it’s a head”. It’s been like that since I’ve been back. “I think our guys are up for the challenge”. They rattled Kevin Durant, whose foul of Curry on a 3-pointer and subsequent technical foul resulted in a four-point play that was the catalyst for Curry’s third-quarter takeover. Adams, the third-year player from New Zealand, by way of the University of Pittsburgh, has emerged as an impact player this postseason.
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Kerr begged for a traveling call against Westbrook with 17.2 seconds left and the Thunder ahead 105-102, but a timeout was given.
