Brett Martel
Golden State Warriors coach Steve Kerr dead-panned that he'd be relaxing on the beaches of Cabo San Lucas while waiting to find out who would be the team's second-round NBA play-off opponents.
“I’ll be in Cabo all week. I told the guys just to get some work in if they want,” Kerr said, unable to stop himself from smiling before he got to the end of the sentence.
Among those who won’t be laughing are the Warriors’ next opponents, who will have to figure out how to stop Stephen Curry and Co from scoring in bunches, as they did in their convincing four-game sweep of burgeoning young all-star Anthony Davis and the upstart New Orleans Pelicans.
Now Golden State awaits the winner of the Memphis Grizzlies v Portland Trail Blazers matchup. Memphis lead the series 3-0.
On Saturday night, the Warriors came through with their most complete performance of the first-round, building a 13-point lead at half-time, widening it to 24 late in the third quarter and squelching the Pelicans’ desperate, last-gasp bid in the fourth quarter, 109-98.
Curry scored against anyone the Pelicans sent out to guard him, including 6ft 10in Davis, in the clinching game. He also hit 6-of-8 threes to finish with 39 points.
When he wasn’t scoring, he had plenty of help from Klay Thompson and Draymond Green.
Curry averaged 33.8 points during the series, while Thompson averaged 25 points and Green, 15.8.
“You play great defence and all of a sudden it looks like they’re throwing up a shot, but it goes in,” Davis said. “It’s tough. Hats off to them. They made incredible shots through the course of the series. We tried our best to stay attached to them, but they did a great job. Some of it was us and some of it was them hitting tough shots.”
Meanwhile, Andrew Bogut made it hard on any Pelicans player trying to score inside, blocking eight shots in the series and altering many more.
“They’re built to win a championship. They’re probably the most complete team that we faced, them and San Antonio,” Pelicans coach Monty Williams said. “I had to watch games that they lost just to see what teams did against them because you just don’t see it when they’re winning games. You’re like, ‘Where’s the weakness?’ So to me, they just don’t have many weaknesses, if any. Obviously they’re well coached and they have great players.”
The Warriors, however, aren’t looking at it that way.
“We still have a long way to go to accomplish what we want to do,” Thompson said. “We’ve had a bull’s eye on our back the whole year, but that makes it more fun. If you want to be great, you have to have high expectations. We’ve still got guys who really want to go deep in the post-season, including myself, who haven’t had that experience yet.”
The Warriors foresee tougher challenges ahead, but appear confident they’ll improve on last season’s second-round exit.
“If we just keep our composure to start games, especially on the road, we’ll be fine,” Curry said. “Our defence is what it is; it’s carried us all season, and that will be there for us. But, offensively, if we just stick to who we are, moving the basketball, looking for the best shot every possession, our talent will shine across the board and we’ll be in good shape.”
In Brooklyn, Brook Lopez had 22 points and 13 rebounds, Thaddeus Young added 18 points and 11 rebounds, and the Brooklyn Nets beat the Atlanta Hawks 91-83 to cut the visitors’ lead to 2-1 in the Eastern Conference series.
The Nets seized control with an 18-0 run spanning the third and fourth quarters after the Hawks grabbed their first lead since the opening basket, then went on to beat the No 1 seed for the first time in seven meetings this season.
Bojan Bogdanovic added 19 points for the eighth-seeded Nets, who can tie the series with another victory here Monday night in Game 4.
DeMarre Carroll scored a play-off career-high 22 points for the Hawks, who were denied what would have been their second 3-0 lead since moving to Atlanta in 1968. Paul Millsap added 18 points and 17 rebounds.
The other three East series were all 3-0 entering Saturday, but the Hawks won’t be able to wrap this one up quickly after getting poor performances from All-Stars Kyle Korver (2 points, 0-for-5 on three-pointers) and Al Horford (3-for-12, 7 points).
In Milwaukee, Jerryd Bayless made a lay-up at the buzzer off an inbounds pass, lifting Milwaukee to a 92-90 victory over the Chicago Bulls, drawing the Bucks within 3-1 in their series.
With 1.3 seconds left, Jared Dudley threw a high-arcing pass toward the basket from side court. Bayless caught the ball and quickly threw up the lay-in for the game-winning basket.
Bulls guard Derrick Rose walked away in frustration after trying to guard Bayless as green and white streamers descended from the Bradley Center rafters. The Bucks had won their first play-off game in five years.
Chicago had a chance to win with the game tied at 90. But Milwaukee’s Khris Middleton tipped a dribble away from Rose to force a steal. Bucks coach Jason Kidd called a timeout to set up the final play.
Game 5 is Monday in Chicago.
Jimmy Butler had a play-off career-high 33 points for the Bulls. Rose finished with 14 points, while Pau Gasol had 16 points and 10 rebounds.
In Portland, Marc Gasol had 25 points and the Grizzlies took a 3-0 lead in their play-off series over the Trail Blazers by withstanding a late Portland rally for a 115-109 victory.
Courtney Lee had 20 points and Mike Conley added 14 before leaving the game late in the third quarter with a facial injury. Memphis were already thin at point guard with reserve Beno Udrih sidelined with a sprained right ankle.
Game 4 is Monday night at Portland.
The Grizzlies led by as many as 14 points but Portland closed within 90-82 with 7:28 after three free throws from Nicolas Batum. Gasol responded with two jumpers to end the threat until Arron Afflalo’s three-pointer pulled Portland to 94-87.
Batum’s three-pointer got Portland as close as 94-91 with 2:23 left. But Tony Allen’s basket ended Portland’s 9-0 run and Randolph added free throws.
Allen’s fast-break dunk with 1:14 left all but sealed it for the Grizzlies. Batum had another three-pointer to make it 100-94 but Portland couldn’t catch up.
*Associated Press
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