Photo credit: @warriors

By: Ana Kieu

It was a Game 6 showdown in LA on Friday night as the Golden State Warriors looked to close out the first-round series against the Los Angeles Clippers at the Staples Center.

Alfonzo McKinnie has taken a unique route to the NBA. The 26-year-old forward has paid for a G-League tryout, made stops to play 3×3 with international teams and played 14 games with the Toronto Raptors. Now, he has played in 5 playoff games with the Warriors and averaged 4 points and 3 rebounds, including 1 offensive rebound, in just under 10 minutes of action per game.

In case you missed it, Steph Curry became the only player in NBA history to reach 400 career postseason 3-pointers. Check out some of his best postseason 3s in the video below.

The Warriors reportedly talk about resiliency all the time, so they said it should be there Friday.

When asked about his mentality on Game 6, Warriors head coach Steve Kerr said: “It’s human nature, as we just talked about. You get threatened, you lose, you don’t sleep that well, you can’t wait for the next game.”

“You win a couple on the road, you get a little happy, a little comfortable, and you lose your edge, and that’s all it takes. So, we’ll have our edge back tonight.”

Turns out, Golden State had resiliency in Game 6.

The Warriors’ starting five featured Steph Curry, Kevin Durant, Shaun Livingston, Draymond Green and Klay Thompson. Livingston started for the Warriors over Bogut. Livingston started his first career playoff game since 2016.

The Warriors started off slow, but fought back. The Clippers were up 7-2 at 10:26 of the first quarter, but Kevin Durant made a mid-range shot to reduce the deficit to 3. However, LAC went on a 9-0 run to take a 10-point lead over GS with 6:14 left in the first.

GS, however, picked up the pace and reduced the deficit to 4 with 5:18 left in the first. Durant had 8 points and 1 rebound at the time. Also, the Warrior defense converted into offense, which helped the cause. The Warriors used a 12-2 run to regain the lead 24-23 with 3:41 left in the first.

The Warriors stormed back for a 35-31 lead at the end of the first.

Kevin Durant made quite a few buckets, and as a result, put on a scoring clinic in the second quarter. The Warriors led 48-42 with 5:40 left in the second. Aside from Durant, Kevon Looney got a good amount of lobs in the second.

The Warriors’ largest lead was 59-47 with 3:09 left in the second. Kevin Durant made a pair of free throws, Andre Igoudala blocked a Clipper shot and the Warriors led 72-53 at the break.

Tonight, it wasn’t so much about the Splash Brothers, but Kevin Durant and Steph Curry instead. The Warriors maintained a double-digit lead throughout the third quarter. LAC went on a 18-8 run over five minutes, but Klay Thompson ended the Clipper run with a field goal. The Warriors led 84-71 with 4:45 left in the third.

Andre Iguodala threw down a one-handed dunk to extend the Warrior lead to 89-71 with 3:21 left in the third. Moreover, Kevin Durant became No. 9 in NBA Playoffs history for number of 3-pointers and set a new career playoff high with 46 points tonight (14 of 22 FG, 6 of 12 3FG).

Kevin Durant continued to make history with his 50th point with 7:01 left in the fourth quarter. Also, Andre Iguodala picked up the ball from a Clippers defender, spotted Steph Curry wide-open, Curry threw it back to Iguodala, who threw down a dunk that hit the rim. In addition, Green recorded a triple double with 16 points, 14 rebounds and 10 rebounds.

The Warriors won by a final score of 129-110.

Check out the Warriors’ final stats below.

The Warriors play the Houston Rockets in the second round of the 2019 NBA Playoffs.