Tag: Golden State Warriors

Durant, Thompson lead Warriors past Spurs 116-101 for 2-0 series lead

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Photo credit: @SportingGreenSF

By Daniel Dullum
Sports Radio Service
Monday, April 16, 2018

For the second straight game in their NBA West opening round playoff series, the Golden State Warriors prevailed over the visiting San Antonio Spurs without Stephen Curry, as the Warriors enjoyed a 116-101 win Monday at Oracle Arena.

Golden State has a 2-0 lead in the series, which moves to San Antonio on Thursday for Game 3 at 6:30 pm PT.

Kevin Durant led the Warriors with 32 points, followed by 31 points and five assists from Klay Thompson on 12-of-20 field goal shooting. Andre Iguodala netted 14 points, seven rebounds and five assists, and JaVale McGee added 10 points and seven rebounds.

David West, who left early in the fourth quarter with a left ankle sprain, wound up with 10 points and four boards in 14 minutes for the Warriors.

Curry is expected to miss the remainder of the series due to a sprained left knee.

LaMarcus Aldridge led San Antonio with 34 points and 12 rebounds, and Rudy Gay, who was inserted into the Spurs’ starting lineup, scored 12 points and had three steals. Aldridge was 12-of-12 at the free throw line.

After the Spurs took a 53-47 lead into halftime, Durant and Thompson sparked a decisive 19-5 third-quarter run.

The Spurs hit 41 percent from the floor (35-of-85). Golden State had a 39-35 rebounding edge.

Warriors blowout Spurs 113-92 in Game 1

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Photo credit: @warriors

By Jerry Feitelberg

OAKLAND — The Golden State Warriors took the lead for good early in the first quarter and were never headed as they blew out the San Antonio Spurs 113-92 at the Oracle Arena Saturday.

Before the start of the first game of the playoffs, much had been written and discussed about the poor play of the Warriors after the injury to Steph Curry. The team, once the Houston Rockets secured the number one seed in the West, did not play well. They turned the ball over too many times, and they weren’t able to move the ball as well as they had done in the past three seasons. They did not play well on defense either as they were blown out by the Utah Jazz in the last game of the regular season. All those questions were answered Saturday as the blew out the Spurs.

Warriors’ head coach Steve Kerr made a couple of changes to the starting lineup. He named JaVale McGee to start at center and Andre Iguodala started at guard. McGee probably had his best game of the season as played very well on both ends of the court. McGee scored a season-high 15 points and was terrific on defense as he was able to contain the Spurs’ big man, LaMarcus Aldridge. Iguodala scored just three points in the game, but he finished with 4 assists and 7 rebounds. The Spurs, in the playoffs for 21 consecutive years, could not find any answers to stop the Warrior offense. Kevin Durant and Klay Thompson paced the Warriors, and the fans at Oracle Arena went home happy.

The Warriors won the first quarter 28-17. McGee had 9 points and KD 11. The Warriors extended the lead to 16 at the end of the first half 57-41. Klay Thompson started to warm up as he contributed 9 points in the half. Durant had 16 and McGee 11. Rudy Gay led the Spurs with 10. None of the Spurs starters were in double figures in the half. The Warriors outrebounded the Spurs 26-15, and they had three steals and five blocked shots on defense. They held the Spurs to just 34.1% shooting from the floor.

In the third quarter, Golden State, as they have done so many times this season, dominated. They outscored San Antonio 29-22, and the game was essentially over at this point. They increased the lead to 27 with about 7 minutes left in the game. It was at this point that Kerr removed all of his regulars and let the bench finish the game. The Spurs were able to outscore the Warriors just by two points in the final quarter and lost by the final score of 113-92.

Game Notes and Stats: The Warriors were led by Klay Thompson’s 27-point game. Klay also made five 3-point shots and was in rhythm all game long. Kevin Durant poured in 24 points to go with seven assists and eight rebounds. It was quite a game for Durant. Draymond Green almost had a triple-double as he tallied 12 points, 11 assists, and eight rebounds. McGee finished with 15. Shaun Livingston added 11. The Spurs had three players in double figures. LaMarcus Aldridge and Bryn Forbes had 14, and Rudy Gay led the Spurs with 15.

The Warriors shot 54.3% from the floor and held the Spurs to 40%. The Warriors made 10 3-point shots, and the Spurs made nine. The Warriors moved the ball well and found the open shooter repeatedly during the game as they recorded 32 assists. They turned the ball over 15 times, and when they commit less than 16 turnovers, they usually win.

The Warriors’ Steph Curry was examined by the team’s doctors Saturday and is making progress. Steph has been working out with the club but is still expected to miss the first round of the playoffs

Up Next: Game 2 of the best-of-seven series continues Monday night at Oracle Arena. Game time will be at 7:30 pm PT.

Sports Headlines with Tony Renteria: Rockets a favorite to represent Western Conference; Warriors will be at full strength once playoffs start

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On the Sports Headlines podcast with Tony:

#1 You’ve got all kinds of choices in the NBA Playoffs, but focusing on the Western Conference, who does Tony like amongst Houston, Golden State, Utah, Portland, San Antonio, Oklahoma City, and New Orleans?

#2 Houston has had such a good year led by James Harden, whose been a workhorse and put out an all effort to help lead the Rockets this season.

#3 Golden State kind of got the injury epidemic all at once when the “Big Four” of Draymond Green, Stephen Curry, Kevin Durant and Klay Thompson all went down. With Green, Durant, Thompson they ended their season losing by 40 to Utah on Tuesday night, 119-79, is this a prelude to the playoffs or expect for them to break out once the playoffs start?

#4 Turning to baseball, the Oakland A’s suffered some tough loses Tuesday night was no exception with a loss to the Los Angeles Dodgers 4-0. The A’s simply couldn’t do anything with Dodgers starter Hyun-Jin Ryu, who helped shutout Oakland, going six innings and giving up only one hit.

#5 The San Francisco Giants just put Johnny Cueto on the DL. Cueto spent a great deal of time on the DL last season. Cueto is being shelved and is at a 70% performance level because of coming off he mound to field on a bunt and had to cover first base. Cueto turned the other ankle on the ensuing play and manager Bruce Bochy said Cueto could return on Tuesday.

Tony does the Sports headline podcasts each Thursday at http://www.sportsradioservice.com

Warriors get Spurs in first round of 2018 NBA playoffs

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Photo credit: Twitter.com

By Joe Hawkes-Beamon
SRS Contributor

OAKLAND — Familiar foes face each other as the San Antonio Spurs will square off against the defending NBA Champion Golden State Warriors in the first round of the 2018 Western Conference playoffs.

The Spurs (47-35) secured the No. 7 seed after losing 122-98 in New Orleans to end the regular season. The second-seeded Warriors (58-24) lost their final regular season game 119-79 at Utah Tuesday night.

As the Spurs are making their 21st consecutive trip to the playoffs, this will be the first time that the team failed to win 50 games in a season since the 1998-99 season.

The Warriors failed to win at least 60 games for the first time in three seasons, which would’ve tied the Showtime Lakers of the 1980s with four-straight 60-win seasons for most in NBA history.

Golden State won three of the four regular season match-ups against San Antonio: winning 112-92 on Nov. 2 at San Antonio, 122-105 on Feb. 10 in Oakland and 111-107 on March 8 in Oakland.

San Antonio took the regular season final meeting, defeating Golden State 89-75, in San Antonio on March 19.

The two teams met last May in the Western Conference Finals, with Golden State completing a four-game sweep over the Spurs in route to their second title in three seasons.

Here’s the Warriors’ schedule for the first round of the 2018 playoffs:

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Warriors end season with 119-79 blowout loss to the Jazz

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Photo credit: @warriors

By: Eric He

If these are the Warriors we see when the playoffs begin in a few days, then they won’t make it very far.

The Golden State Warriors wrapped up the regular season on Tuesday night at the Vivint Smart Home Arena with a 119-79 loss to the Utah Jazz and will head into the postseason looking to rekindle the magic that they had through most of their 58-24 season.

They will do so without Stephen Curry for a bit, and they have missed him these past few games while their offense has looked average and their defense poor. Against the Jazz, the Warriors allowed 33 points in the first quarter and 62 in the first half. They trailed by 17 at the end of one and by 21 at halftime, by which the game had essentially been decided.

The Warriors have no doubled coasted into the postseason, locked into the second seed with no hope of catching the Rockets. But their recent struggles have opened up vulnerabilities as they await their first round opponent, which will be known by the end of Wednesday night.

Meanwhile, the Jazz ended the season on an absolute tear, winning 29 of their final 34 games. Donovan Mitchell finished with 22 points as he looked to put an exclamation mark on his campaign for the Rookie of the Year award.

Perhaps the one saving grace of the blowout loss was that there is no way the Warriors will face the Jazz in the first round. Utah could have slipped to the seventh spot with a loss — but now they will be among the top four. And that is a huge blessing in disguise.

Golden State Warriors podcast with David Zizmor; Kerr pushes defense at a higher level to win championships

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On the Warriors podcast with David:

#1 Warriors got a pretty healthy win over the Phoenix Suns on Sunday 117-100. After the game, Warriors head coach Steve Kerr said that he expects his team to execute defense at a high level in order to win a championship. But is Kerr really resting some of his key starters and will break them out once the playoffs begin?

#2 The Omri Casspi release was something that Kerr said was necessary to make room on the roster for Quinn Cook. Casspi had missed the last 11 games with a sprained ankle and was venerable when the decision came who the Warriors were going to vote off the island. Kerr said the decision wasn’t that difficult because he had the sprained ankle.

David Zizmor does the Warrior podcasts each Tuesday at http://www.sportsradioservice.com

 

Warriors, behind the hot shooting of Klay Thompson, drub Suns 117-100

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by Jerry Feitelberg

The Warriors played the penultimate game of the 2017-2018 season Sunday night in Phoenix and they played the game to win even though a win or a loss would not affect their status as the number two seed in the Western Conference. Klay Thompson was on fire in the first quarter. If he were any hotter, the Suns would have had to call in the Phoenix Fire Department to cool him off. Klay missed his first shot but then went on a run that saw him score 19 consecutive points. He finished the game with 34, and the Warriors won 117-100. Steve Kerr had this to say about Klay’s performance. “That was fun to watch,” said Warriors head coach Steve Kerr. “He had the arena pretty excited. Every time he went up for a shot after that first few, you could hear the anticipation of the crowd. Yeah, he had it rolling.” Said Thompson, “It was good to get in a good rhythm, especially with one game left now [in the regular season], and to have some great momentum going into this playoff stretch.” That’s Thompson’s first 30-point performance since Jan. 17 when he scored 38 in Chicago. “I’m shooting a career high in three-point and field-goal percentage, so for me, that’s more valuable than a few big games,” he said.

Klay ended the first quarter with 22 points, and the Warriors finished the period with a four-point lead 33-29. Golden State kept the pressure on as they had the defense working and led by 18 at one point in the second quarter. They cooled off a bit but finished the first half leading 64-50.

The Warriors, as they have done so many times, this won the third quarter 27-22 and led by 19 heading into the fourth quarter. The Suns, missing six players due to injury, were unable to overcome the deficit and fell to the Warriors 117-100.

Game Notes and Stats- The Warriors were led by Klay Thompson’s 34 points. The Warriors beat the Suns for the 15th consecutive time. The Suns own the worst record in the NBA at 20-61. They have one game left to play, and the players probably will be happy to see the season end. The Suns are in the NBA draft lottery, and they will have more chances to get the number one pick.

Four of the five Warrior starters were in double figures. Draymond Green had 14, Kevin Durant 17, Quinn Cook 14, and Klay 34. JaVale McGee scored 11 in just 9 minutes of playing time, and Shaun Livingston pitched in with 10. Steph Curry, Patrick McCaw, and Andre Iguodala were not available due to injury.  The Suns were missing Devin Booker, T.J.Warren, Josh Jackson, Marquese Chriss, and Elfrid Payton. However, five of the Suns finished in double figures. Daniel House had a career-high 22 points, Dragan Bender 14, Alex Len 16, Tyler Ulis 15, and Jared Dudley, coming off the bench, 11.

The Warriors play the Utah Jazz Tuesday night in Salt Lake City. This will be the final game of the season for the Warriors, and they will not know who they will be playing in Round One of the playoffs until Wednesday.

 

Report: Warriors and Quinn Cook agree on multi-year NBA deal

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Photo credit: @AthleticDesires

By Joe Hawkes-Beamon
SRS Contributor

OAKLAND — One night after the Warriors waved veteran forward Omri Casspi, the team has reportedly agreed with two-way point guard Quinn Cook on a multi-year NBA deal, according to multiple reports.

News of the deal was first reported by Shams Charania of The Vertical at Yahoo Sports on Sunday, with Cook expected to sign the deal on Tuesday. Golden State plans to wait until their final regular-season game to sign Cook to a two-year deal.

While not official, the second year of the deal is not guaranteed according to league sources the report added.

Cook was signed before the start of the season and has had added much needed depth to Golden State’s roster, especially with starting point guard Stephan Curry missing the last few weeks with an MCL sprain.

In 31 games this season, Cook has averaged 9.4 points, 2.7 assists and 2.3 rebounds per game while shooting 49.4 percent from the floor, including 44.8 from 3-point range. Cook has made 16 starts this season for Golden State.

With Curry expected to miss at least the first round of the playoffs, Cook will have even more pressure placed upon him (depending on the Warriors’ first-round opponent) to help navigate the defending NBA Champions through the series.

Golden State (57-23) plays at Phoenix (20-60) Sunday after losing 126-120 to the New Orleans Pelicans Saturday night in Golden State’s home finale. The loss cost the Warriors a chance at their fourth consecutive 60-win season, which hasn’t been accomplished in the NBA since the Showtime Los Angeles Lakers of the 1980s, who did it from ’84-’88.

Cook finished with 21 points and seven assists on 8-of-14 shooting from the floor to go along with 5-of-7 from 3-point range against the Pelicans.

The Warriors play the Utah Jazz (47-33) Tuesday in Salt Lake City to close out the regular-season.

The Jazz clinched their second straight postseason trip Sunday with a 112-97 win over the visiting Los Angeles Clippers (42-38) at Vivint Smart Home Arena behind potential Rookie of the Year winner Donovan Mitchell’s near triple-double performance, finishing with 29 points, nine rebounds and eight assists.

Warriors waive Casspi, clearing way for Cook to join postseason roster

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Photo credit: @warriors

By Joe Hawkes-Beamon
SRS Contributor

OAKLAND — In a move that was expected, the Warriors waived veteran forward Omri Casspi Saturday night.

With Casspi’s release, the move creates a roster spot for backup point guard Quinn Cook, who has stepped in nicely for Golden State as the team’s starting point guard while Stephan Curry has been sidelined with a MCL sprain in his left knee.

The Warriors signed Casspi to a one-year deal last July, but has dealt with injuries for most of the season. Casspi has fallen out of the rotation in recent weeks, and has not played since sustaining a sprained right ankle on March 14.

In 53 games this season, with seven starts, Casspi has averaged 5.7 points, 3.8 rebounds in 14 minutes per game coming off the bench.

Earlier Saturday night, Golden State (57-23) lost to the New Orleans Pelicans (46-34) 126-120 at Oracle Arena. The aforementioned Cook finished with 21 points and seven assists on 8-of-14 shooting.

Cook, who is still under contract as a two-way player, is expected to sign a standard NBA contract within 48 hours, after which he becomes eligible for the playoffs.

Warriors play better, but not good enough as they lose to the Pelicans 126-120

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Photo credit: @warriors

By Jerry Feitelberg

OAKLAND — The Golden State Warriors, having been routed by the Indiana Pacers Thursday night, played a very entertaining and thrilling game against the New Orleans Pelicans Saturday night at Oracle Arena.

The Pelicans, fighting to get into the playoffs, came out firing on all cylinders in the first quarter. The Warriors regained their composure and trailed by two at the end of the first half. Kevin Durant took charge in the third quarter, and the Warriors were able to own the lead by four heading into the fourth quarter. The Pelicans refused to be beaten. They outscored the Warriors by 10 in the period and beat the defending NBA champs 126-120.

New Orleans came into the game tied with San Antonio and Oklahoma City for fifth place in the NBA’s Western Conference. Every game is a must-win for New Orleans as they could end up in ninth place behind Minnesota or Denver. They started the game by making the first nine shots they took. They were 10-for-13 in the first six minutes of the game, and they poured in 40 points and held the Warriors to 32. The Pelicans finished the first quarter on a 10-2 run.

The Warriors started to play defense in the second quarter and were able to tie the game at 65 late in the quarter. The Pelicans made a bucket to finish the first half leading 67-65. The Pelicans were led by Anthony Davis, Nikola Mirotec, and the veteran guard Rajon Rondo. Quinn Cook paced the Warrior offense with 15. Kevin Durant had 11, Klay Thompson and Draymond Green each had nine, and Nick Young tallied eight coming off the bench.

In the third quarter, the Pelicans extended the lead to 80-72. It was at this point in the quarter when the Warriors went on a 17-2 run to take the lead for the first time in the game 89-82. The Pelicans regained their composure, but the Warriors finished the third quarter leading 92-88. Kevin Durant led the Warriors, and it looked as if they had the momentum to carry them to a win. However, Anthony Davis, Nikola Mirotec, and the rest of the Pelicans had other thoughts as they came back to take the lead 99-97.

The Pelicans caused the Warriors to turn the ball over eight times in the fourth quarter, and the Pelicans recorded 15 points off those turnovers. The teams were tied at 105 when New Orleans went on a 14-3 run to secure the win. One of the key plays for New Orleans came when Rajon Rondo picked Kevin Durant’s pocket as he stole the ball and that led to a big bucket for the Pelicans.The Pelicans win 126-120.

Game Notes and Stats: With the win, the Pelicans improve to 46-34. San Antonio and Oklahoma City also won, and those three teams are 46-34. The Denver Nuggets also won, and they are 45-35 and tied with the Minnesota Timberwolves, who are 45-35. The last two games of the season will be critical to these teams, and the Warriors probably will not know who they will be playing in the first round of the playoff until Wednesday.

Kevin Durant led the Warrior offense with 41 points, five assists, and 10 rebounds. Durant committed four turnovers Saturday night.

Draymond Green had a double-double with 11 points, nine assists, and 10 rebounds. Green had trouble handling the ball as he was charged with seven turnovers and the team as a whole committed 17 in the loss to the Pelicans. The eight turnovers in the fourth quarter cost them 15 points, and that cost them the game. Quinn Cook finished the night with 21, Klay Thompson had 18, and Kevon Looney, starting at center, pitched in with 10.

The Pelicans’ Anthony Davis, who outplayed Kevin Durant in the fourth quarter, finished with 34 points and 12 boards, Nikola Mirotec had 28, and he made five three-point shots. Jrue Holiday kicked in with 25, Rajon Rondo 12 and he had 17 assists, too. The Pelican defense had 15 steals and six blocked shots. The Warrior defense had no blocked shots and just three steals.

The Warriors drop to 57-23, and they have two games left on the schedule against Phoenix Sunday night in Phoenix and Tuesday night in Salt Lake City against the Utah Jazz. Utah is battling with Portland for the third seed in the Western Conference. The Warriors want to finish the season on a winning note but they know that the Utah game will not be easy.

Up Next: The Warriors take on the Phoenix Suns Sunday night at 6:00 pm PT.