Tag: NBA

The Warriors rout the Pelicans in the first game of the Western Conference Semi-Finals

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Photo credit: nba.com/warriors

By Jerry Feitelberg

OAKLAND — The Golden State Warriors routed the New Orleans Pelicans 123-101 to get off to a good start in the second round of the NBA playoffs. The Warriors’ head coach, Steve Kerr decided to go “small” as he started Nick Young at guard and went with Andre Iguodala, Klay Thompson, Draymond Green, and Kevin Durant. None of the Warrior starters were over six-feet-seven inches tall except Durant. JaVale McGee played very little, and Zaza Pachulia sat on the bench.

The Warriors and Pelicans played a very competitive first quarter. The Warriors led by one 35-34 after the first 12 minutes of action, and it looked as if the game would be a nail-biter. The Pelicans led 12-11 early in the quarter and, although no one knew it at the time, it would be the last time the Pelicans would own the lead.

The Warriors dominated the second quarter. The outscored the Pelicans 41-21 to finish the half leading 76-55. At one point in the quarter, the Warriors went on a 24-2 run as they showed the Pelicans that they still knew how to play defense. Kevin Durant and Klay Thompson paced the Warrior offense with 18 points each. Draymond Green added 12, and Shaun Livingstone tallied 8. The Pelican’s Anthony Davis was the only starter in double-figures (12) for New Orleans.

The Warriors increased the lead to 29 by outscoring the Pelicans 27-19 to put the game on ice for Golden State. Kevin Durant and Draymond Green both sat out the fourth quarter as the Warriors coasted to victory. Kerr inserted McGee, Jordan Bell, and Damian Jones to finish the game. The Warriors win 123-101.

Game Notes: The Warriors won their 13th straight home playoff game. The 76 points scored in the first half set a team record as they scored 73 against the Phoenix Suns on May 4th, 1994. The 41 points in the second quarter beat the 40 they scored against Utah on May 11th, 2007.

Klay Thompson paced the offense with 27 points. Kevin Durant finished the night with a double-double as he knocked down 26 points and had 13 rebounds. Draymond Green was all over the court as he dazzled the fans with his fourth career triple-double. Draymond tallied 16 points, had 15 rebounds, and recorded 11 assists. Andre Iguodala had 12, Shaun Livingstone, 10 and Quinn Cook 11.

Anthony Davis led the Pelicans with 19, E’Tuan Moore had 15, Jrue Holiday 11, and Jordan Crawford 14. The Warriors dominated the board with 57 rebounds. They had 8 steals and 10 blocked shots. The Warriors did not commit a lot of fouls in the game. The Pelicans had 11 shots from the charity stripe and made 9. The Warriors went to the free-throw line 32 times and made 24.

The was a lot of speculation before the game as to the status of Steph Curry. Curry, who has not played very much since March 8th due to ankle and knee injuries, was ready to go, but the Warriors felt that he would be better off coming back for Game 2 on Tuesday night at Oracle Arena.

As usual, Curry insisted he “feels great, and he’s ready to go,” said Kerr, who is encouraged his superstar point guard feels so good.

“Just made the decision based on giving him the extra few days and the fact he only scrimmaged yesterday,” Kerr said. “You’ve been out five weeks, and we’re playing in the playoffs, I don’t think one scrimmage is enough, even though he feels great, he wants to play and pleaded his case. But we’re going to sit him tonight and very likely he’ll play Game 2.”

Up Next: Game 2 is at 7:30 pm PT on Tuesday night at Oracle Arena.

Warriors fend off Spurs’ comeback to win 99-91 in Game 5 and advance to Western Conference Semifinals

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Photo credit: nba.com/warriors

By Pearl Allison Lo

In the first game of the series in which neither the Golden State Warriors or the San Antonio Spurs scored 100 points, the Warriors prevailed in Game 5 with a 99-91 win at Oracle Arena on Tuesday night.

Golden State won the series 4-1 and led this contest ever since 10:49 left in the second. Their lead went up as much at 16 points. However, San Antonio got to within a layup’s distance with 57.2 seconds remaining in the game.

After a lackluster first half, the Spurs’ LaMarcus Aldridge scored 25 of his 30 points in the second half. His Warriors’ counterpart, Kevin Durant, scored 17 of his 25 in the same time span.

After the 91-93 score, Durant replied with a two-point field goal after the timeout. Manu Ginobili lost the ball out of bounds and fouled Durant. Durant made his free throws and after another timeout, missed three straight beyond the arc attempts. Draymond Green got the rebound, Ginobili fouled him and the game ended with Green making free throws.

Aldridge also had 12 rebounds, Patty Mills scored 18 with four three-pointers, Klay Thompson scored 24 points, Green had a double-double of 17 points and 19 rebounds and Green and Ginobili each had a game-high seven assists.

The Warriors began with a 9-0 run until Aldridge got the Spurs their first points with 8:33 left. This was the start of an 8-0 run for San Antonio. Aldridge also had the first of the period’s three ties when he scored with 3:45 left. Ginobili gave San Antonio their only lead of the first with 1:58 left.

The Spurs had only one lead in the second also, with Rudy Gay making the first shot of the quarter. Starting with 8:54 left, San Antonio missed seven straight attempts while losing the ball twice in three minutes. Meanwhile, Thompson scored nine of his 11 points in the quarter, making nine of the team’s first 11 points. David West scored the other basket and its assist going to Thompson.

Thompson led with 17 after the first half, the only one in double-digits. Tied behind him was Mills and Gay with nine points apiece. From the field, the Spurs shot 31.1 % versus 47.6% for Golden State. The Warriors led 10-0 in fast break points.

The pace went up for both teams in the third. Golden State added to their fast break advantage with nine more points.

Next: The Western Conference Semifinals with the #2 seeded Golden State facing former Coach Alvin Gentry and the #6 seeded New Orleans Pelicans.

Golden State Warriors podcast with David Zizmor: KGO ABC 7 sports anchor Mike Shumann pulled from Warriors coverage for stealing a Warriors jacket

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Photo credit KGO ABC 7 San Francisco: Right now KGO 7 sports anchor Mike Shumann isn’t ready to be asked anything after being videoed taking Warriors director of security Ralph Walker’s jacket before game four on Sunday in San Antonio

On the Golden State Warriors podcast with David:

KGO ABC 7’s sports anchor Mike Schumann has been pulled from covering the Golden State Warriors playoff assignment. During a practice session, a video showed Schumann taking a jacket from a seat before Sunday’s Game 4 in San Antonio. Schumann apparently picked the wrong person to steal from Ralph Walker, who is Stephen Curry’s personal security guard and also is the team’s security director knows a few things about finding stolen property.

Walker, who was missing the jacket, requested to see who might have taken the jacket from at the AT&T Center Arena and a security video showed a man with a red jacket on walking up to the seat taking the jacket and walking away. Identified as Schumann, who has been a Channel 7 anchor since he retired from the San Francisco 49ers in the 80s. Channel 7 said they take this matter seriously and have pulled Schumann from the assignment. The statement basically said the station is embarrassed by the incident.

The Warriors who couldn’t get it done in Game 4 on Sunday will take a look at what the difference was from the first three games and the Game 4 loss. The Warriors take on the Spurs for Game 5 at Oracle Arena tonight to try and close out this first round of the playoffs.

Head coach Steve Kerr said that Stephen Curry won’t be available until this series is over. The ankle is under treatment and doctor’s care. The Warriors want to make sure that Curry is fully prepared enough to compete at the highest level on the fragile ankle that’s given Curry past problems.

Catch David with all the Warriors podcasts at http://www.sportsradioservice.com

 

Spurs shut down the Warrior offense en route to a 103-90 win to avoid sweep

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Photo credit: nba.com/warriors

By Jerry Feitelberg

The San Antonio Spurs, without head coach Gregg Popovich, found a way to slow down the Warrior offense and beat the Warriors 103-90 Sunday afternoon in the AT&T Center.

The Spurs were coached by assistant coach Ettore Messina for the second game in a row. Messina, a former coach in the Italian League, rallied his team as their defense stifled the Warrior offense. Messina also coached the 40-year old veteran, Manu Ginobili, when he was a very young player starting his career in Italy. Ginobili, who probably played his last home game as a Spur, scored 10 points of his 16 points in the fourth quarter. He made both 3-point attempts and did not turn the ball over in his six minutes of action in the last quarter.

The Spurs won the first half 56-42. They were led by their star center LaMarcus Aldridge. The Warriors, as is their custom, won the third quarter 29-21 to cut the lead to six 77-72. The Warriors went on a 13-5 run to pull within 2 88-86 but the Spurs refused to wilt, and the Warriors were toast.

Game Notes and Stats: The Warriors’ Draymond Green had this to say about the loss: “You have got to give them a lot of credit…They came out and they probably played with more intensity this game than they did the entire series.”

The Warriors were led by Kevin Durant’s 34 points and 13 rebounds. Klay Thompson had 12 and Shaun Livingston added 10. Draymond Green scored nine to go along with nine assists and 18 rebounds. None of the other Warriors were in double figures.

The Dubs were held to 34.9% from the floor. They mad just seven three-point shots in 28 attempts.

The most telling stat showed that Golden State did not handle the ball well at all as they turned the ball over 18 times and if they make more than 16 turnovers in a game, they usually end up on the short end of the score.

LaMarcus Aldridge led the Spurs with 22 points and 10 rebounds. Ginobili finished with 16. Rudy Gay added 14, Dejounte Murray 12, and Kyle Anderson finished with 10.

Up Next: Game 5 of the series will be played Tuesday night at Oracle Arena in Oakland. Game time will be at 7:30 pm PT.

Warriors take 3-0 series lead with 110-97 rout of Spurs

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Photo credit: @ESPN

By: Eric He

Behind lockdown defense and 26 points from Kevin Durant, the Warriors beat the Spurs 110-97 on Thursday night to take a 3-0 advantage in the best-of-seven series. They are one win away from a sweep and a trip to the second round.

The Warriors used a stellar third quarter to take control of the game, making a run out of halftime to go up by double digits and take a 12-point lead into the fourth. Klay Thompson’s shooting helped close the deal. His deep three off an offensive rebound kept the Warriors ahead by double digits, and he finished with 19 points.

The two teams were fairly even in the first half as both sides struggled offensively. The Warriors could not buy a 3-pointer early, but came alive from distance in these second half.

Meanwhile, the Warriors held the Spurs to just 43 percent shooting and 21 percent from 3-point range. They clamped down on LaMarcus Aldridge and the Kawhi Leonard-less Spurs, who did not have the firepower to match the Warriors’ second half spurt.

They held their breaths late when both Durant and Shaun Livingston rolled their ankles, but both were able to walk away without assistance.Game 4 will be Sunday in San Antonio as the Warriors eye a sweep.

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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Photo credit: nba.com

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 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.

Kings will move G League Team from Reno to Stockton for 2018-19 season

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G League (3)

by Charlie O. Mallonee

The Sacramento Kings announced on Monday their intention to move their G League franchise  – the Reno Bighorns – to Stockton for the 2018-19 season. This move would have their development team just 45 minutes away from Kings offices, coaches, training and medical staff. This also follows the pattern of the majority of teams in the NBA which have relocated their developmental league teams to within an hour driving distance of their organization’s main facilities.

“Our NBA G League team has been an incredible asset to help prepare players for NBA action and bringing the team closer to Sacramento will allow us to continue to build on that success and increase efficiency to this valuable development tool,” said Sacramento Kings General Manager Vlade Divac. “Kings fans in Stockton will now have an opportunity to see the next-generation of NBA players each week.”

skal
Skal Labissiere

The Kings have taken full advantage using players from the Reno team over the past two seasons. In 2017-18, the team sent several of its rookies to play with the Bighorns to gain some experience which they put to good use at the NBA level. Skal Labissiere and Malachi Richardson (now with the Toronto Raptors) both benefited greatly from their time with the Bighorns.

This season has seen the addition of the “two-way” players who can be on the NBA roster of their parent team and then must spend the remainder of their time playing in the G League. JaKarr Sampson and Jack Cooley have both made substantial contributions to the Kings during the regular season. Sacramento also signed Nigel Hayes from the Westchester Knicks to a two-year contract.

sac sampson
Kings “two-way” player JaKarr Sampson

The Bighorns sent three players to three other NBA teams this season. David Stockton – who has also played for the Kings – was signed Utah Jazz. Reggie Hearn went to Detroit and Aaron Harrison was signed by the Mavericks.

Stockton is a very interesting choice because of its tremendous growth potential. With Bay Area housing prices soaring, people are willing to endure longer commutes in order to be able to buy a home. Stockton is projected to a desirable locale because of its freeway access and rail service to the Silicon Valley. That means potential fans for the G League team that could be cultivated into Sacramento Kings fans.

Stockton already has a very strong track record of supporting minor league sports teams. The Stockton Ports have played baseball in California League since its beginning in 1941 and are currently an affiliate of the Oakland Athletics. Stockton is also the home of the Heat of the American Hockey League who are affiliated with the Calgary Flames. The Heat and the G League team will share the same arena.

“It is my honor to welcome the Kings organization to Stockton and I look forward to watching NBA G League action at the Stockton Arena,” said Stockton Mayor Michael Tubbs. “The Kings have been known for their tremendous impact in the community and we’re excited to have their support as we continue to reinvent Stockton.”

A four-time All-America City winner, with honors as recently as 2017, Stockton is California’s thirteenth largest city. Stockton Arena is located in the heart of the city’s downtown waterfront and entertainment center. The venue opened in 2005 and includes 24 luxury suites, seating for up to 12,000.

The Kings G League basketball operations will be headquartered at Kings former practice facility in Natomas next to the old arena. The business operations for the new team will be housed at the arena in Stockton.