Durant guides Warriors to 3-1 lead, Rockets’ defense dominates again

During the Golden State Warriors’ Game 4 win over New Orleans, comedian Andrew Polk tweeted that he hoped Green would get “shot in the face” while leaving the arena. The Warriors now lead the series 3-1 and are heading back to the Bay Area for Game 5. And thanks to a strong all-around effort and specifically an exceptional performance from Kevin Durant, they did just that.

KD responded in Game 5 on Sunday afternoon by scoring a game-high 38 points on 15-of-27 shooting, in addition to nine rebounds and five assists, as the Warriors cruised to a 118-92 victory. Close-out games require the best an aspiring championship team can muster, even one that’s already been vetted twice in the past three seasons the way the Warriors have. “The endurance and timing will come back as I’m working hard at it”, he added.

A comparison to Michael Jordan. They moved the ball well, they played with urgency, and Kerr benching JaVale McGee to start the game in favor of the Death Lineup of Curry, Klay Thompson, Andre Iguodala, Durant and Draymond Green was a master stroke.

“He kinda reminded me of MJ”.

I absolutely hate seeing the Warriors get off to a slow start.

In Game 3, the Dubs committed a number of costly turnovers and failed to find a rhythm on the offensive end, leading to a blowout win for their opponents. Rajon Rondo finished with 11 rebounds but had only six assists after racking up 21 in Game 3.

Warriors star Draymond Green struggled to sleep after a sloppy Game 3 loss against the Pelicans, so he stayed up watching film.

The Warriors have always had a keen understanding of just how unsafe their small lineup can be.

Nonetheless, Pelicans coach Alvin Gentry anticipated Kerr would eventually deploy it.

“Obviously, the lineup worked, but it’s not about the lineup”, Kerr asserted.

Joe Ingles’ Utah Jazz are on the verge of being eliminated from the National Basketball Association playoffs after suffering another loss to the Houston Rockets.

And that’s the secret, Kerr said. We’ve played in big games before. The Pelicans sagged off of them; based on previous games, one can’t really blame them for doing so. Though Stephen Curry showed mixed progress with his shooting accuracy in his third game since nursing a left knee injury (8-of-17 shooting), the Death Lineup still created both open looks (23 points) and less pressure to do everything.

Golden State can now advance to the conference finals with a win in game five on Tuesday night.