Basketball Daily Dose: Dose: Steph-tacular!
He’s back! Steph Curry returns and blows up late in Warriors 132-125 OT win
Stephen Curry (knee) was upgraded from doubtful to questionable on Monday and then came off the bench. He was rusty to begin with, scoring 13 points through three quarters, but finished in a flurry with 27 points in the fourth quarter and OT, and 17 points in the overtime session alone, good for an NBA record. In fact, he scored two more points in OT than the Heat and Raptors combined for in their OT! Curry finished with 40 points and I’m not sure if this was his greatest game or not, but it’s pretty high up on the list. Wow. Curry was 16-of-32 from the floor, 5-of-16 from downtown, 3-of-3 from the line, and finished with nine rebounds (and a huge offensive board and putback late) and eight assists in 37 minutes to go along with his ‘quart.’ He was supposed to be limited to 25 minutes or so after being labeled as doubtful on Sunday, but Shaun Livingston’s f-bomb riddled ejection led Steve Kerr to scrap that plan. Oh, and Kerr says he’ll start in Game 5, as if there were any doubt. Enough said!
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Klay Thompson had 23 points and five 3-pointers, Draymond Green quietly added 21 points, nine rebounds, five assists, four steals, two 3-pointers and a career-high seven blocks, and Harrison Barnes scored 10 points with five rebounds in 29 minutes. As I mentioned, Livingston freaked out after being hit in the head on a shot attempt and picked up a couple quick technical fouls after screaming at the refs and dropping f-bombs. Andre Iguodala played 38 minutes, but had just seven points, three rebounds, a steal and a 3-pointer. Marreese Speights provided instant offense off the bench with 11 points, three boards, a steal and three 3-pointers in just nine minutes, and Andrew Bogut had just three points, nine boards, two steals and two blocks in 26 minutes. The Warriors are up 3-1 now and this series is pretty much in the bag. Game 5 is Wednesday at 10:30 at Golden State on TNT.
The Blazers got 36 points, six boards, 10 assists and five 3-pointers from Damian Lillard, 24 points, three steals and four 3-pointers from C.J. McCollum, and 18 points, 13 rebounds, a steal, a block and three 3-pointers from Al-Farouq Aminu. Moe Harkless started and had eight points and six boards in just 17 minutes, and Mason Plumlee had 12 points, 15 rebounds and five turnovers in 35 minutes. Allen Crabbe was the man off the bench, playing a whopping 38 minutes and finishing with 13 points and a couple 3-pointers in the loss. Portland made this series fun, but it’s hard to imagine the Warriors letting them get a win at Oracle with Curry starting in Game 5.
Heat win 94-87 in overtime, again
Goran Dragic made a big 3-point play with time running down in OT to give the Heat a five-point lead, then Terrence Ross had the ball stolen in the backcourt by Dwyane Wade, who then dunked it to put the game away. The Raps and Heat have had three of their four games go to overtime and are now tied at 2-2 in the series.
Game 5 takes place in Toronto on Wednesday (8 p.m., TNT), which will have a must-win feel for both teams. The Heat were led by Wade, who went off for 30 points, four rebounds, two assists and two steals, and knocked down 13-of-24 shots in the process. He’s healthy and clearly still has ‘it.’ Joe Johnson and Dragic each scored 15 points and Johnson added three steals and two blocks, while Dragic had six boards and four assists, but hit just 5-of-16 shots. Luol Deng added nine points, nine boards and two steals, but owners were looking for more given that he played 43 minutes. Justise Winslow added nine points off the bench, but Amare Stoudemire, Josh McRoberts and Udonis Haslem didn’t do much, despite the fact Hassan Whiteside was out with a sprained knee, and he doesn’t sound likely for Wednesday.
The Raptors got 13 points, from DeMarre Carroll, who got off to a very slow start, and Bismack Biyombo, who was a very popular play with Jonas Valanciunas (knee) out until further notice, had 13 points, 13 rebounds, a steal and two blocks in 31 minutes. He didn’t play much in the fourth quarter or overtime, but came through when he was out there. Kyle Lowry had seven rebounds, nine assists and four steals, but also had four turnovers and hit just 2-of-11 shots, as his playoff nightmare continues. He also fouled out late and had to watch overtime from the bench. DeMar DeRozan’s struggles also continued on 4-of-17 shooting to finish with nine points, three rebounds, three TOs and nothing else. Yuck!! Patrick Patterson had seven points, four boards and a steal, which was highly disappointing given his 41 minutes (which led the team). Terrence Ross and Cory Joseph (filling in for the ejected and dejected Lowry) each had 14 points and Ross hit three 3-pointers to help his team see overtime. Norman Powell played just 12 minutes, and if Lowry and DeRozan don’t get things figured out by Wednesday, the Raptors are in trouble.
Tuesday night’s lone contest is the Thunder at the Spurs at 8 p.m. on TNT in a crucial matchup. And Wednesday night should offer us one of the last two-game nights of the season, so grab some beers (or sodas), some friends and take it all in.
