Warriors Beat Spurs To Advance to The NBA Playoffs West Semifinal

Kevin Durant celebrates against the San Antonio Spurs: NBA Playoffs - Game 5 First Round 2018

Kevin Durant celebrates against Spurs: NBA Playoffs – Game 5 First Round

The Golden State Warriors were on a mission last night, and it was the Spurs in their sights as Durant piled up points on their way to a 99-91 victory and the second round in the NBA playoffs.

The Warriors are hoping to score back-to-back NBA Championships this year, and with Curry due to hopefully return from a knee injury, they will be fueled to charge ahead towards that repeat.

The late charge by San Antonio Spurs did little to help tame the Warriors. Kevin Durant scored twenty-five points in last night’s game as Golden State wrapped up the series in five games to move on in the Western Conference playoffs.

Klay Thompson performs well with twenty-four points for the night, and Draymond Green bagged seventeen. Even though Curry was on the sidelines, the Warriors were strong right through to the last quarter when the Spurs pushed hard.

MLG Highlights

 

For Clay Thompson, he was impressed with Draymond Green last night saying,

“Draymond can literally do everything. So these last two games, he’s been rebounding like a beast, and his ability to take the ball from the rim and push the break is what sparks the offence so much.”

Golden State will now head to New Orleans to face the Pelicans for Game 1 in the semifinals. After facing little difficulty eliminating the Spurs other than a hiccup in game 4, the swept the series. New Orleans’s head coach is a former assistant with the Warriors, whether that helps will be seen, but with the show, Golden State put on in round one, they are favoured to win by basketball sports betting sites taking bets on the NBA playoffs.

Durant was a little off his game last night, even with his high scoring percentage, he missed six three-pointer attempts. Yet, that mattered little as his two-hand slam gave the Warriors the momentum they needed.

The Spurs LaMarcus Aldridge scored 30 points and earned 12 rebounds, while 18 points were added to the total by Patty Mills, Manu Ginobili scored 10 points and earned 7 assists in what very well be the last game for this 40-year-old 16 year NBA veteran.

San Antonio Coach Gregg Popovich was not courtside last night as he was away dealing with the passing of his wife after a short illness.

Commenting on the character of the team following the passing, Pau Gasol said.

“I think it speaks highly of the character and spirit of this team, of never giving up, of competing until the very end, and it was a game and a situation where we easily could have just thrown the towel at different points. But we didn’t. So that’s something that we can be proud of.”

As the halftime buzzer went off, Clay Thompson scored and raised his hands in the air as Stephen Curry joined in the triumph of the swished turnaround. Thompson shot over 50% last night, his fourth time doing so in the first round series and he became the third Golden State Warrior to score 600 field goals during the post-season.

After a sixteen turnover by the Warriors, Golden State took better care handling the ball and had only 10 other turnovers for the remainder of the game. This includes a 13-3 scoring burst that allowed them to go into the second quarter up by 11 points.

Author Hello, My name is Ava. I am a keen sports enthusiast and enjoying not only watching but also playing a variety of them throughout the year. Ones that I particularly enjoy are reflected in the posts I tend to write about, stemmed from my experience in college athletics, coverage for the NBA and keen attendee...