(Associated Press Photo)
Kevin Durant and Draymond Green ignited a brilliant second quarter with their defense and all-out hustle plays, then Golden State got rolling in transition and Oracle Arena started rocking the way it does this time of year.
The defending champions are dominating again, and now Stephen Curry is ready to rejoin the mix and make them that much better.
Durant had 26 points and 13 rebounds, Green dazzled all over the floor with his fourth career postseason triple-double, and the Golden State Warriors thoroughly overmatched the New Orleans Pelicans for a 123-101 win in Game 1 of their Western Conference semifinals Saturday night.
Green finished with 16 points, 15 rebounds, 11 assists, three steals and two blocks and just with his hustle and energy helped the defending champions pull away with a superb, decisive second quarter.
“If we can push the tempo and try to get stuff in transition that’s big for us, so that was key and obviously that starts with stops,” Green said.
Now, they likely get Curry back for Game 2 on Tuesday night and all that he brings — even if in a limited role initially.
Anthony Davis had 21points and 10 rebounds, scoring 10 in the first quarter before having a tougher time generating shots the rest of the way to finish 9 for 20. Jrue Holiday was held to 4-for-14 shooting and 11 points.
Golden State again played without two-time MVP Curry, who has been sidelined since March 23 with a sprained left knee. Coach Steve Kerr called it “very likely” Curry would play Game 2 in the best-of-seven series.
“We’ve adjusted to life without him. Hopefully he comes back Tuesday but we still have to have the same mindset if he isn’t,” Klay Thompson said. “Even if he does come back, it’s natural human emotion to be kind of relaxed because we have so much production coming back in our lineup but that’s going to be a test for us just to put that away in our minds and just focus on the task at hand and not depend on Steph to save the day. He’s done it plenty of times but we have a very deep team, playmakers all around.”
Thompson, who led Golden State with 27 points, hit back-to-back 3-pointers late in the first half that made it 76-48. But New Orleans ended the second on a 7-0 run and Darius Miller’s 73-foot heave at the halftime buzzer counted, getting the Pelicans within 76-55 at the break. They hit another buzzer-beater to end the third but by then it was way too late.
Rajon Rondo had nine points and dished out 11 assists for New Orleans.
“Well, that didn’t go as planned ,” Pelicans coach Alvin Gentry said.
CURRY OUT
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. “
Curry returned to full practice with contact Thursday and only scrimmaged 5 on 5 for the first time Friday, and Kerr prefers that Curry get additional on-court time at full speed Sunday.
SHARKS EVEN SERIES
Two days after opening the second round with their worst game of the playoffs, the San Jose Sharks responded with a gritty performance.
Logan Couture’s second goal of the game, on the power play at 5:13 of the second overtime, lifted the Sharks to a 4-3 victory over the Vegas Golden Knights on Saturday night, tying their Western Conference semifinal series at one game apiece.
Moments after Vegas’ Jon Merrill was called for hooking, Couture found the back of the net to give the Sharks their first win inside T Mobile Arena this season.
“I thought we were better everywhere,” Sharks coach Peter DeBoer said. “We were tighter, our team game was better, we were better in every situation, and I knew we would be.”
San Jose rallied from two goals down in the second period to take the lead, before Vegas tied it in the third.
“We were down by two, but our game was good,” DeBoer said. “Like I said going in, as long as our game is good — even if we lost tonight — I think we’ve always taken the approach that if we play our game, at the end of the day good things happen. We stuck with it and even when they scored the second goal I really liked how we were playing.”
Vegas lost for the first time in the playoffs after winning their first five games by a 14-3 margin, including a 7-0 victory in Game 1.
The Golden Knights thought they won this one in the first overtime when Jonathan Marchessault’s backhand sailed past Martin Jones with 3:02 left, but officials ruled there was goaltender interference when Marchessault ran into Jones’ blocker and spun him around before his shot.
Brent Burns also scored two goals and Jones stopped 26 shots for San Jose, which was playing without suspended forward Evander Kane.
“We fixed some things and it was a better team game,” Burns said. “It’s just one game, obviously we had to win it, but it’s one game.”
GIANTS SPLIT
Johnny Cueto was still at home getting dressed when he saw Giants teammate and backup infielder Pablo Sandoval pitch a perfect ninth inning during the first game of Saturday’s doubleheader against the Dodgers.
It wasn’t exactly a Shohei Ohtani moment but it was enough to make Cueto smile before he followed up with a strong outing of his own on the mound.
Austin Jackson hit a go-ahead three-run double in the fifth inning, Cueto won his third consecutive decision and San Francisco beat Los Angeles 8-3 for a split of their doubleheader.
Asked if he went over any of the Dodgers hitters with Sandoval, Cueto chuckled.
“No, no, no. Not at all,” Cueto said through a translator. “I wasn’t even here when Pablo pitched. I just saw him on TV when I was getting ready for me to come to the stadium.”
In the first game, Chase Utley hit three doubles and a single as the Los Angeles did damage against every San Francisco pitcher except Sandoval and routed the Giants 15-6 after losing Yasiel Puig to an injured foot and hip earlier in the day.
It was almost the complete opposite in the nightcap, although the statistics weren’t nearly as gaudy.
The Giants got nine hits and strung four of them together in the fifth to erase a two-run deficit.
Brandon Belt, Kelby Tomlinson and Brandon Crawford hit consecutive one-out singles off Dodgers starter Alex Wood (0-3) before Jackson doubled to left to drive in all three. Belt added an RBI single in the sixth.
A’S BLASTED
Lance McCullers got a lot of longball help, not that he needed much.
McCullers threw seven sharp innings, Jose Altuve had four hits and the Houston Astros beat the Oakland Athletics 11-0 Saturday night.
Altuve hit a towering home run that left the ballpark and doubled. It was Altuve’s 26th career four-hit game, tying Jeff Bagwell for second most in franchise history, eight behind Craig Biggio.
“It means that it’s the 26th time that I helped my team to do something,” Altuve said. “When you get four hits that means you’re going to be on base a lot of times for guys like (Carlos) Correa, Marwin (Gonzalez), (Josh) Reddick.”
George Springer, Derek Fisher and Marwin Gonzalez also homered in the highest-scoring this season for the World Series champions. The Astros scored in every inning but the fifth, chasing Oakland starter Daniel Mengden (2-3) in the third.
