Warriors eliminate Rockets, end 40-year NBA Finals drought
After
a generation of wishing and waiting, the Golden State Warriors have
finally arrived on basketball's biggest stage again. Stephen Curry had
26 points and eight rebounds, Harrison Barnes added 24 points and the
Warriors advanced to the NBA Finals for the first time in 40 years with
a 104-90 victory over the Houston Rockets on Wednesday night. ''Why not
us?'' Curry said to a roaring, golden-yellow shirt wearing crowd after
the Warriors received the Western Conference trophy from Alvin Attles,
the coach of their last championship team in 1975. ''The Bay Area's
been waiting for 40 years,'' Curry said later. ''I think it's time.''
The Warriors shook off a slow start and sweated out a shaky finish in
Game 5 to close out the Rockets and set up a matchup with LeBron James
and the Cleveland Cavaliers beginning June 4. Read more here.
May 27, 2015
LeBron, Cavaliers earn NBA Finals spot by sweeping Hawks
LeBron
James knew what he left behind when he bolted to Miami five years ago.
He broke hearts at home, where generations of Cleveland fans only know
championships through stories told by their fathers, yellowed newspaper
clippings or grainy black-and-white film. James had to go back. ''I'm a
guy who believes in unfinished business,'' he said. With four more
wins, he can end a half-century of sports misery. James scored 23
points, Kyrie Irving provided a boost after missing two games and
Cleveland reserved a spot in the NBA Finals with a 118-88 victory over
the Atlanta Hawks on Tuesday night to win the Eastern Conference title.
By sweeping the top-seeded Hawks, the Cavs, who overcame adversity from
the season's start, earned their second trip to the finals, where they
will face either Golden State or Houston starting June 4. Read more here.
James
Harden was not happy after a poor performance in Houston's embarrassing
loss to Golden State in Game 3. Coach Kevin McHale told him the best
thing to do was take that frustration out on the other team. Harden did
just that, scoring a playoff career-high 45 points as the Rockets led
from start to finish to avoid elimination in the Western Conference
finals with a 128-115 victory over the Warriors on Monday night.
''James had a phenomenal game,'' McHale said. The Rockets had a big
lead after tying a playoff record with 45 points in the first quarter
before Stephen Curry landed on his head in a nasty spill midway through
the second and missed about 12 minutes. Curry said he went through the
concussion protocol before returning. ''It was all minor stuff compared
to how it looked,'' Curry said. ''But I'll get some good rest (Monday
night) and be ready to go ... since it happened to now, nothing has
gotten worse.'' Read more here.
May 22, 2015
Warriors hold off Harden, Rockets 99-98 to take 2-0 lead
James
Harden had Game 2 on his fingertips - and then he didn't. Now the
Golden State Warriors have the Western Conference finals in their
grasp. Stephen Curry scored 33 points before Harden lost the ball in
the closing seconds to end a spectacular duel between the NBA MVP and
runner-up, and the Warriors held off the Houston Rockets 99-98 on
Thursday night to take a 2-0 lead in the series. ''Sometimes I want to
crack open a beer and get a courtside seat. These two guys are the two
best basketball players in the world,'' Warriors center Andrew Bogut
said. Harden rallied the Rockets from 17 points down in the second
quarter and had a chance to finish off the comeback in the fourth.
Instead, Klay Thompson and Curry trapped Harden, who lost the ball as
time expired. Harden fell to the floor and put his hands over his head
as the Warriors celebrated on the court, the sellout crowd of 19,596
roared, and golden-yellow confetti fell from the rafters. Read more here.
May 21, 2015
Smith, James lead Cavs past Hawks 97-89 in Game 1
J.R.
Smith knocked down a tough 3-pointer, then another. Turning toward the
fans, their heckling transformed to groans, he blew off his right index
finger and motioned toward his side, like he was holstering his pistol.
Yep, Smith was that hot. While LeBron James led Cleveland with 31
points, it was Smith who ignited the Cavaliers in Game 1 of the Eastern
Conference finals. He made eight 3-pointers and scored 28 points in a
97-89 victory over the top-seeded Atlanta Hawks on Wednesday night.
''When he gets hot,'' Cleveland coach David Blatt marveled, ''he gets
smoking hot.'' Intent on bringing Cleveland its first NBA title, James
sealed the victory with a soaring dunk in the final minute. For the
Hawks, it was the second straight series in which they've lost the
opening game at home. Cleveland will look to take command of the series
in Game 2 Friday night. Read more here.
May 18, 2015
Rockets back in conference finals first 1st time since '97
The
Houston Rockets are heading to the Western Conference finals for the
first time in 18 years after overcoming a 3-1 series deficit to
eliminate the Los Angeles Clippers. ''It's the ultimate
confidence-booster,'' James Harden said. ''There's only a handful of
teams that's done that. We fought back. We fought three really hard
games and came away with it.'' Harden scored 31 points, Dwight Howard
had 16 points and 15 rebounds and the Rockets never trailed in a
113-100 victory over the Clippers on Sunday, sending them to the
conference finals for the first time since 1997. It's the ninth time in
NBA history that a team has overcome a 3-1 series deficit to win a
playoff series. The Rockets overcame a 19-point third-quarter deficit
in Game 6 on Thursday night to stay alive. No such heroics were needed
Sunday when they were up by 17 after three and Howard opened the fourth
quarter with a 3-point play to push it to 88-68. Read more here.
Source: sports.yahoo.com
May 14, 2015
Warriors whip Grizzlies 98-78, take 3-2 series lead
Down
and out just days earlier, the Golden State Warriors suddenly look
alive and well again. Stephen Curry turned in an MVP-worthy
performance, Klay Thompson snapped out of his shooting funk and the
Warriors rolled past the Memphis Grizzlies 98-78 on Wednesday night to
take a 3-2 lead in their Western Conference semifinal series. ''It's
like wine,'' Warriors forward Draymond Green said about learning how to
stop Memphis. ''It gets better with time.'' The Warriors turned up the
league's top-rated defense and finally found their rhythm from long
range. Curry scored 18 points on six 3-pointers and added a
career-playoff high six steals to go with seven rebounds and five
assists. Thompson scored 21 points, and Harrison Barnes had 14 as the
Warriors won their second straight game in impressive fashion. Read
more here.
Horford's late follow gives Hawks 82-81 win over Wizards
With
their magical season on the brink, the Atlanta Hawks needed someone to
come up big. Al Horford wasn't supposed to be the guy. He would not be
denied. The Hawks center swooped in to snatch an offensive rebound and
dropped in a shot from right under the basket with 1.9 seconds
remaining, giving top-seeded Atlanta an 82-81 victory over the
Washington Wizards on Wednesday night and a 3-2 lead in the Eastern
Conference semifinals. ''I wasn't supposed to be involved in the play
at all,'' Horford said. ''When I saw the ball go up, I just ran in
there.'' In a game of back-and-forth runs, the Hawks went more than 7
minutes in the fourth quarter without making a basket, then ripped off
14 straight points to take the lead. Atlanta went cold again, and it
looked as though Paul Pierce had doomed Atlanta for the second time in
the series. Having already made a buzzer-beating winner in Game 3, he
got open in the corner and swished a 3-pointer with 8.3 seconds left,
putting the Wizards up 81-80. Read more here.
Source: sports.yahoo.com
May 6, 2015
Harden has big 4th quarter; Rockets beat Clippers 115-109
Stuck
on the bench with four fouls for most of the third quarter, James
Harden knew he would have to make up for lost time when he got back on
the floor. Harden scored 16 of his 32 points in the fourth quarter to
lift the Houston Rockets to a 115-109 victory over the Los Angeles
Clippers on Wednesday night that evened their Western Conference
semifinal at one game apiece. ''I knew my team was battling extremely
hard and basically it was up to me to go out there and push us
forward,'' Harden said. Dwight Howard had 24 points and 16 rebounds for
the Rockets, who bounced back from a 117-101 loss in the opener. Game 3
is Friday night in Los Angeles. ''We let Game 1 slip away and we didn't
want that feeling for Game 2,'' Harden said. ''It's going to be a tough
two games in a row, but we've got our mojo now.'' Trevor Ariza added 15
points and 13 rebounds for Houston, which made 42 of its 64 free
throws. Both were franchise playoff records. Read more here.
LeBron's 33 lead Cavaliers past Bulls 106-91 in Game 2
The
headband returned. The aggressiveness, dunks and dazzling plays all
came back, too. LeBron James wasn't going to have a second sub-par
game. James attacked from the start and scored 33 points, Kyrie Irving
added 21 and the Cleveland Cavaliers evened their semifinal series with
Chicago, beating the Bulls 106-91 in Game 2 on Wednesday night. Donning
the signature headband he ditched in March, James played like a man
possessed. He powered to the basket, leaving Bulls defenders in his
wake and keeping the Cavs, missing two starters, from falling into a
2-0 hole. He added eight rebounds and five assists for Cleveland, which
led by 25 in the third quarter and withstood a third-quarter charge by
the Bulls. James said the choice to wear the headband was spur of the
moment. ''It was in my locker and I decided to give it a go,'' he said.
''It was time for it to make a comeback.'' The Cavs made one, too. Read
more here.
Source: sports.yahoo.com
May 5, 2015 - Warriors' Stephen Curry voted NBA's MVP over Harden, James
His
voice cracked first. Then, his eyes got red. Finally, Stephen Curry
cried. He had felt this way in the past — when he barely received any
scholarship offers out of high school, when some questioned whether his
game could translate from tiny Davidson College to the NBA, when he sat
in a doctor's office searching for answers on how to fix his
troublesome right ankle. Curry could let it all out and laugh now. This
was a time for celebration. The Golden State Warriors point guard won
the NBA's Most Valuable Player award Monday, the biggest moment yet of
a young career already full of overcoming obstacles. Curry received the
Maurice Podoloff Trophy in a packed hotel ballroom below Golden State's
downtown Oakland practice facility. He shook his head in disbelief as
he was announced as the winner of the league's top individual honor.
Read more here.
May 4, 2015
Warriors roll past Grizzlies 101-86 in Game 1 of West semis
Golden
State Warriors coach Steve Kerr joked before Game 1 of the Western
Conference semifinals that reporters should have two stories ready: One
if his team looked well-rested and won, another if it looked rusty and
lost. ''It was right in the middle, so you've got to write a third
story,'' he teased afterward. Neither the Warriors nor Grizzlies really
felt good about the way they played. The difference is the Warriors did
what they usually do at home: take care of business - and comfortably,
too. Stephen Curry had 22 points and seven assists, and the Warriors
wore down undermanned Memphis in a 101-86 victory in Sunday's series
opener. ''I think now we've got the cobwebs out of our offensive game.
We should be able to build some momentum,'' Curry said. Curry has won
the NBA's Most Valuable Player award, a person familiar with the
decision told The Associated Press on condition of anonymity because
the league has not released the voting results. Read more here.
Beal leads well-rested Wizards past Hawks 104-98 in Game 1
After
resting up for the past week, the Washington Wizards merely had to
withstand Atlanta's early pace. Once the Hawks ran out of gas, Bradley
Beal and the Wizards took control. Just call them the road warriors.
Beal shook off a sprained ankle to score 28 points and streaking
Washington remained unbeaten in the postseason, knocking off top-seeded
Atlanta 104-98 Sunday in Game 1 of the Eastern Conference semifinals.
It was another gritty performance by the Wizards, who improved to 8-1
on the road in the playoffs over the past two postseasons, including
3-0 this year. They became the first team in NBA history to win four
straight Game 1s on the road. ''Just withstanding adversity,'' said
John Wall, who had 18 points and 13 assists. ''We know they're going to
come out and give us a punch right away.'' Taking advantage of a week
off since their sweep of Toronto, the Wizards wore down the Hawks in
the fourth quarter. Read more here.
Source: sports.yahoo.com
April 27, 2015
Paul, Clippers even series with 114-105 win over Spurs
The
Los Angeles Clippers answered their worst loss in playoff history with
one of their most uplifting victories. Chris Paul had 34 points and
seven assists, Blake Griffin added 20 points and 19 rebounds, and the
Clippers beat the San Antonio Spurs 114-105 on Sunday to even their
first-round series at two games apiece. The Clippers, who bounced back
from a 100-73 loss in Game 3, host Game 5 on Tuesday. This is the only
series that is tied after four games. Los Angeles coach Doc Rivers said
the team's ''spirit'' was broken during that lopsided loss, but he
didn't coddle his players during a two-hour film session Saturday.
''Doc pretty much went at all of us,'' Paul said. ''He told us about
ourselves and he told us what we didn't do. He told us that when it
comes to the playoffs, it is the players' time.'' Read more here.
Cavs sweep Celts as James scores 27 in 101-93 victory
LeBron
James dribbled out the final 20 seconds while players embraced as the
Cavaliers completed a sweep of the Celtics. It may have been the
calmest, most congenial 20 seconds of a physical game that left two
players with potentially serious injuries and Cleveland wondering if
Kevin Love would be ready for the next round. One thing is certain:
Love was angry after Cleveland beat Boston 101-93, a game he left
midway through the first quarter Sunday with a dislocated left
shoulder. Kelly Olynyk had his right arm entangled with Love's left arm
- a move Love called ''bush league'' and intentional- as both went for
a loose ball. Love grabbed his left shoulder and ran immediately to his
locker room. Boston coach Brad Stevens said deliberately hurting a
player is not in Olynyk's personality. James, who led Cleveland with 27
points, said he's ''seen a lot of tie-ups in my day, but that one
looked different.'' Read more here.
After
a generation of wishing and waiting, the Golden State Warriors have
finally arrived on basketball's biggest stage again. Stephen Curry had
26 points and eight rebounds, Harrison Barnes added 24 points and the
Warriors advanced to the NBA Finals for the first time in 40 years with
a 104-90 victory over the Houston Rockets on Wednesday night. ''Why not
us?'' Curry said to a roaring, golden-yellow shirt wearing crowd after
the Warriors received the Western Conference trophy from Alvin Attles,
the coach of their last championship team in 1975. ''The Bay Area's
been waiting for 40 years,'' Curry said later. ''I think it's time.''
The Warriors shook off a slow start and sweated out a shaky finish in
Game 5 to close out the Rockets and set up a matchup with LeBron James
and the Cleveland Cavaliers beginning June 4. Read more 
LeBron
James knew what he left behind when he bolted to Miami five years ago.
He broke hearts at home, where generations of Cleveland fans only know
championships through stories told by their fathers, yellowed newspaper
clippings or grainy black-and-white film. James had to go back. ''I'm a
guy who believes in unfinished business,'' he said. With four more
wins, he can end a half-century of sports misery. James scored 23
points, Kyrie Irving provided a boost after missing two games and
Cleveland reserved a spot in the NBA Finals with a 118-88 victory over
the Atlanta Hawks on Tuesday night to win the Eastern Conference title.
By sweeping the top-seeded Hawks, the Cavs, who overcame adversity from
the season's start, earned their second trip to the finals, where they
will face either Golden State or Houston starting June 4. Read more 
James
Harden was not happy after a poor performance in Houston's embarrassing
loss to Golden State in Game 3. Coach Kevin McHale told him the best
thing to do was take that frustration out on the other team. Harden did
just that, scoring a playoff career-high 45 points as the Rockets led
from start to finish to avoid elimination in the Western Conference
finals with a 128-115 victory over the Warriors on Monday night.
''James had a phenomenal game,'' McHale said. The Rockets had a big
lead after tying a playoff record with 45 points in the first quarter
before Stephen Curry landed on his head in a nasty spill midway through
the second and missed about 12 minutes. Curry said he went through the
concussion protocol before returning. ''It was all minor stuff compared
to how it looked,'' Curry said. ''But I'll get some good rest (Monday
night) and be ready to go ... since it happened to now, nothing has
gotten worse.'' Read more 
J.R.
Smith knocked down a tough 3-pointer, then another. Turning toward the
fans, their heckling transformed to groans, he blew off his right index
finger and motioned toward his side, like he was holstering his pistol.
Yep, Smith was that hot. While LeBron James led Cleveland with 31
points, it was Smith who ignited the Cavaliers in Game 1 of the Eastern
Conference finals. He made eight 3-pointers and scored 28 points in a
97-89 victory over the top-seeded Atlanta Hawks on Wednesday night.
''When he gets hot,'' Cleveland coach David Blatt marveled, ''he gets
smoking hot.'' Intent on bringing Cleveland its first NBA title, James
sealed the victory with a soaring dunk in the final minute. For the
Hawks, it was the second straight series in which they've lost the
opening game at home. Cleveland will look to take command of the series
in Game 2 Friday night. Read more 
With
their magical season on the brink, the Atlanta Hawks needed someone to
come up big. Al Horford wasn't supposed to be the guy. He would not be
denied. The Hawks center swooped in to snatch an offensive rebound and
dropped in a shot from right under the basket with 1.9 seconds
remaining, giving top-seeded Atlanta an 82-81 victory over the
Washington Wizards on Wednesday night and a 3-2 lead in the Eastern
Conference semifinals. ''I wasn't supposed to be involved in the play
at all,'' Horford said. ''When I saw the ball go up, I just ran in
there.'' In a game of back-and-forth runs, the Hawks went more than 7
minutes in the fourth quarter without making a basket, then ripped off
14 straight points to take the lead. Atlanta went cold again, and it
looked as though Paul Pierce had doomed Atlanta for the second time in
the series. Having already made a buzzer-beating winner in Game 3, he
got open in the corner and swished a 3-pointer with 8.3 seconds left,
putting the Wizards up 81-80. Read more 
After
resting up for the past week, the Washington Wizards merely had to
withstand Atlanta's early pace. Once the Hawks ran out of gas, Bradley
Beal and the Wizards took control. Just call them the road warriors.
Beal shook off a sprained ankle to score 28 points and streaking
Washington remained unbeaten in the postseason, knocking off top-seeded
Atlanta 104-98 Sunday in Game 1 of the Eastern Conference semifinals.
It was another gritty performance by the Wizards, who improved to 8-1
on the road in the playoffs over the past two postseasons, including
3-0 this year. They became the first team in NBA history to win four
straight Game 1s on the road. ''Just withstanding adversity,'' said
John Wall, who had 18 points and 13 assists. ''We know they're going to
come out and give us a punch right away.'' Taking advantage of a week
off since their sweep of Toronto, the Wizards wore down the Hawks in
the fourth quarter. Read more 
The
Los Angeles Clippers answered their worst loss in playoff history with
one of their most uplifting victories. Chris Paul had 34 points and
seven assists, Blake Griffin added 20 points and 19 rebounds, and the
Clippers beat the San Antonio Spurs 114-105 on Sunday to even their
first-round series at two games apiece. The Clippers, who bounced back
from a 100-73 loss in Game 3, host Game 5 on Tuesday. This is the only
series that is tied after four games. Los Angeles coach Doc Rivers said
the team's ''spirit'' was broken during that lopsided loss, but he
didn't coddle his players during a two-hour film session Saturday.
''Doc pretty much went at all of us,'' Paul said. ''He told us about
ourselves and he told us what we didn't do. He told us that when it
comes to the playoffs, it is the players' time.'' Read more 
