Warriors and Rockets take 3-1 leads in series
NEW ORLEANS: Kevin Durant had 38 points and nine rebounds as Golden State soundly defeated the New Orleans Pelicans 118-92 to take a commanding 3-1 lead in their Western Conference semi-final series.
The Warriors responded to their 19-point loss in Game 3 with a resounding effort that produced a wire-to-wire win with leads as large as 26 points on Sunday.
Durant made 15 of 27 shots. Stephen Curry scored 23, Klay Thompson added 13 and Quinn Cook, who was a Pelicans reserve earlier this season, contributed 12 points.
Anthony Davis had 26 points and 12 rebounds for New Orleans, but the Pelicans hit only 36% (32 of 88) of their shots, missing 22 of 26 three-point attempts.
E’Twaun Moore scored 20 and Jrue Holiday 19, but New Orleans reserves combined for just 14 points after scoring 32 two nights earlier. Rajon Rondo finished with 11 rebounds, but the Pelicans also committed 19 turnovers, which led 21 Warriors points.
In Salt Lake City, Chris Paul had 27 points and 12 rebounds while James Harden scored 24 points to power Houston to a 100-87 win over the Utah Jazz, taking a 3-1 lead in the Western Conference semi-final series.
Paul, playing the sidekick to Harden for most of his first season in Houston, took centre stage, controlling the tempo and getting to his favourite spots as the Rockets led from start to finish.
Donovan Mitchell scored 25 before fouling out and Joe Ingles had 15 for the Jazz.
Mitchell started finding lanes to the basket late and got the Jazz within 85-80 after he fuelled a 10-2 run. But Paul, who matched his scoring high for this playoff run, hit a pull-up jumper and found Trevor Ariza for a three-pointer to put the Rockets back up by double digits and they never looked back.
Houston, who have been known for their offensive firepower, put forth a disruptive defensive effort.
Clint Capela, the anchor of the Houston defence, had 12 points, 15 rebounds and six blocks, one of which featured a Dikembe Mutombo-like finger wag in the fourth quarter.