Warriors clinch in a rout
Stephen Curry had 37 points before sitting out the final quarter and the Golden State Warriors welcomed back teammate Kevin Durant with a 128-103 victory over the host Portland Trail Blazers on Monday night to sweep their first-round playoff series.
The Warriors advanced to the conference semifinals, where they'll face the winner of the series between the Utah Jazz and the Clippers, which is tied 2-2.
Golden State played for the second consecutive game without coach Steve Kerr, who has been experiencing a flare-up of symptoms stemming from back surgery two years ago. Assistant Mike Brown has served as coach in Kerr’s absence.
Durant hadn’t played since Game 1 because of a strained left calf. He started and the Warriors built a 7248 lead by the end of the opening half. Durant finished with 10 points in 21 minutes.
Damian Lillard scored 34 points for the Trail Blazers.
The Warriors jumped to a 14-0 lead. Durant’s dunk extended the lead to 22-3 and the rout was on. JaVale McGee made a highlight-reel alley-oop dunk in route to a 4522 lead after the opening quarter.
It was the most points in a quarter for Golden State in a playoff game and matched the NBA record for most first-quarter points in a playoff game.
at Toronto 118, Milwaukee 93: Norm Powell scored a career playoff-high 25 points, Kyle Lowry had 16 points and 10 assists, and the Raptors took a 3-2 lead in the first-round playoff series.
Serge Ibaka scored 19 points and DeMar DeRozan had 18 for the Raptors, who can advance to face defending champion Cleveland in the second round with a victory in Game 6 at Milwaukee on Thursday night.
Giannis Antetokounmpo led the Bucks with 30 points and nine rebounds, and Malcolm Brogdon scored 19 points.
Powell connected on all four of his three-point shots and was five for five in free throws.
at Atlanta 111, Washington 101: Paul Millsap bounced back from a sluggish start to score 19 points and the Hawks tied the firstround playoff series 2-2.
Dwight Howard had a double-double by halftime and finished with 16 points and 15 rebounds. The Hawks got double-figure scoring from seven players.
Bradley Beal scored 32 points, and John Wall had 22 points and 10 assists for the Wizards
Game 5 is Wednesday night in Washington.