Warriors put Jazz in a bind
Golden State takes a 2-0 series lead over Utah with a 115-104 win, improving to 6-0 in the postseason.
Draymond Green showed Quin Snyder his hot hand and range up close, knocking down five threepointers and scoring 21 points before a brief knee scare late in the Golden State Warriors’ 115-104 victory over the Utah Jazz on Thursday night in Oakland for a 2-0 lead in the Western Conference semifinals.
Kevin Durant added 25 points, 11 rebounds and seven assists, while Stephen Curry had 23 points, seven assists and played smothering defense as Golden State stayed unblemished through six playoff games.
Gordon Hayward overcame a poor Game 1 and slow start in this one to score 33 points, and Rudy Gobert had 16 points and 16 rebounds before fouling out for a Jazz team missing injured point guard George Hill. He was ruled out earlier in the day because of a sore left big toe.
Green received chants of “Dray-mond!” when he headed for the locker room with 7:24 to play, then cheers when he returned at the 5:16 mark. He came up awkwardly after hitting the floor on a drive, then grabbed at his left knee — which the team said he “tweaked.”
Snyder made it clear when the series began he won’t be alienating Green again by daring him to let it fly from long range — or saying anything that could be perceived as criticism.
Five months after the Jazz coach questioned Green’s perimeter range and commented about allowing the emotional Golden State star to shoot from way out, Snyder said before the game he had learned his lesson about fueling the All-Star forward.
at Washington 116, Boston 89: John Wall scored 24 points, Isaiah Thomas was held to 13 and the Wizards jumped out to a hot start and rode it to a victory over the Celtics in a technical foul-filled Game 3 to cut their series deficit to 2-1 in the Eastern Conference semifinals.
The Wizards used a 22-0 first-quarter run to take a 3412 lead as Thomas and the Celtics kept missing shots and turning the ball over. The game was already a blowout in the second when Washington’s Kelly Oubre Jr. was ejected for charging and knocking over Kelly Olynyk after the Boston big man was called for an illegal screen. There were eight technical fouls and three ejections total.
Otto Porter and Bojan Bogdanovic scored 19 points apiece for Washington, which improved to 4-0 at home in the playoffs.