Bogut ready for main role
AUSTRALIA’S Andrew Bogut is ready to be elevated to the Golden State Warriors’ starting line-up after a horror night in which All-Star big man DeMarcus Cousins suffered a potential season-ending injury and the LA Clippers pulled off the biggest comeback in NBA playoff history.
The defending champion Warriors led by 31 points in the third quarter yesterday against the Clippers, who duly staged a miraculous comeback to win 135-131 and even the series 1-1.
Warriors coach Steve Kerr said his team “stopped playing”.
“I guess we thought we were going to cruise to the finish line,” said Bogut, who joined the Warriors last month after his first season in the NBL with the Sydney Kings.
Game three and four of the best-of-seven series are in Los Angeles on Friday and Sunday.
The Warriors signed Bogut as a back-up for the injuryprone Cousins and it appears to be a masterstroke.
Cousins, who had just returned from an achilles tendon injury that kept him off the court for almost a year, crashed to the floor while running for a loose ball in the first quarter.
The extent of the injury was expected to become clearer overnight when Cousin had an MRI.
Bogut, the Warriors’ starting centre in their 2015 titlewinning season and runner-up in 2016, said he hoped Cousins’ injury was not serious — although “it didn’t look good” — and was ready to start.
“Obviously there will be more minutes,” he said.
In Philadelphia, meanwhile, Aussie Ben Simmons received standing ovations instead of boos as he delivered a masterclass triple-double in the 76ers’ 145-123 demolition of the Brooklyn Nets.
The game two win also locks the series 1-1.
Simmons had 18 points, 12 assists, 10 rebounds and two steals and the 76ers’ 145 points was a franchise playoff record.
“I just tried to be me — be aggressive and find my guys,” Simmons said.
The Nets inflicted a surprise nine-point win in Sunday’s game one in Philadelphia and the crowd booed Simmons and the 76ers for their substandard effort.
Simmons immediately had the crowd on their feet in game two by aggressively scoring seven of the 76ers’ first 14 points.
The series moves to Brooklyn with game three on Friday and the fourth on Sunday.