Warriors repel Pelicans with Curry back, KD hot
OAKLAND, California – Stephen Curry came off the bench to score 28 points in a triumphant return from a knee injury and nearly six weeks off, and the Golden State Warriors held off Anthony Davis and the pesky New Orleans Pelicans for a 121-116 win Tuesday night to go ahead 2-0 in the Western Conference semifinals.
Kevin Durant scored 29 points with a huge three-pointer with 3:10 to play, to go with seven assists and six rebounds in Golden State’s franchise-record 14th consecutive postseason victory at Oracle Arena. Draymond Green contributed 20 points, 12 assists and nine rebounds while battling Davis on both ends all night.
Davis finished with 25 points and 15 rebounds, and Jrue Holiday had 24 points, eight rebounds and eight assists for the Pelicans, who also got 22 points and 12 assists from Rajon Rondo.
Andre Iguodala converted a snazzy threepoint play with 6:41 left when he flipped the ball up and it came back down and through the net as he was fouled by Rondo, then Golden State pulled away.
The best-of-seven series resumes with Game 3 on Friday at New Orleans.
In Toronto, LeBron James had 26 points, 13 assists and 11 rebounds for his 21st career playoff triple-double, J.R. Smith scored 20 points and the Cleveland Cavaliers beat the Toronto Raptors, 113-112, in overtime to win Game 1 of their second-round playoff series.
Kyle Korver scored 19 points, including the goahead threepointer in overtime after Cleveland never led in regulation. Tristan Thompson had 14 points and 12 rebounds for the Cavaliers, who have eliminated Toronto in each of the past two postseasons.
“My teammates were unbelievable tonight,” James said. “They stepped up when I wasn’t at my best.”
Jeff Green scored 16 points and Kevin Love had 13 rebounds.
James, who topped 40 points three times in seven games against Indiana in round one, shot 12 for 30 against Toronto, going 1 for 8 from 3-point range, and called it “probably one of my worst games of the season.”
Still, James came through when it counted, tying the score with two baskets in the final 92 seconds of regulation to complete Cleveland’s comeback from a double-digit deficit.
“It got to a one-possession, two-possession game,” James said. “That’s what I like the most.”
Toronto’s Fred Van Vleet missed a threepointer with 3.4 seconds to go in overtime that could have won it for the Raptors, who couldn’t hold on after taking a 10-point lead early in the fourth quarter.
“He got a heck of a shot,” Raptors guard DeMar DeRozan said. “I’ll live with him shooting that shot 10 times out of 10. We got a good look and it just didn’t fall.”