Curry, Warriors rally past Mavs for 2-0 series lead
SAN FRANCISCO >> Luka Doncic was dominating, yelling in celebration and flexing his arms in Stephen Curry’s house.
Then Curry and the Golden State Warriors delivered one of those signature third-quarter flurries that have defined so many of their postseason runs — with this one being sparked by Kevon Looney.
Just like that, they’re two wins away from getting back to another NBA Finals.
Curry scored 32 points with six 3-pointers and eight more rebounds, Looney had a career-high 21 points and 12 rebounds and the Warriors rallied past the Dallas Mavericks 126-117 on Friday for a 2-0 lead in the Western Confer- ence finals.
“I feel honored just to be a part of the ride,” Looney said.
Doncic scored 42 points and the Mavericks led most of the way before the Warriors took their first lead of the night on Otto Porter Jr.’s 3-pointer 18 seconds into the fourth.
Doncic had 18 points in the first quarter — two shy of his 20-point Game 1 total. His 3-pointer with 13 sec- onds before halftime — the Mavs’ 15th of the first half — made it 72-58 at the break and gave him 24 points.
“Against someone that good you’re just trying to limit some of the easy stuff,” Warriors coach Steve Kerr said.
Doncic even got a Twitter shoutout from Oakland’s own MC Hammer: “Ok young Luka … We see you.”
But Golden State answered with a 25-13 third quarter to pull to 85-83 going into fourth — coming out of halftime with a performance reminiscent of those thrilling third quarters of past.
The Warriors’ Stephen Curry reacts after scoring against the Mavericks during his 32-point performance Friday.
“We know how good they are as a third-quarter team,” Dallas forward Reggie Bullock said. “It’s just something that slipped away from us as the game continued to go on.”
Doncic shot 12 for 23 and shined in a game of brilliant shotmaking — the Warriors finished 56.1% from the floor. In the first half alone, Dallas edged Golden State 52.3% to 51.2%, including a
remarkable 55.6% to 53.3% from 3-point range.
The series shifts to Dallas for Game 3 on Sunday. Golden State is two wins from a return to the NBA Finals for the first time since making five straight trips from 2015-19.
“We’re on the road against one of the best teams in the league. It happens. They held serve,” Mavs coach Jason Kidd said. “We’ve seen this in Phoenix so now we have to go back and just focus on Game 3.”
Jordan Poole scored 23 points off the bench, Andrew Wiggins had 16 and Klay Thompson — held scoreless in the first half of the series opener — added 15 points for a second straight game. Golden State scored 62 points in the paint.
Jalen Brunson scored eight of the first 14 Dallas points on the way to 31. The Mavericks didn’t have to see as much of Draymond Green, who picked up his fifth foul with 6:01 left in the third, then returned with 6:33 left before fouling out with 2:25 to go.