Curry too hot for Pelicans to handle
oakland, calif.» Stephen Curry carried the Warriors to a huge lead, waving his arms and flexing his muscles with one acrobatic shot after another.
Every time the Pelicans pulled closer, Curry came back even better.
Curry scored 34 points with an MVPworthy performance, and the Warriors went up big before holding off the Pelicans 106-99 in their playoff opener Saturday.
“I was locked in and focused the whole night,” Curry said. “In those situations, you want to get the crowd back into it. There’s a weird kind of tension, especially in the second half when they made a couple runs. But in the playoffs, you have to expect anything. And whenever you’re on the floor, just try to make an impact.”
Klay Thompson added 21 points, and Draymond Green and Andrew Bogut dominated down low as the Warriors looked every bit like the NBA’s top seed — at least for three quarters.
The Warriors led by 15 after the first quarter, 18 at the half and 25 late in the third. The Pelicans pulled within four in the final minute behind Anthony Davis, who scored 20 of his 35 points in the final quarter to make the contest seem closer
than it really was.
B chicago» Derrick Rose had 23 points and seven assists in his first postseason game in three years, Jimmy Butler scored 25 points, and Chicago took a 1-0 lead in the series.
Rose was at his fearless best, driving hard to the rim in the early going, and mixed in three 3-pointers in the second half. He shot 9-of-16.
toronto» Paul Pierce scored five of his 20 points in overtime, Nene had 12 points and 13 rebounds, and Washington took a 1-0 lead in the series.
“It takes the pressure off us and puts it on them now,” said Pierce, who hit a 3pointer, his fourth of the game, to begin overtime and spark a 7-0 Wizards run.
houston» James Harden scored 24 points, with 15 coming from the free-throw line, and had 11 assists as Houston held on to take a 1-0 series lead.
Terrence Jones added 19 points for the Rockets, who had seven players reach double-digit point totals. Schedule, box scores