Kevin Durant on Friday scored a playoff career-high 50 points as the Golden State Warriors blasted their way into the second round of the playoffs by clobbering the Los Angeles Clippers 129-110.
Durant made history by equaling the most points scored in the first half of a playoff game, with 38 of his 50 coming in the opening stanza.
He tied former Phoenix Suns star Charles Barkley, who scored 38 of his 56 points in the first half of a series-clinching win over Golden State 25 years ago.
Photo: AP
“That was one of the great performances I’ve ever seen in my life,” Warriors coach Steve Kerr said. “He’s the ultimate weapon, because there’s no defense for Kevin.”
Durant was at a loss to explain his masterful performance.
“I am just out there playing. I was so lost in the game I am not really thinking about anything else but winning the possession. It is tough to explain. I am just in it,” he said.
The Warriors advance to face the Houston Rockets, beginning today in Oakland, California.
Houston were already in Oakland waiting for the Warriors to finish the series so they could start the second round today.
Durant said that the Rockets are going to be a whole new challenge.
“They are a talented ball club with a lot of high-IQ players that shoot well and penetrate well, so we got our work cut out for us,” Durant added.
Draymond Green had 16 points, 14 rebounds and 10 assists, Stephen Curry scored 24 points and Andre Iguodala contributed 15 points off the bench for the Warriors, who won three road playoff games in the same series for the first time in franchise history.
The Warriors put the brakes on Clippers reserves Lou Williams and Montrezl Harrell, who had done so much damage against them in the two Clippers victories.
The pair came in leading Los Angeles in scoring during the series at 24.4 and 20 points respectively.
Williams scored eight points on horrific three-of-21 shooting, and Harrell was limited to just 10 points.
“He’s Kevin Durant. We didn’t roll over. We didn’t just say: ‘Come on, just give us 50 tonight,’” the Clippers’ Patrick Beverley said. “He’s a hell of a player. The shots he took, he made some tough shots.”
Williams described Durant as a “special” player who is unguardable when he is on his game.
“Sometimes you come across special people and it doesn’t matter what you send to them,” Williams said. “There’s no scheme. There’s nothing you can do. We tried everything. It didn’t work.”
“Even the game he came out, he was like: ‘I’m Kevin Durant, you all know who I am.’ That’s a bold statement to make when you are going to see some guys who are extremely competitive,” he added. “It wasn’t a lack of effort on our part. He’s an all-world professional and he proved it.”
Danilo Gallinari had 29 points, Shai Gilgeous-Alexander scored 22 and Beverley finished with 11 points, 14 rebounds and seven assists in the loss.
Bologna on Thursday advanced past Empoli to reach their first Coppa Italia final in more than half a century. Thijs Dallinga’s 87th-minute header earned Bologna a 2-1 win and his side advanced 5-1 on aggregate. Giovanni Fabbian opened the scoring for Bologna with a header seven minutes in. Then Viktor Kovalenko equalized for Empoli in the 30th minute by turning in a rebound to finish off a counterattack. Bologna won the first leg 3-0. In the May 14 final in Rome, Bologna are to face AC Milan, who eliminated city rivals Inter 4-1 on aggregate following a 3-0 win on Wednesday. Bologna last reached the
The Minnesota Timberwolves, with so many promising performances spoiled by late mistakes fresh in their memory bank, sure timed this strong finish well. Jaden McDaniels scored a career playoff-high 30 points and spearheaded Minnesota’s stifling defense on an ailing Luka Doncic, and the Timberwolves beat the Los Angeles Lakers 116-104 to take a 2-1 lead in the best-of-seven Western Conference first-round series in Minneapolis, Minnesota, on Friday night. “Jaden never looks tired. He looks like he could play 48 minutes,” said teammate Anthony Edwards, who had 29 points, eight rebounds and eight assists. Julius Randle added 22 points for the Wolves, who outscored
Inter’s defense of their Italian Serie A title was hit with a setback on Sunday as they lost 1-0 at home to AS Roma, while Scott McTominay netted a brace as SSC Napoli beat Torino 2-0 to go top of the table. No fixtures were played on Friday or Saturday because of the funeral of Pope Francis in Rome, meaning the full round of Serie A matches took place on Sunday and yesterday. Matias Soule’s first-half strike for Roma knocked Inter off top spot earlier in the day before new Napoli opened up a three-point buffer with victory in Sunday’s
Ethiopia’s Tigst Assefa yesterday set a women’s only world record of 2 hours, 15 minutes, 50 seconds as she won the London Marathon, while Kenya’s Sabastian Sawe put a star-studded men’s field to the sword. For 28-year-old Assefa it was ample compensation for finishing runner-up in London and the Paris Olympics last year — especially as bitter Dutch rival, the Ethiopia-born Sifan Hassan, finished third. Assefa dropped Kenya’s Joyciline Jepkosgei as the race, played out in blazing sunshine and with thousands lining the route, entered its business end. She came home almost three minutes clear of the Kenyan. Hassan, who beat her in
RSS