Stephen Curry and Jimmy Butler on Tuesday combined for 75 points as the Golden State Warriors squeezed into the NBA playoffs with a pulsating 121-116 victory over the Memphis Grizzlies.
In a thrilling play-in duel at San Francisco’s Chase Center, the Warriors hung on after a ferocious second-half fightback by Memphis, who trailed by as much as 20 points before rallying back to edge into the lead late in the game.
Just when Memphis threatened to pull off a famous victory, Curry stepped up with a huge 15-point fourth quarter to shepherd the Warriors to a win that sets up a first-round playoff series against second seeds the Houston Rockets.
Photo: AP
Curry finished with 37 points, including six three-pointers, while Butler led Golden State scoring with 38 points in another masterful performance from the former Miami Heat talisman.
Butler singled out teammate Curry for rescuing the Warriors with a heroic fourth-quarter display.
“I’m telling you, that’s a Batman if I’ve ever seen a Batman — always coming to save the day,” Butler said of Curry.
“You’re never out of any game [with Curry], he’s so poised, so calm and he was a huge part of getting us the victory,” he told TNT television. “And we’ve got a group of guys that have got a lot of fight, that never give up and we did what we were supposed to do finally.”
In a post-game news conference, Warriors head coach Steve Kerr rallied to the support of Harvard University, praising the college’s refusal to submit to government oversight demanded by US President Donald Trump.
Kerr, who has regularly criticized Trump and campaigned for Democratic candidate Kamala Harris before last year’s election, arrived for the post-game news conference wearing a Harvard T-shirt.
The 59-year-old revealed that he had been sent the shirt by Harvard basketball coach Tommy Amaker, who Kerr described as a friend.
“It felt like a great day to wear it,” Kerr said, applauding Harvard’s defiance of the Trump administration edict.
“I believe in academic freedom and I think it’s crucial for all of our institutions to be able to handle their own business the way they want to, and they should not be shaken down and told what to teach and what to say by our government,” he said. “That’s the dumbest thing I’ve ever heard, but it’s kind of par for the course right now. So yes, this is me supporting Harvard — way to go, way to stand up to the bully.”
In Tuesday’s other play-in game, Cole Anthony scored 26 points off the bench as the Orlando Magic booked their place in the first round of the playoffs with a 120-95 victory over the Atlanta Hawks.
Orlando’s superior production from the bench proved decisive as the Magic clinched the seventh seed.
Orlando are to play the second-seeded Boston Celtics in the opening round of the playoffs, with Game 1 of their best-of-seven series set for Sunday.
By the time Cameron Menzies finally left the arena on Monday, the blood gushing from the gash on his right hand had trickled down his wrist, part of his forearm and — somehow — up to his face. Smeared in crimson and regret, and already mouthing sheepish apologies to the crowd, he disappeared down the steps, pursued by a stern-looking Matt Porter, the chief executive of Professional Darts Corp (PDC). The physical scars from Menzies’ encounter with the Alexandra Palace drinks table after his 3-2 defeat against Charlie Manby at the Darts World Championship would be gone within a few weeks.
Manchester United on Monday blew the lead three times to miss out on moving up to fifth in the Premier League as AFC Bournemouth would not be beaten in a thrilling 4-4 draw at Old Trafford. United have lost just once in their past 10 games, but Ruben Amorim would be frustrated as more points at home were frittered away despite arguably the best attacking display of his reign in charge. Amad Diallo and Casemiro gave the hosts a halftime lead either side of Antoine Semenyo’s equalizer. Two Bournemouth goals from Evanilson and Marcus Tavernier in seven minutes at the start of the
LOW-GOAL SHOOT-OUT: Of the nine penalties in the shoot-out, only three went in, with Flamengo’s Samuel Lino, and Vitinha and Nuno Mendes of PSG netting Matvei Safonov on Wednesday made four straight penalty saves in a penalty shoot-out to help Paris Saint-Germain beat Flamengo in the Intercontinental Cup final and win a sixth trophy of the year. The Russian goalkeeper was thrown in the air by his teammates after his exploits in the shoot-out, which was won 2-1 by PSG after a 1-1 draw after extra-time. It completed a trophy-laden 12 months for the French team, who had already won the Trophee des Champions, Ligue 1, the Coupe de France, the UEFA Champions League and the UEFA Super Cup — also on penalties against Tottenham Hotspur in
Paris Saint-Germain (PSG) were ordered on Tuesday by a French labor court to pay their former forward Kylian Mbappe up to 61 million euros (US$71.6 million) in unpaid wages and bonuses. France captain Mbappe, who left PSG in June last year to join Real Madrid, had been claiming more than 260 million euros in total from his former club. PSG in turn had demanded Mbappe pay them 440 million euros. Mbappe, 26, also claimed the Qatari-owned reigning European champions had applied the wrong French legal classification to his contract, but that was rejected by the court. The labor court said
RSS