Injury Update: DeMarcus Cousins has torn left quadriceps
Golden State Warriors center DeMarcus Cousins reacts after falling to the floor during the first half of Game 2 of a first-round NBA basketball playoff series against the Los Angeles Clippers in Oakland, Calif., Monday, April 15, 2019. (AP Photo/Jeff Chiu)
2019.04.16 – Warriors center DeMarcus Cousins has a torn left quadriceps muscle that will sideline the Golden State center indefinitely. An MRI exam Tuesday morning on Cousins’ left leg revealed the tear. The two-time defending NBA champion Warriors said Cousins will begin rehabilitation immediately and updates will be “provided as appropriate.”
2019.04.15 (Warriors vs. Clippers) Game 2 – See blog below
2019.04.15 (Warriors vs. Clippers) Game 2 – Full Game Highlights!
Epic NBA Comeback – Clippers stun the Warriors Game #2
2019.04.15 – Clippers’ Lou Williams led all scorers with 36 points to an epic postseason comeback in NBA history and the Los Angeles Clippers rallied from 31 points down to stun the Golden State Warriors 135-131 at Oracle Arena in game #2 of the first-round NBA basketball playoff – Series tie 1-1.
The comeback topped a 29-point rally by the Los Angeles Lakers in the 1989 Western Conference semifinals over Seattle. The Clippers confirmed it’s the best comeback ever.
“That’s a record we didn’t necessarily want to have. We’ll take it,” Williams said. “You’re competitive and you get lost in the game. Once you cut the lead to 12, you cut the lead to 10, then you realize you’ve got a game going. I’m one of those guys who can get hot.”
Stephen Curry scored 29 points and put the Warriors up 131-128 with 58 seconds left before Landry Shamet’s dagger hit a go-ahead 3-pointer with 16.5 seconds left, Curry couldn’t answer on the other end, on a night the two-time defending NBA champions lost DeMarcus Cousins to a leg injury in the first quarter.
“If I had the answer for it, a night like tonight wouldn’t happen,” Curry said. “This game is tough. It’s hard to win playoff games no matter what the match-up is, no matter what the history is, the regular season, team versus team. It’s tough. For six and a half quarters we played amazing. Had a 31-point lead. The wheels fell off. I know we can get it back. We obviously have shown that level of basketball is there for us. We’ve got to put together 48 minutes of it, just a collective energy, positivity around everything we do. Again, locker room was down, as it should be, because every game matters to us. We’ve just got to bounce back.”
He slouched over in the chair at his locker, staring at nothing.
“How did we lose that game?” he asked. Rhetorically. Or maybe it was to himself, the opening question of his mental investigation of that epic collapse.
“We changed a couple things offensively and defensively in the third on the fly. It worked out for us. But I thought it was our spirit more than anything,” Clippers coach Doc Rivers said. “Just every single guy. I loved the end of the game.”
Williams tied the game on a jumper with 1:10 to play then Curry immediately answered. Williams scored again at 46 seconds and finished with 36 points and made 8 of 10 free throws in as the teams combined for 64 fouls and 76 free throws attempted.
The Warriors were supposed to be done with these games.
Those inexcusable letdowns and pathetic performances unbecoming of one of the greatest teams ever was supposed to be a byproduct of the regular season. But it’s the playoffs, so maybe it is a character flaw of this team.
“When I say we stopped playing, we stopped playing, like defense, offense, execution-wise we were not as engaged as we needed to be,” Warriors coach Steve Kerr said. “We got exactly what we deserved. The Clippers were great. They executed, they were hungry, they stayed connected. They were together.”
Cousins injured his left quadriceps muscle in the first quarter and was done for the game, but Golden State’s depth shined and the Warriors built a 23-point halftime lead they pushed to a 31-point advantage before failing to hold off Los Angeles late.
Williams’ jumper and three-point play with 5:34 left pulled the Clippers within 120-117 then he rebounded his own miss and scored the put-back at the 5:05 mark and cut it to 121-119.
Curry picked up his fourth foul in the third quarter and sat for what felt like an eternity. When he came back in the fourth quarter, he wasn’t the same player who was dominating the Clippers. He was 2 for 9 in the fourth quarter with two turnovers. His turnovers and pursuit of daggers fueled the Clippers.
“The wheels fell off,” Curry said.
Cousins was scheduled to undergo an MRI exam after the injury in just his second career playoff game following a nine-year wait. The big man returned in January from a nearly year-long absence following surgery for a torn left Achilles tendon.
He won’t play in Game 3 on Thursday at Staples Center and Cousins’ entire postseason is in serious doubt.
Kerr said Cousins will be out “a while.”
“There’s a pretty significant quad injury,” Kerr said.
Cousins hobbled to the locker room at the 8:09 mark of the first quarter. At the 8 1/2-minute mark Cousins stole the ball from Patrick Beverley in the back court and tried to retrieve the loose ball when went down in front of the Golden State bench and grabbed at his left quad.
LeBron James tweeted prayers for Cousins, who fouled out of Saturday’s 121-104 Game 1 win with nine points, nine rebounds and four assists in 21 minutes.
Kevon Looney picked up the bulk of the extra minutes in Cousins’ absence and scored a career-high 19 points making all six of his shots but the Warriors had their seven-game postseason winning streak snapped that dated to last year’s run to a repeat championship. Durant had 21 points, five rebounds and five assists, Klay Thompson scored 17 points and Draymond Green 14 with nine assists.
Curry followed up a 38-point performance in Game 1 that gave him the most 3s in postseason history with another nice showing but Golden State hurt itself with too many miscues.
The Warriors committed 21 turnovers in Game 1, then 22 more Monday — nine by Kevin Durant. He, instead of being the play-maker he’s been, complied with the Clippers’ plan to nullify his greatness. Having Patrick Beverley in his grill cut down his ability to dribble, as Beverley’s aggressive pressure prevented Durant from facilitating the offense.
Durant could have punish the Clippers but instead spent a lot of time in the corner. He waited for the Warriors to get him the ball, and they weren’t doing so purposefully. Recently, Durant’s minimalist approach to scoring has worked because he became a facilitator who passed and moved. But with Beverley taking away his dribble, his impact decreased noticeably.
“Lack of focus, lack of effort, just (not) playing with heart,” Thompson said, explaining what went wrong. “Those three things. We’ll come back and we’ll bounce back, play with great passion in a few days.
“We let our guard down. We weren’t the aggressors any more. We didn’t deserve to win that game. Basketball gods didn’t reward us. I had a wide-open look at the top of the key, in and out. It happens. We’ll bounce back. I’ll bounce back. The whole team will. We’ll right the ship.” Thompson said.
Los Angeles wanted to do a better job stopping the late bursts each quarter the Warriors had in Game 1, and the Clippers were somehow able to claw their way back.
Both coaches challenged their teams to be more poised in Game 2 following the ejections of Beverley and Durant in the opener. Beverley again pushed the limits but the sides avoided a testy encore, and he fouled out with 4:33 to go to roaring cheers from the sellout crowd. Kevin Durant fouled out at 1:21 with a third straight offensive foul.
DURANT’S APOLOGY
At morning shoot-around, Durant apologized for being tossed from Game 1.
The two-time reigning finals MVP has two technicals, and if he reaches seven during the postseason it brings an automatic one-game suspension.
“I don’t want to disappoint my coaches and my fan base and owners who expect me to be out on the floor, so I apologize for being thrown out the game,” Durant said. “Just keep my mouth shut, just play the game. Simple.”
DOC APPRECIATES GOOD DEED
Doc Rivers dropped $2,000 cash on the street in San Francisco earlier in the day — and offered a pregame “shoutout” to the man with the integrity to return the money.
“Kept walking, didn’t know it. The guy tapped me on the back and said, ‘that’s your money,’” Rivers shared. “I don’t know a lot of places that that would happen, but it happened today, so whoever that was he could have had free tickets if you hadn’t ran away.”
TIP-INS
Clippers: Williams scored 17 points in the third to match Chris Paul’s postseason franchise record done May 5, 2014, against Oklahoma City. … The L.A. backups scored another 83 points after getting 65 in the opener. In fact, in Game 1, Harrell (26) and Williams (25) were the first teammates to come off the bench and score 25 or more points in a postseason game since bench stats began in 1970-71, according to the Elias Sports Bureau.
Warriors: With his 129th career playoff game, Durant passed Kerr for 73rd place on the NBA’s all-time list. … C Andrew Bogut (419) moved by Clifford Ray (411) for sixth place on the Warriors’ career postseason rebounds list.
Read more at: Golden State Warriors Media Services / More AP NBA: https://apnews.com/NBA
JEstevez@EMIsportsCentral.com
For more on the Golden State Warriors, see the blog at www.EMIsportsCentral.com
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Curry Lead all Scorers! Warriors win Game 1 over Clippers
Golden State Warriors’ Stephen Curry, left, Kevin Durant, center, celebrates a score versus the Los Angeles Clippers in the first half in Game 1 of a first-round NBA basketball playoff series Saturday, April 13, 2019, in Oakland, Calif. (AP Photo/Ben Margot)
2019.04.13 – Stephen Curry lead all scorers with 38 points and made eight 3-pointers to give him the most made in NBA postseason history.
The top-seeded Golden State Warriors began their quest for a three-peat playoff run by running away from the Los Angeles Clippers for a 121-104 victory in game 1 at Oracle Arena.
2019.04.13 (Warriors vs. Clippers) Game #1 – See video & blog below
2019.04.13 (Warriors vs. Clippers) Game #1 – Full Game Highlights!
Kevin Durant and Patrick Beverley were ejected with 4:41 to go, just 19 seconds after they received a double-technical when Durant stripped Beverley and the Clippers guard fell into the scorer’s table. They both became enraged again and official Ed Malloy immediately sent them both to the locker room. Durant high-five fans as he exited and the home crowd went into chants of “Beat L.A.!”
Steve Kerr preached to the Golden State Warriors to not “take the bait.” The bait being Beverley.
Durant said Beverley has a “different type of grit” coming from Chicago.
“You know what he’s going to bring to the table, just the physicality, mucking up the game a little bit with his physicality, his talking, everything. That’s what he brings to each team he plays on. That’s his identity,” Durant said. “For me, I know that coming into the series. I thought it was fun tonight.”
Like Durant, Beverley said he had fun.
“I got pushed, I got up and I got ejected. I guess the refs, I guess he saw something that I don’t know,” he said. “But that’s all right. I give them a lot of credit.”
Perhaps this old, heated rivalry still has all the testiness of years past — just with new faces all around.
“Pat’s going to talk, and that’s legal,” Clippers coach Doc Rivers said.
2019.04.13 (Warriors vs. Clippers) Game 1 – See video & blog below
2019.04.13 (Warriors vs. Clippers) Game 1 – Stephen Curry 38-15-7!
Curry shot 8 for 12 from deep to pass Ray Allen (385) for career postseason 3s with 386, had a postseason career-high 15 rebounds, seven assists and the 31st 30-point postseason performance of his career.
“To be in the same category and to pass a guy like Ray Allen and all the iconic moments he’s had in playoff games and finals games, it’s pretty surreal,” Curry said. “Definitely honored and grateful for those opportunities. I always joked, if I shoot a lot of 3s I better make a lot of them.”
On one of his marvelous 3s, the two-time MVP knocked one down from way back late in the third, nearly did the splits in the air and landed on his back side — still smiling all the while.
These teams are meeting for just the second time in the postseason after the Clippers took a seven-game series in the first round in 2014 when the California franchises had a deep dislike for each other.
Game 2 is Monday night back at Oracle Arena.
Draymond Green got Golden State going by making all five of his shots in the first quarter on the way to 17 points to go with seven assists and seven rebounds, while Durant scored 23 points as the Warriors ran their postseason winning streak to seven games.
Montrezl Harrell scored 26 points and fellow reserve Lou Williams contributed 25 points and nine assists as Los Angeles returned to the playoffs after missing last season following six straight appearances.
Beverley, who missed last Sunday’s 131-104 loss at Oracle because of a right hip pointer and was booed during pregame introductions, didn’t score in the first half and wound up with three points on 1-for-7 shooting, seven assists and seven rebounds.
He and Durant received double-technical with 5 minutes left before they got into it again.
“We took the bait. He took the bait. That’s two technicals. You get seven technicals. Your seventh one is a suspension in the playoffs,” Kerr said. “He’s got four to play with after one game. That’s what Beverley does. … You cannot take the bait. That’s a bad trade for us. The Clippers have made a lot of good trades this year. That may be their best.”
The Clippers lost their cool on a couple of occasions, and that hurt playing in an already difficult road arena.
Danilo Gallinari’s technical in the final minute of the second only further fueled the home crowd, and Curry capitalized as the Warriors ran to a 69-56 halftime advantage.
“Curry has destroyed us all year,” Rivers said.
COUSINS’ NIGHT
DeMarcus Cousins fouled out with 7:16 left after scoring nine points in his playoff following a nine-year wait and nearly yearlong comeback from last January’s devastating torn left Achilles tendon that required surgery.
Cousins, who played his first game of the season Jan. 18 at the Clippers, had nine rebounds and four assists.
POISE
Kerr challenged the Warriors — not to mention himself with a self-acknowledged temper — to be more disciplined yelling at the officials. Green was knocked down by Beverley on a no-call early and argued but avoided a technical.
“Fans need to understand, it wouldn’t be possible to officiate the games the exact same way in the playoffs as the regular season. The games would take four hours,” Kerr said.
The Clippers had their own costly moments arguing.
Williams and Rivers also were heated late in the first half about no fouls being called.
Rivers received a technical leaving the court at halftime and Klay Thompson shot a free throw before the third quarter began.
“All I want is consistency. That’s what I got a tech for at halftime,” Rivers said, noting Gallinari said nothing offensive to deserve a technical.
TIP-INS
Clippers: The Clippers were 2 of 10 from deep in the first half, when they had only 13 assists. … Los Angeles, which has lost four straight on the Warriors’ home floor, was out-rebounded 53-40.
Warriors: Curry notched his fifth career double-digit postseason rebounding game. … Durant (3,679) passed Dirk Nowitzki (3,663) for 15th place on the career playoff scoring list. … The Warriors have won seven straight postseason Game 1s and 14 of 15 openers in all — going 16-1 in their first game of a series dating to the 2014-15 season.
Read more at: Golden State Warriors Media Services / More AP NBA: https://apnews.com/NBA
JEstevez@EMIsportsCentral.com
For more on the Golden State Warriors, see the blog at www.EMIsportsCentral.com
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