Martinez Tribune The website of the Martinez Tribune.
BY DANIEL GLUSKOTER
Klay Thompson poured in a game high 32 points and Golden State led wire-to-wire on the way to a 120-110 win over the Dallas Mavericks Thursday night to clinch their Western Conference Finals series in five games.
Golden State poses for a team photo with Jordan Poole holding the Western Conference championship trophy and Steph Curry supporting the Magic Johnson Conference Finals MVP Award following the Warriors 120-110 win over the Dallas Mavericks Thursday night at Chase Center.
The win propels the Warriors to their sixth NBA Finals appearance in eight years where they’ll meet the winner of the Boston-Miami series coming out of the Eastern Conference starting next Thursday night at Chase Center as they seek their fourth NBA championship since 2015.
The Warriors built a 25 point lead mid-way thru the third quarter but Dallas refused to fold, scoring 15 straight points during a 22-5 run to cut the deficit all the way down to eight points before the quarter was over, but Golden State regained their momentum in the final stanza with a double digit lead throughout.
Steph Curry had an off night offensively, held to 5-17 from the floor and 15 points but still finished with nine assists. Curry was named the inaugural Magic Johnson Western Conference Finals MVP after averaging a team-leading 23.8 points, 6.6 rebounds and team high 7.4 assists per game in the series. He also extending his NBA record 3-point streak in the playoffs to 128 straight games.
Klay Thompson drives to the basket against the Mavericks Spencer Dinwiddie during the Warriors 120-110 win over Dallas Thursday night. Thompson poured in a game-high 32 points as the Warriors advanced to the NBA Finals for the sixth time in eight years.
Thompson meanwhile now has the most playoff games (5) with at least eight 3-pointers in NBA history, passing Curry along with Damion Lillard and Ray Allen, each of whom have four. Andrew Wiggins continued his strong playoff performance with 18 points and ten rebounds while Draymond Green had another solid all around game, posting 17 points on 6-7 shooting from the field to go along with nine assists and six boards.
Kevon Looney continued to be a force in the middle with his third career playoff double-double of 10 points and 18 rebounds, finishing the Conference Finals averaging 10.6 points and 10.6 rebounds, while Jordan Poole added 16 points off the bench.
Luka Dončić paced Dallas with 28 points and nine rebounds but was only 10-28 from the field and finished the first half just 2-12. Spencer Dinwiddie scored 26 to match his series high set in Game 3.
Luka Dončić puts up an off balance shot during the second half of the Mavericks 120-110 loss to Golden State Thursday night. Dončić led Dallas with 28 points but was only 10-28 from the field.
Asked about the competitiveness the Warriors demonstrated after the game, Golden State coach Steve Kerr was pretty emotional. “It’s pretty amazing. It’s so difficult to get to the Finals. An NBA season is such a marathon, to get through the 82, to get through three rounds of the Playoffs, beating the best teams in the league to get there, it’s frankly exhausting. It’s stressful, emotional, physically tiring, all of that stuff. For our team, especially the core group, Dray and Steph, Klay, Loon, Andre, to be part of that six times in eight years, I don’t even know what to say. It just takes an enormous amount of skill and determination and work. I couldn’t be prouder of our guys.”
Kerr added “These last couple years have been difficult with the injuries, worst record in the league two years ago. Last year felt like we spent the year trying to get back on track. And I think we did at the end of the season. I thought last year’s finish, even though we lost in the Play-In, winning 15 of our last 20, kind of finding our mojo a little bit, and knowing Klay Thompson was coming back this season, I thought last year was a springboard into this one.”
The outcome was a long overdue sweet vindication for Thompson, who missed close to two and a half seasons after suffering a torn ACL in his left knee during the 2019 Finals against Toronto, and then a torn right Achilles tendon in the lead-up to the 2020-21 season. Thompson stated, “(It’s) Just such a surreal feeling. It’s hard to put into words really. This time last year, I was just starting to jog again and get up and down the court. Now to be feeling like myself, feeling explosive, feeling sure in my movements, I’m just grateful. All those emotions kind of rushed through me, and I thought about our training staff, I thought about Steve, I thought about those days in Santa Cruz and I was in a terrible mood. All those long days. I’m so grateful to play for a coach like Steve. He’s a real player’s coach. He’s just an incredible person.”
The Warriors and the winner of the Boston/Miami matchup will meet in Game 1 of the NBA Finals at Chase Center a week from tonight on June 2nd at 6PM.
GAME NOTES:
Golden State improved to 12-4 this postseason and 9-0 at home, tying a franchise playoff record set by the Warriors 2017 championship team for most consecutive home wins in a postseason.
This is the franchise’s 12th trip to the NBA Finals, the third-most in NBA history trailing only the Lakers (32) and Celtics (21).
Thursday was the first time the Warriors clinched a trip to the NBA Finals at home in San Francisco since April 16, 1964, when they defeated the St. Louis Hawks in Game 7 of the Western Division Finals at the Cow Palace.
The Warriors outrebounded Dallas in four of the five games this series, finishing with a margin of 234-177.
Golden State made all 16 of their free throw attempts.
