Golden State Warriors 119-117 (OT) Portland Trail Blazers
No Kevin Durant and no Andre Iguodala? No problem. Despite being without two-fifths of their famed Hamptons Five, the Golden State Warriors sealed the deal and completed the sweep of the Portland Trail Blazers.
With the win, the Warriors have become just the second team in NBA history after the legendary 1960s Boston Celtics to reach five consecutive NBA Finals.
One of the most recent SBOBET tips highlighted the fact that the Blazers would be desperate to avoid getting swept in front of their home fans, and so they were.
But despite a valiant effort from the Blazers, including surprise package Meyers Leonard, the Warriors’ original Big Three of Stephen Curry, Klay Thompson, and Draymond Green were just too good as they carried the day for the defending champions.
Highlights of the game
As expected, the big NBA 2019 news for the Warriors was that they would be without Andre Iguodala for Game 4 after the veteran suffered a calf injury in Game 3.
Warriors coach Steve Kerr brought in Alfonzo McKinnie to start in place of Iguodala. He also replaced Damian Jones, who was disastrous in Game 3, with Jordan Bell at centre.
Meanwhile, the Blazers stuck with the starting line-up that included Leonard, who played surprisingly well as a starter in Game 3.
And Leonard came up with even more surprises in Game 4 as he went 5-of-7 from the field in the first quarter, with two 3-pointers. Damian Lillard, who had struggled with his shot in this series, also started well by hitting his first three shots.
However, it was the Warriors who had a one-point lead at the end of the first quarter thanks to the Splash Brothers. Stephen Curry and Klay Thompson were both locked in as they combined to go 8-of-11 from the field and 5-of-8 on 3-pointers.
But the Blazers, led by the red-hot Leonard, kept coming in the second. Leonard hit all four of his shots, including three more triples to cancel out Curry’s equally impressive shooting to help give the Blazers a narrow four-point lead at the half.
The Blazers have faltered in the third quarter in each of the last two games, but they finally got the better of the Warriors thanks to Lillard and McCollum finally hitting some big shots.
They had built up a 17-point lead at one point, but the Warriors eventually stormed back in the final minutes of the third and into the fourth.
In an aggressive move to close out the series, Kerr kept Curry in to start the fourth instead of giving him his usual rest. The move paid off as Curry helped tie the game with four and a half minutes left.
And after a 3-pointer from Thompson again tied the game with under two minutes remaining, both teams had their chances to win in regulation. But the game instead went to overtime.
With Curry gassed having played the entire second half and OT, it was Draymond Green who stepped up to hit the crucial 3-pointer to give the Warriors a four-point lead with 40 seconds left.
Damian Lillard quickly cut the lead to two and then had two chances to tie the game in the closing seconds. But Dame Time did not arrive as the Warriors held on for a hard-fought win.
Key Statistics
Stephen Curry was brilliant once again for the Warriors as he had 37 points, 13 rebounds, and 11 assists. It was only his second ever playoff triple-double, with the other coming in Game 2 of the 2017 NBA Finals against the Cleveland Cavaliers.
Draymond Green (18 points, 14 rebounds, and 11 assists) also recorded a triple-double, his second in a row after his remarkable Game 3 heroics. Green now has four triple-doubles in this postseason run.
As for the Blazers, Meyers Leonard was the big story. The big man had the game of his life as he had a career-high 30 points on 12-of-16 shooting.
Leonard had 25 of those points in the first half, which was already a new career-high. His previous high was 22 points, which he also set against the Warriors as a rookie in 2013.
What’s next?
It’s off to yet another NBA Finals for the Warriors, who will now have nine full days of rest before Game 1 on May 30. Those nine days will be crucial in getting themselves fully healthy for their next opponent.
That should hopefully be enough time for Durant and Iguodala to recover from their respective calf injuries. However, it remains to be seen whether DeMarcus Cousins will be able to feature after he suffered a quad injury in the first round against the Clippers.
They await the winner of the Eastern Conference finals between the Milwaukee Bucks and the Toronto Raptors. The Bucks currently lead the series, 2-1, heading into Game 4 in Toronto.
The Warriors will not have home-court advantage in the Finals regardless of who comes out of the East. But after seeing how they swept aside the Blazers despite being short-handed, it wouldn’t be a surprise if most NBA 2019 predictions still pick Golden State to win the title.
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