Warriors look to close out the Mavs at home
SAN FRANCISCO
The Golden State Warriors find themselves in familiar territory after failing to close out a series on the road and hope for familiar results when they return home.
For the third straight series, the Warriors lost their first chance to advance while playing on the road. But they can make it to their sixth NBA Finals in the past eight years by finishing off the Dallas Mavericks at home in Game 5 of the Western Conference finals on Thursday night.
The Warriors managed to rebound after those slipups in the first two rounds against Denver and Memphis and are hoping for a repeat after losing 119-109 at Dallas on Tuesday night when the Mavericks got off to a fast start and didn’t slow down until the fourth quarter. In Game 4, Luka Doncic had 30 points and 14 rebounds as Dallas avoided being swept. Dorian FinneySmith had 23 points for Dallas. Stephen Curry had 20 for Golden State.
“It’s a good lesson learned,” guard Stephen Curry said. “You tip your hat to them because they made a lot of shots. We had a couple breakdowns in our zone that gave them easy looks, and they made us pay. We knew to close them out, it’s going to be tough. So you’ve got to strap up on defense. When we go home, Game 5 and figure out how to slow them down, especially in the first quarter.”
The Mavericks have staved off elimination three times this postseason, winning Games 6 and 7 against the Suns in the second round, and Game 4 against the Warriors.
“We’ve got to believe,” Doncic said. “I think our defense was way better today, and I think we attacked the paint. Those two things are key, and that’s what we’ve got to bring to San Francisco.”
It’s been a up-and-down series for Dallas’ Reggie Bullock, who made six three-pointers and scored 21 points in a Game 2 loss before becoming the fifth player since at least 1968 to take at least 10 shots and score no points in a playoff game.
No team has ever rallied from 3-0 down to win a best-of-7 playoff series in NBA history. Of the 146 previous teams to take a 3-0 lead, 90 finished off the series with a sweep with 42 more winning it in five. With a win Thursday, the Mavs would be the 12th team to force a Game 6 and only three teams have gotten to a Game 7.