OAKLAND — For the third consecutive season, the Warriors have reached the 67-win marker.
With Draymond Green and Andre Iguodala resting, and other starters seeing limited minutes, Golden State still managed to push past the Los Angeles Lakers 109-94 Wednesday night at Oracle Arena.
Kevin Durant was fantastic, scoring 24 first half points on 9 of 12 shooting. After starting 0 for 9 from downtown in his first two games back from a knee injury, Durant buried 5 of his 7 3s and played 27 minutes. Safe to say this was just the game he needed to get pep back in his step for the playoffs.
Steph Curry added 20 points and fell just 1 point shy of 2,000 on the season; Klay Thompson scored 12. Rookie Patrick McCaw finished with 13 points, the sixth time in his debut season he scored in double-figures. Shaun Livingston and JaVale McGee were the only key players to see minutes in the fourth, a quarter in which the Lakers outscored the Warriors 23-16. All five of Luke Walton’s starters scored in double-figures, led by Jordan Clarkson with 15.
As the first quarter started, the NBA announced times and dates for all of the Game 1’s in the postseason. The Warriors will host the Trail Blazers on Sunday at 12:30 p.m. The rest of the first round schedule has not been released.
Prior to the game, Steve Kerr urged the crowd to be as loud as possible in the playoffs.
“This arena provides the best homecourt there is in the league,” Kerr said. “When our fans are incredibly into it and loud, it makes a huge difference for us. I expect when the playoffs start, I expect this place to be as loud as ever. We need it that way, frankly. It helps us.”