It was a longer grind than normal, but for the third straight season, the Golden State Warriors clinched the No. 1 seed in the Western Conference postseason and homecourt advantage throughout the postseason. Every big Game 7 will be played at Oracle Arena.
The Warriors beat the Suns 120-111 Wednesday night — their 13th consecutive win — and the Spurs lost 102-95 to the Los Angeles Lakers ending a competitive race to the finish. They also became the first team in NBA history to win 65 games in three straight seasons — and 28 road games in three straight seasons. Sheesh.
The win wasn’t handed to them like a free gift basket at the team hotel, though. The scrappy Suns cut the lead to 104-101 with five minutes to play, forcing turnovers and hitting open shots against Golden State. Two late Klay Thompson 3s, a JaVale McGee tip-slam and an acrobatic layup from Steph Curry with 32.2 seconds left finished off Phoenix and let the Warriors breathe a sigh of relief.
Curry scored 23 first quarter points and finished with 42 and another 11 assists — the second 40/10 game of his career. As we wrote earlier in the day, Steph Gonna Steph, and he’s molly-whopping NBA competition to close the season. He also drew a critical charge call late in the fourth quarter to stop Phoenix’s momentum. It was Curry’s 19th 30-point game of the season.
The Warriors opened up a 41-18 lead in the first quarter but the Suns chipped away in the second and third. Without Draymond Green and Andre Iguodala (both resting), the Warriors had to nickle and dime the Suns to death with a wide cast of characters, led by an unheralded second-round pick.
Pat McCaw, starting the 19th game of his rookie season, scored 9 points and played outstanding defense to fill in the gaps. David West held down the fort in the fourth quarter, scoring 6 straight points; Matt Barnes added 8 points himself; McGee was a +19 in just 11 minutes. Ian Clark added 6 points. Shaun Livingston hit his first 3-pointer of the season on an accidental Alley-oop pass to end the first quarter. Things were going swimmingly off the bench and that was all Curry needed to be paired with against Phoenix.
The next time the Warriors play, Kevin Durant is expected to be on the floor. Steve Kerr said he’s going to play the 28-year-old in short bursts to begin. Durant sprained his MCL Feb. 28 against the Wizards. Since the Warriors rested in San Antonio March 11, they haven’t lost.