Thompson leads upstart Warriors over Spurs
Klay Thompson scored 34 points, Stephen Curry added 22 and the Golden State Warriors withstood another furious rally by the San Antonio Spurs for a 100-91 victory Wednesday night in San Antonio to even their series at one game apiece.
Thompson, who scored 29 points in the first half, added 14 rebounds for Golden State, which had not won in San Antonio since Feb. 14, 1997. Harrison Barnes had 13 points, Carl Landry added 10 and Andrew Bogut had six points and 11 rebounds.
Tim Duncan scored 23 points and Tony Parker added 20 for San Antonio. Manu Ginobili had 12 points and Kawhi Leonard had 11 points and 12 rebounds for San Antonio.
The Warriors host Game 3 on Friday night.
The Warriors blew a 16-point lead with 4 minutes left in regulation in the series opener and lost 129-127 in double overtime.
It appeared they were headed for a similar collapse Wednesday night.
Golden State led by 20 points with 8:38 left in the third quarter, but San Antonio pulled within 97-89 on Ginobli’s 3-pointer with 4:23 left.
It was the closest the Spurs would come, as they missed four of their last five shots.
Late in the second quarter, Thompson hit consecutive 3s sandwiched around three missed 3s by the Spurs’ Danny Green to give the Warriors a 52-39 lead.
Thompson went 7 for 8 on 3s in the first half and was 11 for 18 overall, while being defended by Green and Kawhi Leonard.
The Spurs went on a 16-4 run to pull within 79-72 with 1 minute left in the third quarter but Thompson’s 3-pointer at the end of the period gave the Warriors an 83-72 lead heading into the fourth.
Heat 115, Bulls 78: Ray Allen scored 21 points in only 19 minutes, LeBron James finished with 19 points and nine assists, and Miami, which led by as many as 46 points, tied their Eastern Conference series at a game apiece.
Joakim Noah and Taj Gibson were ejected in the fourth quarter for visiting Chicago, and the league will almost certainly review some of the things said and done in a game that was close for the first 20 minutes before turning into an embarrassment for the Bulls, who were called for six technicals – the most by any team in a playoff game since Boston had that many against Indiana in 2005.
Game 3 is Friday in Chicago.
Dwyane Wade added 15 points and Chris Bosh had 13 for the Heat.
Karl coach of year
In keeping with the theme of selflessness that the Denver Nuggets demonstrated this season, George Karl is sharing the credit for winning the league’s Coach of the Year award.
Karl thanked everyone from his middle school coach to his good friend, the late Rick Majerus.
“What I hope is everybody understands this is not about me, it’s about a lot of people and a lot of people in my past and I am proud to have that trophy,” Karl said.