Kevin Durant was a cold-blooded killer during Friday’s series clinching Game 6 win over the Clippers, dropping in a postseason career-high 50 points on 15-of-26 shooting (14-of-15 from the stripe) to go with six trey-bombs, six boards, five dimes, one steal, one swat and four turnovers in 42 minutes. KD came out and went for the kill shot immediately, putting up 15 points through his first 11 minutes of play, and he finished the first half with 38 points on 17 shots. He put the full offensive arsenal on display with post moves, pull-up 3s and step-back jumpers, and there really wasn’t anything the Clippers could do to stop him.
hey kevin, you in the zone? pic.twitter.com/DS5XIcqdEi
— Golden State Warriors (@warriors) April 27, 2019
Durant became just the third player over the past 30 seasons to post back-to-back 45-point games during the playoffs, and he was nothing short of dominant through this first-round series, churning out averages of 35.0 points, 5.3 rebounds, 5.3 assists, 3.0 triples, 1.5 steals and 1.2 blocks per game on 56.7% shooting from the field. [[ad:athena]]
Draymond Green triple-doubled in the win, hitting 8-of-14 shots on his way to 16 points, 14 rebounds, 10 assists, four swats and three turnovers in 37 minutes. He did an excellent job on the glass, and he also had the Warriors’ offense humming, connecting on countless alley-oop passes. Unfortunately, he also picked up his second technical foul of the postseason, so five more of those and he’ll be hit with a mandatory one-game suspension.
While the Warriors got the win easily, it wasn’t all good news for Golden State, as both Stephen Curry (24 points, two treys, six boards, six dimes, one steal, one turnover in 38 minutes) and Klay Thompson (nine points, one 3-pointer, seven rebounds, one assist, one steal, three blocks in 38 minutes) sustained ankle injuries. Steph’s seemed a bit more serious than Klay’s, as Curry required a trip to the locker room, and while both guys played through their ailments and wound up logging heavy minutes – Curry wasn’t moving around all that well throughout the game.
Uh oh. Steph Curry rolled his right ankle pic.twitter.com/LL1lbV44SF
— Drew Shiller (@DrewShiller) April 27, 2019
Kerr downplayed their ankle tweaks after the game, saying he believed both Curry and Thompson were fine, but this isn’t a great sign for Golden State with a Round 2 matchup against the Houston Rockets set to tip on Sunday. I don’t imagine this will be an injury that would cause either guy to skip a playoff game, but getting banged up this early in the postseason is never a good thing.
The Dubs also made a tweak to their starting lineup, replacing Andrew Bogut with Shaun Livingston in the first unit, but I’d expect Golden State to go back to their standard starting five with Bogut at center when they take on the Rockets.
Patrick Beverley flirted with a trouble-double, tallying 11 points, 14 rebounds, seven assists, one 3-pointer, one steal, two blocks and three turnovers across 41 minutes of floor time. As per usual, his defense was excellent and he did a nice job of picking his spots in the offense, but Kevin Durant was simply too good for the Clippers to be able to pull out a win.
Beverley is headed for free agency, and it’ll be interesting to see where the 30-year-old guard winds up and what type of salary he’s able to secure. Health has been an issue for him throughout his career due to the way he plays the game, but he’s proven that he’s more than capable of being a starting guard on a playoff team. He finished the year with averages of 7.6 points, 5.0 rebounds, 3.9 assists, 1.4 triples, 0.9 steals and 1.1 turnovers per game on 40.8% shooting, which was good enough for late-round value in 9-cat leagues.
Danilo Gallinari scored a team-high 29 points on 11-of-24 shooting (4-of-6 from the line) to go with three 3-pointers, five rebounds, two steals, one block and one turnover in 33 minutes. It was a solid effort, but KD was just too good in this one, and the Clippers just didn’t have the pieces to match the Dubs’ talent. After only making it through 21 games the previous season, Gallinari was relatively healthy this year and posted top-30 value behind averages of 19.8 points, 6.1 rebounds, 2.4 triples, 2.6 assists and 1.4 turnovers per game on 46.3% shooting from the field and 90.4% from the stripe. He’s one of the few Clippers’ players still on the books for next season, although I could definitely see him getting traded on draft day so that the Clippers would have the cap space for two max roster slots during free agency. As good as The Rooster was this season, I still won’t be very interested in drafting him next year, considering his injury history.
Shai Gilgeous-Alexander had another impressive performance, going 8-of-14 from the field and 4-of-6 from the charity stripe for 22 points, two 3-pointers, five rebounds six assists, one block and zero turnovers through 34 minutes of floor time. While SGA won’t be in the Rookie of the Year conversation, he sure did have a hell of a rookie season, and it was encouraging to see how comfortable the lanky, 20-year-old point guard looked going up against the defending champs. He had a strong second-half run and that carried over into the postseason where he put in averages of 13.7 points, 3.2 assists, 1.5 triples, 1.0 steal and just 0.8 turnovers per game on 46.7% shooting. He’ll make for an intriguing late-round selection next season.
Lou Williams was locked up by Klay Thompson, connecting on just three of his 21 shot attempts on his way to eight points, two rebounds, seven assists, one steal and three turnovers in 27 minutes off the bench. For some reason, Sweet Lou really struggled at the Staples Center during the Clippers’ playoff run, scoring just 12.0 points on 21.4% shooting while at home compared to his 31.3 points on 58.1% shooting in Oakland.
Montrezl Harrell also struggled in the loss, scoring 10 points on 4-of-7 shooting to go with sex rebounds, one assist, one steal and two turnovers. While it wasn’t the best ending for Trez, he had an amazing season, flirting with top-30 value if you ignore the free throw shooting with averages of 16.6 points, 6.5 boards, 2.0 assists, 1.3 swats and 1.6 turnovers per game on 61.5% shooting from the field and 64.3% from the stripe. He’ll make for a fine mid-round pick next season.
