Stephen Curry of the Golden State Warriors shown in action on Monday night in Game 4 of his team's NBA play-offs second round series with the Memphis Grizzlies. Andy Lyons / Getty Images / AFP / May 11, 2015
Stephen Curry of the Golden State Warriors shown in action on Monday night in Game 4 of his team's NBA play-offs second round series with the Memphis Grizzlies. Andy Lyons / Getty Images / AFP / May 1Show more
Crisis averted: Stephen Curry and Warriors keep ‘foot on the gas pedal’ and go level with Grizzlies
Stephen Curry shook off his struggles to score 33 points on Monday night and the Golden State Warriors made it 2-2 with the Memphis Grizzlies in a Game 4 victory.
Steve Kerr challenged his Golden State Warriors to ratchet up the intensity to play-offs level. With MVP Stephen Curry leading the way, they responded and looked like the team that cruised through the regular season.
Curry scored 21 of his 33 points by half-time, and the Warriors snapped their two-game skid Monday night by routing the Memphis Grizzlies 101-84 to tie their NBA play-offs second round series at 2-2.
“Tonight we took a step towards understanding that sense of urgency and kind of competitiveness and physicality to the game,” Kerr said. “It was probably our most competitive effort, definitely of the series, but probably of the play-offs just in terms of understanding you got to play every second.”
The Warriors hadn’t lost three straight games all season, and they never came close as they took back home-court advantage. Curry hadn’t scored more than 23 points in a game in this series, and he nearly had that by half-time.
Draymond Green had 16 points and 10 rebounds for the Warriors while Klay Thompson had 15 points, Harrison Barnes 12 and Andre Iguodala 11.
“We set the tone the first quarter and kept the foot on the gas pedal the whole way, and that’s how we play,” Curry said.
Marc Gasol had 19 points and 10 rebounds for Memphis while Zach Randolph had 12 points and 11 rebounds. Mike Conley finished with 10 points and seven assists but was 4-of-15 from the field. Memphis pulled its starters with 3:00 left.
Game 5 is Wednesday night at Golden State.
“This series could have been close to over if we hadn’t come out like we were supposed to tonight,” Warriors centre Andrew Bogut said. “You know it’s never over until the end, but being down 3-1 going home is a pretty tough task, so 2-2 right now in a three-game series and we like our chances.”
Memphis coach Dave Joerger had given his Grizzlies a history lesson reminding them of previous blown 2-1 leads in the post-season. It didn’t help as the Grizzlies lost their fourth straight Game 4, the third of those on their own court. They just didn’t play with the same defensive intensity as the last two games.
“We lost our composure early in the first half, especially in the first quarter,” Joerger said. “We needed to keep that closer in the first quarter. We had a chance there. Our offence really struggled tonight, and it put our defene in a bad way.”
Instead, it was the Warriors beating the Grizzlies to nearly every loose ball, scrapping to keep their dream season from falling to the brink of elimination. They got back their offensive rhythm as well, leading by as many as 26 points, and they had their best game shooting outside the arc knocking down 14 threes to overcome 21 turnovers.
“We got into scramble mode too early defensively,” Gasol said.
Green looked like the forward who got the most first-place votes for defensive player of the year. He teamed with Bogut and Barnes making the night miserable for Randolph and Gasol with Bogut roving over to the paint while nominally defending Tony Allen. Green scored eight of Golden State’s first 10 points.
Memphis led only briefly with their last at 9-8 and never got within double digits in the second half.
The Warriors took control with a 16-6 run that made it 34-24 early in the second quarter, their biggest lead since the opener of this series.
Curry didn’t take his first shot until 3:30 left in the first quarter, and he missed his first three along with a layup. He settled down and had seven points by the end of the period, including a 27-footer giving Golden State a 28-20 lead at the end of the frame. The Warriors outscored Memphis 33-24 in the second, taking a 61-44 half-time lead.
Stars: Cate Blanchett, Kevin Kline, Lesley Manville
Rating: 4/5
THE SPECS
Engine: 6.75-litre twin-turbocharged V12 petrol engine
Power: 420kW
Torque: 780Nm
Transmission: 8-speed automatic
Price: From Dh1,350,000
On sale: Available for preorder now
COMPANY PROFILE
Name:Almnssa
Started: August 2020
Founder:Areej Selmi
Based:Gaza
Sectors:Internet, e-commerce
Investments:Grants/private funding
UAE’s revised Cricket World Cup League Two schedule
August, 2021: Host - United States; Teams - UAE, United States and Scotland
Between September and November, 2021 (dates TBC): Host - Namibia; Teams - Namibia, Oman, UAE
December, 2021: Host - UAE; Teams - UAE, Namibia, Oman
February, 2022: Hosts - Nepal; Teams - UAE, Nepal, PNG
June, 2022: Hosts - Scotland; Teams - UAE, United States, Scotland
September, 2022: Hosts - PNG; Teams - UAE, PNG, Nepal
February, 2023: Hosts - UAE; Teams - UAE, PNG, Nepal
Zombieland: Double Tap
Director: Ruben Fleischer
Stars: Woody Harrelson, Jesse Eisenberg, Emma Stone
Four out of five stars
Pearls on a Branch: Oral Tales
Najlaa Khoury, Archipelago Books
The specs
Engine: 2-litre or 3-litre 4Motion all-wheel-drive Power: 250Nm (2-litre); 340 (3-litre) Torque: 450Nm Transmission: 8-speed automatic Starting price: From Dh212,000 On sale: Now
The drill
Recharge as needed, says Mat Dryden: “We try to make it a rule that every two to three months, even if it’s for four days, we get away, get some time together, recharge, refresh.” The couple take an hour a day to check into their businesses and that’s it.
Stick to the schedule, says Mike Addo: “We have an entire wall known as ‘The Lab,’ covered with colour-coded Post-it notes dedicated to our joint weekly planner, content board, marketing strategy, trends, ideas and upcoming meetings.”
Be a team, suggests Addo: “When training together, you have to trust in each other’s abilities. Otherwise working out together very quickly becomes one person training the other.”
Pull your weight, says Thuymi Do: “To do what we do, there definitely can be no lazy member of the team.”
LA LIGA FIXTURES
Friday Celta Vigo v Villarreal (midnight kick-off UAE)
Saturday Sevilla v Real Sociedad (4pm), Atletico Madrid v Athletic Bilbao (7.15pm), Granada v Barcelona (9.30pm), Osasuna v Real Madrid (midnight)
Sunday Levante v Eibar (4pm), Cadiz v Alaves (7.15pm), Elche v Getafe (9.30pm), Real Valladolid v Valencia (midnight)
Monday Huesca v Real Betis (midnight)
The stats
Ship name: MSC Bellissima
Ship class: Meraviglia Class
Delivery date: February 27, 2019
Gross tonnage: 171,598 GT
Passenger capacity: 5,686
Crew members: 1,536
Number of cabins: 2,217
Length: 315.3 metres
Maximum speed: 22.7 knots (42kph)
Scoreline:
Barcelona 2
Suarez 85', Messi 86'
Atletico Madrid 0
Red card: Diego Costa 28' (Atletico)
COMPANY PROFILE
Name: ARDH Collective
Based:Dubai
Founders:Alhaan Ahmed, Alyina Ahmed and Maximo Tettamanzi
Flying to Guyana requires first reaching New York with either Emirates or Etihad, then connecting with JetBlue or Caribbean Air at JFK airport. Prices start from around Dh7,000.
Getting around:
Wildlife Worldwide offers a range of Guyana itineraries, such as its small group tour, the 15-day ‘Ultimate Guyana Nature Experience’ which features Georgetown, the Iwokrama Rainforest (one of the world’s four remaining pristine tropical rainforests left in the world), the Amerindian village of Surama and the Rupununi Savannah, known for its giant anteaters and river otters; wildlifeworldwide.com
What: 11th edition of the Mubadala World Tennis Championship
When: December 27-29, 2018
Confirmed: men: Novak Djokovic, Rafael Nadal, Kevin Anderson, Dominic Thiem, Hyeon Chung, Karen Khachanov; women: Venus Williams
Tickets: www.ticketmaster.ae, Virgin megastores or call 800 86 823
Keane on …
Liverpool’s Uefa Champions League bid: “They’re great. With the attacking force they have, for me, they’re certainly one of the favourites. You look at the teams left in it - they’re capable of scoring against anybody at any given time. Defensively they’ve been good, so I don’t see any reason why they couldn’t go on and win it.”
Mohamed Salah’s debut campaign at Anfield: “Unbelievable. He’s been phenomenal. You can name the front three, but for him on a personal level, he’s been unreal. He’s been great to watch and hopefully he can continue now until the end of the season - which I’m sure he will, because he’s been in fine form. He’s been incredible this season.”
Zlatan Ibrahimovic’s instant impact at former club LA Galaxy: “Brilliant. It’s been a great start for him and for the club. They were crying out for another big name there. They were lacking that, for the prestige of LA Galaxy. And now they have one of the finest stars. I hope they can go win something this year.”
