SAN FRANCISCO: Stephen Curry had 27 points and eight assists, Andrew Wiggins added 25 points, seven rebounds and five assist, and the defending champion Golden State Warriors staved off elimination by beating the Los Angeles Lakers 121-106 in Game 5 of the Western Conference semifinals Wednesday night.
LeBron James had 25 points and nine rebounds for Los Angeles. Anthony Davis added 23 points and nine rebounds but went to the locker room late after appearing to take a hit in the head from Kevon Looney.
Austin Reaves made a 3-pointer with 5:25 to play that cut the Warriors’ lead to single digits at 104-95 only for Curry to answer with five straight points, then he hit another big shot after D’Angelo Russell connected from deep.
Draymond Green contributed 20 points and 10 rebounds as Golden State played tough defense that led to better chances on the offensive end — just as coach Steve Kerr has challenged his team to to.
Now, it’s back to LA for Game 6 on Friday night with the Lakers 5-0 at home this postseason, having won eight consecutive games on their own floor since losing to the Bulls on March 26.
Golden State is trying rally from a 3-1 series deficit for only the second time in franchise history and will try to win one more to bring Game 7 back to Chase Center on Sunday. The Warriors rallied from 3-1 down in the 2016 Western Conference finals against Oklahoma City.
Curry beat the halftime buzzer with a 3-pointer over Lonnie Walker IV as the Warriors took a 70-59 lead. The 70 first-half points were the most Golden State in the playoffs since scoring 72 in a Game 6 first-round win over the Clippers in 2019. The last team to score 70 or more in a first half of a playoff game versus the Lakers was Phoenix with 71 in Game 4 of the 2000 second round.
Green and Wiggins took turns on James and Golden State tried to take Davis out of rhythm after he had 23 points, 15 rebounds, three steals and two assists in Game 4.
Curry shot 12 for 24 but just 3 of 11 from long range coming off his third career playoff triple-double in a 104-101 Game 4 loss.
Meanwhile, Jalen Brunson had 38 points, nine rebounds and seven assists while playing all 48 minutes in a season-extending performance in New York’s victory over Miami in Game 5 of the Eastern Conference semifinals.
The Knicks denied the Heat’s first attempt to become just the second No. 8 seed to reach the conference finals and sent the series back to Miami for Game 6 on Friday night.
RJ Barrett added 26 points and Julius Randle had 24 for the fifth-seeded Knicks, who stayed alive in hopes of reaching the conference finals for the first time since 2000. They did that by getting by the Heat in seven games in the second round, a possibility that still exists.
Jimmy Butler had 19 points, nine assists and seven rebounds for Miami, getting held below 25 points for the first time in this postseason. Bam Adebayo added 18 points and Duncan Robinson had 17.
