“We Aint Goin Home!” ~Steph Curry
27 May, 2016
“We ain’t going home! We’re not going home!” Stephen Curry screamed at the top of his lungs.
No, his Golden State Warriors are going back to Oklahoma City, after keeping their title reign and the winningest season in NBA history alive for at least one more game.
Curry scored 31 points, raising his arms in the early moments to fire up Golden State’s raucous crowd, and the defending champions staved off elimination with a 120-111 victory over the Thunder on Thursday night in Game 5 of the Western Conference finals.
We just did what we’re supposed to do. We’re supposed to win at home,” Curry said. “We know what we still have to do going forward. … We knew if we didn’t win we were going home. There’s no other motivation you need.”
For all the speculation about the current state of Curry’s beat-up body – that troublesome ankle, sore knee or tender elbow – he did it all.
“I thought he looked like 91 percent,” coach Steve Kerr cracked. “He came out and played a really good game. That’s all I can tell you. He’s going to compete every night. He had an excellent night and helped us get it done.”
Led by Curry, the Warriors looked like their old winning selves again.
The MVP made a snazzy layup late and dished out six assists, while Klay Thompson added 27 points as Golden State sent the best the best-of-seven series back to Oklahoma City for Game 6 on Saturday night. The Warriors trail 3-2 and are trying to become just the 10th team to rally from a 3-1 deficit.
“None of us want to go home,” Thompson said. “We’re having too much fun out there.”
Kevin Durant scored 40 points and Russell Westbrook added 31 points, eight assists, seven rebounds and five steals for the Thunder, trying for the fifth NBA Finals appearance in franchise history and first championship since moving from Seattle.
The record-setting, 73-win Warriors, coming off their first back-to-back defeats all season, had been blown out in two losses at Oklahoma City by a combined 52 points.
“We have to take that game and travel,” Curry said of keeping momentum.
Durant’s 3-pointer with 4:34 left got the Thunder within 103-98, then Curry answered with a three-point play.
Curry scored seven points in a 58-second stretch of the second quarter and hit more big shots late, but the Thunder didn’t go away easily.
“I liked our will, I liked our fight,” Kerr said. “We were embarrassed in OKC the last couple games.”
Curry shot 9 for 20 and also had five steals, while Thompson had his 11th 20-point game for the second straight postseason despite shooting 2 for 9 from 3-point range. After struggling the past two games, Draymond Green had 11 points and 13 rebounds a day after receiving some encouraging words from Kobe Bryant on the phone.
“We really relied on the entire team tonight, which is when we’re at our best,” Curry said.
AP
Image FoxSports twitter
Mentioned In This Post:
