Draymond Green knocks down a 3-pointer that gets Steph Curry to rise to his feet on the bench. (0:23)
With Boston's victory, the home team won every single game in this series. The injured Celtics will now take on the 76ers in a matchup between the East's No. 2 and No. 3 seeds. Despite being the higher seed, Boston is going to come in as underdogs. If the Celtics are going to win that series, they'll need to do to Philadelphia what they did in Game 7 against Milwaukee.
Just because the Pelicans came into this game with the confidence that they could beat the Warriors at their run-and-gun game doesn't mean they will actually be able to do it when the playoff lights are brightest.Before Saturday's game, Pelicans players and coaches spoke with conviction that they weren't going to change their up-tempo style just because they were facing the defending NBA champions. They believed that they could run up and down the floor with Kevin Durant and Klay Thompson and were steadfast in the notion that Anthony Davis and Jrue Holiday could impose their will on the game.
Sadly for the Pelicans, they were mistaken.
Durant and Thompson combined for 53 points on the night, 36 of which came in a first half that stayed close for a while but came bursting apart as the Warriors went on a 25-2 run toward the end of the second quarter and never looked back. As well as the hot-shooting pair played, it was Draymond Greenwho set the tone for the rest of his team to follow, going off for a triple-double with 16 points, 15 rebounds and 11 assists.
As resolute as Pelicans coach Alvin Gentry was before the game about his team's ability to go shot for shot with the Warriors, the veteran coach offered this pregame reminder after Golden State coach Steve Kerr revealed that Stephen Curry (knee) wouldn't make his long-awaited return.
"Steph is great, two-time MVP," Gentry said. "But guys, they're still pretty doggone good without him. They've already proven that. They just won a series against the Spurs without him, so you're still going to have to play at an extremely high level to be able to win a game where he's not in the game, and they've already proven that they can do that."
Gentry's words seemed more prescient as the night wore on. The Pelicans shot 60 percent from the field in the first quarter and trailed 35-34 after the first 12 minutes, in large part because they couldn't keep a feisty-looking Warriors group off the offensive glass. Read More Here
Game 7: Bucks vs. Celtics
Jaylen Brown left Game 7 with a hamstring injury. He was available to return, but the Celtics played it safe and kept him on the bench. Full story
The Celtics were just fine in Game 7 despite losing Brown. They controlled most of the game with relative ease and fended off a couple Bucks runs. Al Horford in particular was a monster all night long. He finished with 26 points and even had a block on Giannis Antetokounmpo.
Horford Horford was incredible all night on both ends. The first half was just a highlight reel of all the different ways he can score on the Bucks.
The most disrespectful thing he did all night was power through some Bucks defenders for a layup and then flex on his way back up the court. Horford doesn't show much emotion when he's playing so this was a rare outburst on his part.
: With Boston's victory, the home team won every single game in this series. The injured Celtics will now take on the 76ers in a matchup between the East's No. 2 and No. 3 seeds. Despite being the higher seed, Boston is going to come in as underdogs. If the Celtics are going to win that series, they'll need to do to Philadelphia what they did in Game 7 against Milwaukee. Read More Here
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