The Warriors outscored opponents by more than 11 points per game this season, the fourth-highest average margin ever. During the playoffs, against better competition, Golden State has raised its average margin to 16.5 points in going 8-0 through two rounds. That boggles the damn mind.
The Warriors didn’t even let Utah dream
Good morning. We have that and more in Tuesday’s NBA newsletter.
Photo by Gene Sweeney Jr/Getty Images
The Warriors waxed the Jazz 121-95 to finish the sweep on Monday. Stephen Curry led the way with 30. He has a 65 percent True Shooting on 18 shots per game in the playoffs, averaging 27. Kevin Durant is averaging 23 on 63 percent True Shooting. No offense to either Klay Thompson or Russell Westbrook, but this might just be the most terrifying scoring duo since the Big O and Kareem.
The Jazz had their best season in ages, and should feel great about things despite the sweep. But as I wrote before the series, this can all fall apart if Gordon Hayward skips town this summer. For his part in the finale, he went down shooting (21 FGAs) and chucked the deuce as the fans chanted his name.
Golden State will chill for a week while the Spurs and Rockets duke it out for the honor of facing this behemoth. Maybe they can go hang out with LeBron and the Cavaliers for a couple days.
Good lord! The Warriors and Cavaliers played a total of 384 minutes in the second round ... and trailed for a combined 38, or just less than 10 percent. The Warriors effectively trailed for one quarter of play out of 16, the Cavaliers for just over two quarters out of 16.
I wrote about how the Clippers should probably take a cue from the Hawks and strip personnel power from their otherwise good head coach.
Kendrick Perkins casually reveals on Area 21 that Russell Westbrook and Kevin Durant are on speaking terms again.
Marc Stein has reported that Kyle Lowry wants to move to the Western Conference so he can get away from LeBron. (Has Kyle Lowry heard of the Warriors? There is always China, you know ...) We break down some Western options for K-Low.
Tuesday’s schedule:
Rockets at Spurs, 8 p.m. ET, TNT (Series tied 2-2)
Wide-ranging Royce White profile in Esquire. (There’s a swear word in the headline, in case you’re at the office.)
Let’s talk about Draymond Green. On his latest podcast, he [drumroll please] declared he holds a grudge against Gordon Hayward over a missed call in the Final Four, called Kelly Olynyk a dirty player, and declared Kristaps Porzingis lied about saying his phone was hacked after some scandalous tweets.
Fascinating piece from Ben Falk on salary cap management and ESPN’s subscriber loss.
Nene is done for the postseason. And what a delight he’d been! The good news is that Clint Capela is doing amazing things on defense. Houston will also likely rely on more smallball.
Nathaniel Friedman on Mike D’Antoni, who is changing the NBA again.
David Roth on Kobe’s new obsession.
The pessimist says Lonzo sold only 300 pairs of shoes on launch day. The optimist says Lonzo sold $150,000 worth of shoes on launch day, more than any rookie before being drafted ever.
Rudy Gay plans to opt out and become a free agent.
Scott Brooks on what it was like to live with Charles Barkley.
Mad respect to Patrick Beverley for being open with grief after losing his grandfather just before Game 4. Bevs is one of the toughest players in the NBA.
And finally: Bradley Beal’s flop in glorious TechniColor.
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