DALAS (AP) – Stephen Curry approached the TV group, Andrew Wiggins shook Luke Doncic, mourning, and the Warriors thought to swing.
Curry scored 31 points, the highest in the playoffs of Wiggins’ career – 27 points dunk, which was originally called a foul in the offensive and Golden State defeated the Dallas Mavericks 109-100 Sunday night and led 3-0 in the Western Conference finals.
“He looks like Dominic Wilkins,” Clay Thompson said of Wiggins, scoring 19 points when the Warriors moved to the NBA Finals, three years after the end of a five-year series that won three championships.
Golden State, which beat Portland in the last West final in 2019 before Toronto won the title, is going for a sweep in Game 4 on Tuesday in Dallas. Neither team won 3-0 to win the NBA playoff series.
“I like our position,” Warriors coach Steve Kerr said. “I like that our team came out and won tonight. That was what we felt we should get. If you come out here with a score of 2-0, you have to use your impetus. “
Doncic scored 40 and won the first quarter with a 32-foot game that forced the crowd to go home with the Mavericks again, trailing 2-0, as they did against Phoenix, seeded with the best seed before winning the semi-final series. West ”in seven games.
But it is a bucket from a young superstar was a sharp blow on a difficult night from the 3-point range for the Mavericks, who missed their first seven and finished 13th out of 45.
Reggie Bulak and Maxi Kleber, two long-range experts in Dallas, missed all 12 of their 3 together and got 0-15. Both were left without points, offsetting Spencer Dinwidi’s 26 points from the bench. Jalen Branson scored 20.
In the middle of the fourth quarter Wiggins with one hand threw Doncic as a foul because his elbow touched Doncic’s neck when Doncic jerked back and fell. But the decision to replay after Kerr challenged was a random contact that gave Golden State a 93-83 lead.
“I was hit a little bit, but it was impressive,” Doncic said. “I’m not going to lie. I saw the video again and I said, “Oh …” It was very incredible. I would like to have these bunnies. “
About a minute later Wiggins, who matched his career in the playoffs with 11 rebounds, quickly moved down the right baseline for the next throw after Curry’s miss.
“I just feel energized,” Wiggins said of his dunk over Doncic. “This is the main thing when I saw the bead. That’s all I saw. They tried to take it away from me, but … ”Wiggins said, interrupting himself with a laugh before thanking Kerr for the challenge.
Curry scored 11 points in the third quarter, giving the Warriors the biggest advantage with a score of 78-64 with step back 3 at the last minute and turning to the national television team to see a close-up of his shimmy from the shoulder.
Doncic scored 21 points in the fourth quarter when the Mauritius desperately tried to close the gap, but in three seasons of the playoffs dropped to 2-6 when the 23-year-old three-time All-Star player scored at least 40 points.
One of the three-pointers Dinwidi led Dallas to five points when left 1:15, but Jordan Poole responded with one from the left flank just at the last minute.
Maurice, playing in the first round since first-year coach Jason Kidd was a point on Dirk Nowitzki’s team that won the 2011 title, lost a nine-point lead in the last four minutes of the first half two nights after failing to hold the lead at 19 points on the road in defeat 2 games.
“This is just the beginning of this journey,” Kidd said. “I know you guys won the championship before the season started. And it’s a joke if you didn’t get it. It’s much more than just this game or series. It’s huge for our franchise because none of you guys had us here. “
WHAT HAPPENED?
The most tense moment in the series came at the end of the first half corner 3 from Curry finished the series 8-0 this put the Warriors ahead by a point and helped them come forward 48-47. And that embarrassed Curry.
Curry ran the length of the court with her tongue out after Dallas set a timeout. As he turned to his bench, Curry walked past Doncic with teammate Juan Tuscan-Anderson nearby.
Doncic did not seem to appreciate what Tuscany-Anderson said, and headed to the bench at Golden State before officials, coaches and players from both teams intervened. Meanwhile, Drayman Green and wounded Dallas security guard Tim Hardway Jr. exchanged troubles about 45 feet apart.
After the timeout, you could see Curry saying, “What happened?” and approached Doncic to talk about it. The exchange ended with Green being a peacemaker with Doncic.
HOLD THE TONGUE
Green received a technical foul, his second in the series, after a lengthy conversation with official Mark Davis when he was summoned for violating the rear track as he hurriedly tried to retreat behind the line in the center of the field to catch Curry’s long, unexpected pass.
The crowd yelled about the technical and finally got it, after much chatter on Twitter after Game 2 about whether the judges should have given him a second technique. Shortly afterwards, Green was called for his first foul, and he didn’t like it. But he directed his complaint to his own bench, not to the judging panel.
PARAVED
Warriors: Otto Porter Jr., who averaged 10.5 points with 82% of shots in the first two games, limped into the locker room in the first half and was ruled out due to left leg pain. … The Warriors have increased their NBA record, the 26th consecutive series in which they have won at least one road game.
Mavericks: Bulak received the Karim Abdul Jabar Award for Social Justice. He was active in the LGBTQ + community. His sister, a transgender woman, was killed in 2014. Bulak has worked with several organizations in the Dallas area since signing as a free agent in the offseason and has long engaged in similar activities in his native North Carolina. … Dorian Feeney-Smith received a technical kick early in the second half for an elbow in Green’s back after a free-kick by Dallas.
