Lou Williams, Clippers force Game 6 against champ Warriors

No clinch celebration just yet for the two-time defending champions, who lead 3-2 but needed far more than Kevin Durant’s playoff career-high 45 points.

“I don’t want to get ahead of myself. They’re up 3-2 still, but I just loved how we played, I really did,” Clippers coach Doc Rivers said. “All we talked about is being us. I told our guys, they’ve been them in the series. We have yet to put a game where we are us through the game.”

The Clippers stymied Golden State’s comeback effort on the very court at Oracle Arena where Los Angeles rallied from 31 points down in Game 2 for the largest comeback in NBA post-season history.

Game 6 is Friday back in Los Angeles.

Beverley took a big charge against Klay Thompson with 1:40 left and wound up with 17 points and 14 rebounds for his best outing of the series.

“I thought Patrick Beverley came in, just kicked our butts right away,” Warriors coach Steve Kerr said. “He came out with more energy than we had and that set a tone.”

Houston and James Harden are on to the second round and waiting for another chance at the champs. The Clippers said not just yet, they’re not done.

The Rockets, who squandered a 3-2 series lead to the Warriors in last year’s Western Conference finals, eliminated the Jazz with a 100-93 Game 5 victory at home a few hours earlier Wednesday. Sure, the Warriors have thought about a potential second-round matchup.

“Our focus was to come in and extend the series and get another game on our home floor,” Williams said. “It’s their mistake for looking ahead. That’s on them.”

Gallinari added 26 points and seven rebounds, and Montrezl Harrell had 24 points as the eighth-seeded Clippers are keeping things interesting until the end.

“We’ve got to bring it if we’re going to beat them,” Kerr said.

Durant raised his arm late and called on the Oracle Arena crowd for a major assist — the Warriors needed every little bit of help. Thompson’s 3 with 4:02 left made it 116-114 and Durant tied it on a driving dunk the next time down.

Stephen Curry scored 24 points and Thompson 22 but Golden State didn’t have it on defence.

“If we come out and just think we’re going to roll over this team because they’re an 8 seed, it doesn’t work that way in the NBA playoffs,” Warriors centre Andrew Bogut said.

Durant shot 14 for 26 in his third performance of at least 30 points in the series and ninth 40-point post-season effort.

Curry, already the NBA’s career playoff leader for made 3-pointers, reached 400 post-season 3s.

But the Warriors — all of them, their best shooters — missed badly on good looks and couldn’t defend the way they typically do to generate that sensational transition game.

“That’s the worst-case scenario for any team. You’re missing shots and can’t get stops, you feel like you’re in a bottomless pit,” Durant said. “Hopefully we knock down shots and get stops next game.”

Golden State trailed 71-63 at halftime despite making 10 of 16 3s but allowed Los Angeles to shoot 56%, and the Clippers finished at 54.1%.

Gallinari hit a 3 out of the break then a free throw following Draymond Green’s technical and Los Angeles made it 81-66 on JaMychal Green’s 3 at the 9:09 mark.

“It’s been a year where things haven’t gone exactly smoothly all the time,” Kerr said. “I’m not surprised by anything, but I expected to come out and play better and win the game. But it’s the NBA playoffs. This is a seven-game series and you’ve got to play. You’ve got to defend with some urgency.”

NO SUBSTITUTION NECESSARY

Alfonzo McKinnie knocked down a 3 to end the first moments after he had left the court with Kerr trying to sub in Thompson to play the final possession, but since Beverley — who’d been bleeding from a knock by Curry — stayed in the game the referees ruled McKinnie must return to the floor.

GREEN’S WRIST

Nothing was going to keep Draymond Green from playing Game 5 — even his troublesome right wrist. An MRI showed no serious issues and he practiced fully Tuesday.

The wrist has been bothering him since the beginning of Game 3 when “I got a pretty good whack on it.”

“It’s still sore,” Green said at shootaround. “If the MRI said it was broken by the way I was still going to play. So it really didn’t matter.”

TIP-INS

Clippers: Gallinari missed his initial four 3-point tries before connecting late in the first and finished 3 of 11 from deep. … The Clippers outrebounded the Warriors 42-39.

Warriors: Golden State scored 41 points in the first for its third 40-point quarter of the series — the first time in the shot clock era (1954-55) the Warriors have done so in one playoff series. … Durant (3,816) passed John Havlicek (3,776) for 12th place on the NBA’s career post-season scoring list. … The Warriors are 9-3 in Game 5s dating to their title run in 2015. …

___

More AP NBA: https://apnews.com/NBA and https://twitter.com/AP_Sports

Janie McCauley, The Associated Press

by Canadian Press

Lou Williams, Clippers force Game 6 against champ Warriors

What's Happening