NBA Conference Finals | Warriors rout Mavericks in Game 1
The Hindu
Golden State Warriors kept Luka Doncic quiet in the NBA Western Conference Finals opening game against Dallas Mavericks with an emphatic 112-87 win at the Chase Center
Luka Doncic outscored Andrew Wiggins 20-19 in their head-to-head matchup in Game 1 of the NBA Western Conference finals on May 18 night. However, there was no doubt who the winner was.
Wiggins harassed the Dallas Mavericks star into his lowest output of the postseason, and the Golden State Warriors countered with a balanced and high-percentage offensive attack en route to a 112-87 shellacking in the opener of the best-of-seven series in San Francisco.
Game 2 is scheduled for May 20 in San Francisco, where Golden State, seeking its sixth trip to the NBA Finals in the past eight years, has gone 7-0 this postseason.
"We did what we were supposed to do—protect home court, win the first game," said Warriors star Stephen Curry, the game's leading scorer with 21 points. "We had a specific game plan coming in, and for the most part, we executed it. It's going to take that same effort three more times to beat this team."
The game plan featured handcuffing Doncic on one end and attacking him on the other. It was a two-way success.
After having averaged 29 points on 46.9 percent shooting in the opening round against the Utah Jazz, Doncic then stepped up to average 32.6 points on 47.6 percent shooting in the Western semifinals against Phoenix. On Wednesday, though, he was held four points below his previous low this postseason while hitting just six of his 18 shots.
He wasn't alone in his offensive miseries. The Mavericks shot just 36 percent overall and 22.9 percent on 3-point attempts, missing 37 of 48.
Asian Games champion Avinash Sable opened his season in the 3000m steeple chase with a silver in the Portland Track Festival, a World Athletics Continental Tour bronze event, in Oregon on Saturday. He clocked 8:21.85s. Asian champion Parul Chaudhary took the bronze in the women’s 3000m steeple chase in a season-best 9:31.38s. Former Asian bronze medallist Sanjivani Jadhav struck gold in the women’s 10,000m in 32:22.77s, a time which was a second off her personal best, while Seema was sixth in 32:55.91s.