Golden State Warriors remain alive in the NBA Finals after a late scoring burst by Steph Curry and Klay Thompson powered the defending champions to a courageous win over the Toronto Raptors.
The Warriors faced elimination if they lost on Monday, but they overcome a torrid Toronto crowd and the disappointment of watching All-Star Kevin Durant limp off the court to win game five 106-105.
The Raptors were up 103-97 with two minutes to go but Warriors’ sharpshooters Curry, 31 points, and Thompson, 26 points, refused to lie down.
They dropped successive three-pointers to take the game and force a game six on their home court in Oakland on Thursday.
The Warriors were inspired early by superstar Durant who sat out for 32 days with an injured calf muscle.
He hit his first three three-pointers and had 11 points in 11 minutes.
But early in the second quarter Durant attempted to dribble past Raptors forward Serge Ibaka and his suspect calf gave out; he left the game and didn’t return.
The Warriors’ Australian back-up centre Andrew Bogut was scoreless in a two-minute stint at the start of the second term.
josh
Roar Rookie
Durant playing the minutes he did was maybe enough? But I feel its a Pyrrhic victory for the Warriors. KD out, Looney injured again. It's relying a lot on Curry and Thompson to score. Kawhi was ordinary, bar a few minutes in the last quarter. Raptors really should have put them away at the end. Hopefully, they are quick learners.
josh
Roar Rookie
It was odd.
Bell31
Guest
Wow, what an absorbing series - I follow quite a few sports and NBA for nearly 30 years, but this has been one of the more compelling sporting events I can recall - hopefully it goes 7 games - I couldn't believe it (well, cognitively it made some sense) when KD went down --- and being escorted off by team mates... will the warriors be able to overcome these setbacks for an epic championship- head says no, heart says I hope so! (Although no doubt raptor fan would disagree...)
peterj
Guest
Great call! Absolute madness. I could not believe it when watching.
Machooka
Roar Guru
Scott... didn't get to watch this game live due to work et al, but was so pumped when I tuned in to see KD was playing. Likewise, Clay... and Looney to a lesser degree. Beauty I thought... we got game. And then to see KD just pick-up from where he left was off... like wow, OK this game is gonna be fun. But then it happened... the B/Ball world, in an instant, just tilted on it's axis! I've been lucky to watch a lot of different sports over the years... but this Finals game went all weird for me from that moment as I've never, ever seen what was to follow... Firstly, the Raptors crowd cheering gleefully as KD hit the pine, but then the immediate snap reaction from the Raptor players (and a few Warriors) in berating that crowd for doing so. Are you serious sorta stuff!?! This was then followed by KD being escorted from court by three team members and, of course, staff back to the Warriors' dressing rooms!?! I have never seen that before... never. Then there was 'the game' where the numerous turnovers by GS just kept allowing the Raptors to stay in touch right up to the last 5 minutes when Kwai went off... took off... went nuts. And, I still cannot believe this... Coach Nurse then calls time-out!?! Thus, after the Raptors' timeout, the Warriors then did what the Warriors usually do... they won the effening game! But... but... it was the post-match interviews that really knocked my socks off, especially when it came (invariably) to the KD thingy for discussion. Up steps Warriors' GM Bob Myers so emotional I thought KD had died... saying if you're gonna blame, then blame me. Want to point the finger... then blame me! Never, ever seen a game like this one... and I'm being deadly serious which I don't do often. If at al!
Scott Pryde
Expert
Yep, makes no sense. If the Warriors come back to win, it's those threes from Curry and Thompson about 30 seconds apart which were the turning points.
BA Sports
Roar Guru
The Raptors were up by 6 with 3 minutes to go and were on a 9-0 run.... and called a time out...! Baffling. They scored two more points (from a goal tend). If they go on to lose the series - that time out haunts the organisation forever.