By Eurohoops team/ info@eurohoops.net
Steph Curry had 21 points and a game-high 12 rebounds, Golden State manage to slow down Luka Doncic and the Warriors beat the Mavericks 112-87 for a 1-0 lead in the Western Conference finals.
“Just make him work, that was the main thing,” Andrew Wiggins said about the Slovenian star.
Doncic scored 20 points but shot just 6 for 18 and 3 of 10 from deep. He made back-to-back 3-pointers late in the first half to get his team within 54-45 at the break, but Curry and Thompson heated up and helped the Warriors pull away in the second half.
“A great job. That’s it,” Doncic said. “They did a great job.”
Jalen Brunson scored 14 points but missed all five of his 3s for the surprising Mavs, who stunned the top-seeded Suns in a 123-90 thumping in Game 7 on Sunday in Phoenix.
Wiggins added 19 points, Jordan Poole also scored 19 off the bench and the Warriors had it easy.
Doncic received a scratch across his face early from a first-quarter swipe by Wiggins.
“They did a really good job. Wiggins picking him up full court,” Mavs coach Jason Kidd said. “They went box-and-one, they went zone. We understood coming into the series that we were going to see that. We’ll go back and look at the video and see what we can do better.”
German forward Maxi Kleber was also held to just three points, while Latvian Davis Bertans and French Frank Ntilikina didn’t score.
Serb Nemanja Bjelica had one rebound and one assist for the winning side, while the Mavs didn’t use Boban Marjanovic.