SALT LAKE CITY — Alam ni Stephen Curry na kailangan nilang magtulungan ni Kevin Durant para maipanalo ang Golden State Warriors.
Sa kanilang 102-91 panalo sa Game Three laban sa Jazz ay hinayaan ni Curry na humataw si Durant.
“Myself and the other 19,000 people in the arena and everybody watching on TV saw the same thing I saw,” sabi ni Curry, tumapos na may 23 points mula sa 6-of-20 fieldgoal shooting.
Ito na ang pinakamagandang laro na ipinakita ng Utah sa serye nila ng Golden State.
Ngunit sinapawan sila ni Durant, ang dating NBA MVP.
“It’s an easy decision to at that moment. Try to set a screen for him and get him to the right spot and, obviously, he does the rest,” dagdag pa ng two-time NBA Most Valuable Player.
Kumamada si Durant ng 38 points at 13 rebounds para akayin ang Warriors sa malaking 3-0 bentahe sa kanilang Western Conference semifinal series ng Jazz.
“That’s one of the reasons why we welcomed him here,” sabi ni Warriors acting coach Mike Brown kay Durant.
“It’s tough to try to control a guy who’s 7 feet that can play out on the perimeter and have the ball. Especially when he’s as good as he is in the pick-and-roll game.”
Maaari nang wakasan ng Golden State ang kanilang serye ng Utah sa Game Four sa Lunes.
Nagtumpok sina Curry at Klay Thompson ng pinagsamang 7-for-29 fieldgoal shooting at 3-for-15 clip sa three-point range.
Nagtayo ang Warriors ng 11-point lead sa first period bago naagaw ng Jazz ang 75-74 bentahe sa kaagahan ng fourth quarter.
Ngunit naglunsad ang Golden State ng 10-4 atake kung saan tumipa sina Curry at Durant ng magkasunod na tres para sa kanilang 92-84 bentahe sa huling 3:04 minuto.
“I’m going to try to say this as humble as I can, but I’ve been doing this for so long,” wika ni Durant. “And every time I get out the bed and we have a game that day, I feel like I can go out there and score. It’s the other things that I try to do — defensively, helping my teammates, get them open shots, moving, setting screens.”
“Scoring and stuff is not easy, but it’s what I do the best. When I try to do the other things ... I feel like it opens up my scoring a little bit more,” dagdag nito.
At mula rito ay hindi na nakadikit ang Utah.
Pinangunahan ni Gordon Hayward ang Jazz sa kanyang 29 points, habang humakot si French center Rudy Gobert ng 21 points at 15 rebounds.