Klay Thompson scored 32 points and the Golden State Warriors advanced to their sixth NBA Finals in the last eight seasons by beating the Dallas Mavericks 120-110 in Game 5 of the Western Conference Finals on Thursday. night.
Thompson scored 19 points in the first half, including a triple that he scored with the shaking characteristic of teammate Stephen Curry as the Warriors took a 17-point lead at halftime and advanced the rest of the way. Andrew Wiggins added 18 points and 10 rebounds, Draymond Green scored 17 points and Curry made 15 points and nine assists for Golden State.
Luka Doncic overcame a slow start to score 28 points for the Mavericks. Spencer Dinwiddie added 26.
After missing the playoffs in 2020 and 2021 in seasons plagued by consecutive injuries, the Warriors are back in a family stage. It is the first team to make six final appearances in a period of eight years since the Chicago Bulls led by Michael Jordan had a pair of three turf between 1991-93 and 1996-98.
Golden State will host the winner of the Eastern Conference final between Boston and Miami on June 2 in the first game of the NBA Finals. The Celtics have a 3-2 lead in Game 6 at home on Friday night.
Golden State is now 9-0 at the Chase Center this postseason, tying the 2017 team with the most consecutive wins at home in a single postseason in NBA history.
The star of this match was Thompson, who sat down for the last two seasons with injuries, but showed flashes of his old self in this clincher. After making just seven triples in the first four games of the series, Thompson had eight that game. He gave the Warriors a 13-point lead in the first half when he hit one from the corner before dancing and added two early in the third quarter to get a 23-point lead.
Dallas reduced a 25-point deficit to eight in the final minute of the third quarter, but was unable to overcome the hump in the fourth.
Slow start
Doncic has usually been a star of the playoffs. His 32.7 points per game in his first 27 playoff games was the second-best result after Jordan’s 33.4 points per game among players with at least 10 playoff games.
But he had a tough start in this playoff game against Golden State. He shot 2 of 10 in the first quarter, with his eight errors tied at most in the first quarter of a playoff game since LeBron James missed nine attempts in the third game of the Conference Finals. He is against Atlanta in 2015.
Doncic held on to six points in the first half, his first half of his postseason career, on 2-of-12 shots before finding his way into the third quarter.