OAKLAND
Geron Christian Jersey , Calif. — The Golden State Warriors can achieve a piece of history Tuesday when they look to close out the New Orleans Pelicans in Game 5 of the Western Conference semifinals.
The Warriors bounced back from a 119-100 thumping at New Orleans in Game 3 with an equally convincing 118-92 romp in Game 4, taking a commanding 3-1 lead in the best-of-seven series.
Golden State can advance to its fourth straight Western Conference finals with a Game 5 win at home, where it has won 14 consecutive playoff games, one shy of the NBA record.
The Chicago Bulls set the standard of 15 straight home wins from April 1990 to May 1991.
Warriors coach Steve Kerr went with a new starting lineup in Game 4, inserting Andre Iguodala alongside All-Stars Stephen Curry, Klay Thompson, Kevin Durant and Draymond Green for the first time in Durant’s two seasons with Golden State.
The result was a 17-4 game-opening burst that created a lead the Warriors never came close to relinquishing.
“You’re on the road and threatened, you put your five best guys out there,” Kerr explained. “To start like that sets a great tone.”
The Warriors dominated the game both offensively and defensively, the latter having been a key to their run to two championships in the last three seasons.
Golden State has won its last nine playoff games — four this season, five last year — when holding the opponent below 100 points
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The Warriors, who have held the home-court advantage in every playoff series in which they’ve participated since Kerr took over as coach for the 2014-15 season, have won Game 5 (always at home) eight of the last nine times a series has reached a fifth game.
Again, the only loss was in the 2016 Finals when the Cavaliers rallied from a 3-1 deficit to stun the defending champs.
The Pelicans, meanwhile, have a bit of positive history to call upon in their quest to stay alive and perhaps advance past the second round for the first time ever.
Known then at the Hornets and down 3-1 in the best-of-seven, New Orleans won 93-91 at Philadelphia in the Eastern semifinals in 2002 — the first year of the New Orleans franchise — to force a Game 6, which they lost at home to the 76ers 107-103.
With their bench having been outscored 134-95 in the four games, the Pelicans have burned their starters big minutes, with Anthony Davis (39.3) and Jrue Holiday (38.2) leading the series in minutes played.
New Orleans coach Alvin Gentry had that in mind when he called off a scheduled workout on Monday in Oakland.
“We do have guys that are playing heavy minutes,” he explained. “Really
Ray Nitschke Jersey , all the starters are playing real heavy minutes. I thought it would be a good idea today to let their minds rest, their bodies rest.”
The Pelicans have played their best in the series when rested.
The clubs got two days off in Oakland after Golden State’s 123-101 victory in Game 1. The Pelicans rebounded with a strong effort in Game 2, falling just 121-116 on the road.
Then after two more days off, New Orleans was re-energized at home and responded with its 119-100 triumph.
The teams were then rushed back from a Friday night to a Sunday afternoon for Game 4, during which the Pelicans shot just 4 of 26 on 3-pointers after having scorched the nets for 14 of 31 in the Game 3 win.
RENTON, Wash. (AP) — Pete Carroll insisted through the offseason the Seattle Seahawks would return to their roots of being based around a solid run game.
They’ll need to be that way at least in the short term, with wide receiver Doug Baldwin likely out the next couple of games because of an MCL injury in his right knee suffered in the season-opening loss to Denver.
Carroll was evasive about an exact timeline on Baldwin and vague about the specifics of the injury. He said it would be “maybe a couple of weeks” for Baldwin, but would only say it would be difficult for Baldwin to be able to play next Monday against Chicago. As for the injury itself, Carroll said “he does have MCL issues,” but provided no other details.
No matter how long Baldwin is out, it’s bad news for Seattle’s offense
http://www.chicagobearsteamonline.com/mark-sanchez-jersey , which showed flashes in the opener against Denver but had too much inconsistency, especially on third downs.
“He’ll be able to get back from this. He’ll come back from it. It just depends. We’ve got to see it through,” Carroll said. “It’s really early in the year and we have to take care of him and look after him first and foremost and then we’ll only do what he is capable of doing.”
Baldwin was injured in the first quarter of Sunday’s 27-24 loss to Denver. He was rolled up on from behind and left the game, only to return for a brief stint in the second quarter. Baldwin changed out of his uniform into sweats and watched the second half from the Seattle sideline. He played just 11 of 55 offensive snaps.
To add depth at wide receiver, Seattle moved Keenan Reynolds from the practice squad to the active roster and released safety Shalom Luani, who was acquired in a trade with Oakland at the end of training camp.
While the absence of Baldwin will put more attention on veteran Brandon Marshall and Tyler Lockett, the biggest boost to Seattle’s offense would be getting its run game going. Seattle had 16 total rushing attempts against the Broncos, 14 of those by running backs. Chris Carson and Rashaad Penny each had seven carries, although Carson was far more productive and appears to have earned the nod as the primary ball carrier.
Carson finished with 51 yards on his seven carries, along with three receptions. Carroll said Penny is still regaining his form after missing the final couple weeks of the preseason following hand surgery.
“Chris was really good and really aggressive with the plays that he had,” Carroll said. “Rashaad looked a little rusty to me and I visited with him about it. He had only one really good week of practice coming back and it wasn’t enough. He needs more work. He wasn’t as responsive as he was before he had to sit out a little while.”
The reasons for Seattle’s lack of a run game were plenty
Peyton Manning Jersey , including penalties and down-and-distance situations. But the biggest culprit was Seattle’s inability to extend drives. Seattle was just 2 of 12 on third downs and had no conversions in the first half, when it ran a mere 24 offensive plays.
Seattle’s first third-down conversion didn’t come until midway through the third quarter, when Russell Wilson hit Marshall on a 20-yard touchdown on third-and-7. Carroll was most irritated about Seattle missing on several third downs of five yards or less.
“Every one of them should have been conversions. That changes the complexion of everything about the game,” Carroll said.
NOTES: Carroll said there were no other injuries of significance coming out of the game. … Rookie LB Shaquem Griffin had a rough debut with a few mistakes, Carroll said. Griffin had two tackles and saw Austin Calitro take some of his playing time. “He had some problems on some stuff,” Carroll said. “He got fooled on a couple of things, but he played hard, played tough.”
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