NBA play-offs: Curry, Warriors rally past Mavs for 2-0 lead in Western Conference finals

Dallas' Luka Doncic scored 42 points and the Mavericks led most of the way before Golden State grabbed its first lead of the night on Otto Porter Jr.’s 3-pointer 18 seconds into the fourth. You could see a momentum shift at that moment.

Dallas Mavericks guard Luka Doncic (77) shoots against Golden State Warriors forward Andrew Wiggins during Game 2 of the Western Conference finals in San Francisco

LUKA Doncic had been dominating for most of the night, yelling in celebration and flexing his arms in Stephen Curry’s house.

Then Curry and the Golden State Warriors delivered one of those signature third-quarter flurries that have defined so many of their postseason runs — with this one sparked by Kevon Looney.

Just like that, the Warriors are two wins from getting back to another NBA Finals. 

“Night night,” Curry declared as a 3-pointer went through the net in the waning moments.

Curry scored 32 points with six 3-pointers and eight more rebounds, Looney had a career-high 21 points and 12 rebounds, and the Warriors rallied past the Dallas Mavericks 126-117 on Friday for a 2-0 lead in the Western Conference finals.

“I feel honored just to be a part of the ride,” Looney said.

Doncic scored 42 points and the Mavericks led most of the way before Golden State grabbed its first lead of the night on Otto Porter Jr.’s 3-pointer 18 seconds into the fourth. Curry could see a momentum shift at that moment.

“We have that attitude and spirit that we’re never out of it,” Curry said.

Doncic had 18 points in the first quarter, two shy of his 20-point Game 1 total. His 3-pointer with 13 seconds before halftime — the Mavs’ 15th of the first half — made it 72-58 at the break and gave him 24 points.

Doncic even got a Twitter shoutout from Oakland’s own MC Hammer: “Ok young Luka … We see you.” 

But Golden State answered with a 25-13 third quarter to pull to 85-83 going into fourth — coming out of halftime with a performance reminiscent of those thrilling third quarters of past. The Warriors trailed by 19 at one point.

“We know how good they are as a third-quarter team,” Dallas forward Reggie Bullock said. “It’s just something that slipped away from us as the game continued to go on.” 

Doncic shot 12 for 23 and shined in a game of brilliant shotmaking — the Warriors finished 56.1% from the floor. In the first half alone, Dallas edged Golden State 52.3% to 51.2%, including a remarkable 55.6% to 53.3% from 3-point range.

“Against someone that good you’re just trying to limit the easy stuff,” Warriors coach Steve Kerr said.

Looney then had 11 points on 5-for-6 shooting in the third and Golden State outscored Dallas 68-45 after halftime.

“It’s the Warriors. They have a great team. They’re a championship team. We’ve got to adjust our defense,” Doncic said. ”... We were up 19, so it’s a tough situation. But we can’t look back. What happened, happened. So we’ve got to move on.” 

The series shifts to Dallas for Game 3 on Sunday. Golden State is two wins from a return to the NBA Finals for the first time since making five straight trips from 2015-19.

“We’re on the road against one of the best teams in the league. It happens. They held serve,” Mavs coach Jason Kidd said. “We’ve seen this in Phoenix so now we have to go back and just focus on Game 3.” 

Associated Press