Didn't quite have enough, but it wasn't for a lack of heart or effort.”Ĭurry scored 32 points while missing 10 of his 14 3-point attempts for the sixth-seeded Warriors, whose pursuit of their fifth championship in nine seasons ended with three straight road losses and an inept offensive performance by Curry’s teammates in Game 6, including a 3-of-19 effort by Klay Thompson, who missed 10 of his 12 3-point attempts. But that's why we play: To compete against the best and see what we've got.

“Because these guys are such competitors, it's going to hurt. “The better team won, and I can't fault our players for the effort,” Golden State coach Steve Kerr said. Golden State has played in six of the last eight NBA Finals, missing the playoffs entirely in the other two seasons. James, Davis and the Lakers are the first team since 2014 to eliminate Curry’s Warriors from the playoffs before the NBA Finals. I’m just so excited I get to sit in this seat and enjoy the ride.” “Our vibes stayed positive, and finally our new pieces came together. “It’s been a challenging year, to say the least, but we kept powering through,” first-year head coach Darvin Ham said. They also snapped Golden State’s streak of 28 playoff series with at least one road victory – an NBA-record run encompassing Curry’s entire career. The Lakers improved to 7-0 at home since the regular season ended. The seventh-seeded Lakers will face Nikola Jokic and the top-seeded Nuggets in the Western Conference finals starting Tuesday night in Denver. When you have guys like Bron and AD who have won championships, you always feel like you have a chance, especially with the roster that we have, the talent that we have.”

“I think the seeding things are just numbers.

'It's special to get that win to beat a team that's so established and so good,' Reaves said. Austin Reaves scored 23 points - highlighted by a 54-footer from midcourt at the halftime buzzer - along with six assists and five rebounds while Los Angeles inexorably pulled away, weathering every attempt by Stephen Curry to will the Warriors back into it. Davis had 17 points and 20 rebounds for the Lakers, who never trailed in their third home victory over Golden State in seven days.

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