Oakland, Calif. • The Golden State Warriors had something to prove all right: Oh yes, they plan to stay on top in these playoffs despite a disappointing finish to the regular season.
Kevin Durant helped the defending champions get defensive in a hurry, finishing with 24 points, eight rebounds and seven assists and the Warriors returned to their old dominant selves at playoff time to beat the cold-shooting San Antonio Spurs 113-92 on Saturday.
“Absolutely,” Klay Thompson said about playing a memorable, statement-making Game 1. “We did not end the season on a high note, we kind of hobbled into the playoffs. We know how talented we are. We know how good we are. We have been here before in the postseason and know what it takes to win.”
And they still know how to win in impressive fashion on the NBA’s big stage.
Durant, Thompson and Draymond Green took charge in Game 1 of the first-round series to elevate the Warriors’ intensity at last playing without fellow All-Star and injured two-time MVP Stephen Curry, sidelined since March 23 with a sprained left knee.
Thompson found his shooting touch and scored 27 points, making 11 of 13 shots, while 7-footer JaVale McGee started in Steve Kerr’s center-by-committee approach and contributed 15 points, four rebounds and two blocked shots in 16 minutes. Green contributed 12 points, 11 assists and eight rebounds.
Rudy Gay led the Spurs with 15 points off the bench as leading scorer LaMarcus Aldridge was limited to 14 points on 5-for-12 shooting.
“The first quarter we looked like deer in the headlights,” Spurs coach Gregg Popovich said.
The Warriors looked unbeatable again. And that was without the do-everything Curry.
Golden State said all week it’s a new season, then went out and showed it. The Warriors have plans for nothing short of a repeat title.
“We’re a championship ballclub. We know what it takes this time a year to win,” Green said. “... We’re primed for this. A lot of people tend to forget what we’re capable of. We know.”
Golden State came with the kind of swarming defense it is so used to playing but hadn’t exhibited much lately as rotations were mixed and matched because of injuries and illness.
San Antonio couldn’t keep up from the opening tip.
Pelicans 97, Trail Blazers 95 • In Portland, Ore., Anthony Davis had 35 points, 14 rebounds and four blocks, and New Orleans beat the Trail Blazers to steal home-court advantage.
Jrue Holiday added 21 points, outplaying both Damian Lillard and CJ McCollum, and had a big blocked shot in the closing seconds as New Orleans held on after Portland erased almost all of a 19-point deficit.
The sixth-seeded Pelicans were the only road team to win on the opening day of the NBA playoffs.
Lillard finished with 18 points, seven rebounds and seven assists, while McCollum had 19 points.
Raptors 114, Wizards 106 • In Toronto, for the first time in almost 17 years, the Toronto Raptors are off to a winning start in a playoff series.
Not that they’re overly excited about it.
Serge Ibaka had 23 points and 12 rebounds, Delon Wright scored 11 of his 18 points in the fourth quarter, and the Raptors snapped a 10-game losing streak in playoff openers by beating the Washington Wizards 114-106 on Saturday.
“It’s out of the way now,” DeMar DeRozan said of the streak. “Worry about Game 2.”
DeRozan scored 17 points, C.J. Miles and OG Anunoby each had 12 and Kyle Lowry had 11 points and nine assists for the Raptors, whose only previous victory in the opening game of a playoff series came in the second round at Philadelphia on May 6, 2001.
Toronto entered having lost an NBA-worst 10 consecutive Game 1s since, including six at home.
“I think the fans are more relieved than we are,” Wright said.
Raptors coach Dwane Casey said his team, the top seed in the Eastern Conference, is focused on more than Game 1.
“We’re not satisfied,” Casey said. “We’re in this for the long run.”
Toronto put its streak in the past by hitting 16 of 30 3-point attempts, a team record for a postseason game.
“We let a few of their guys that just can flat-out shoot, shoot a lot of 3s,” Wizards coach Scott Brooks said.
Miles made four from long range, while Ibaka and Wright each hit three.
“I always thought Serge was going to be the X-factor with his shooting when they double-team Kyle and DeMar,” Casey said. “His 3-point shooting is huge.”
Brooks called Ibaka “one of the best, if not the best, big man shooter in the league.”
76ers 130, Heat 103 • In Philadelphia, Ben Simmons had 17 points, 14 assists and nine rebounds in his playoff debut, and the 76ers romped again without Joel Embiid, winning their 17th straight.
Simmons dished and dazzled in the paint, and the Heat had no answer for Sixers reserves Marco Belinelli and Ersan Ilyasova. Belinelli and Ilyasova combined to hit four 3-pointers in the third quarter that helped shift the tone from physical and foul-filled to a long-distance game that allowed the Sixers to put away this one. They used a 15-0 run in the third in their first postseason game in five seasons under coach Brett Brown to get the rout rolling.
Brown won 47 games his first three seasons as the Sixers underwent the Process — and 52, plus Game 1 this season.
