2023-05-01 22:08:53
For the first time since 1991, the Warriors and Los Angeles Lakers will meet in the NBA playoffs, with their highly anticipated Western Conference semifinal series kicking off Tuesday night at the Chase Center in San Francisco.
The Warriors set up the epic matchup between California’s longtime rivals by pulling off a 120-100 win in Game 7 over the Sacramento Kings on Sunday at the Golden 1 Center.
When scoring a record 50 points in Game 7, Steph Curry will face LeBron James in the postseason for the fifth time (not including their 2021 Western Conference play-in battle). In the previous four meetings, all NBA Finals, the Warriors have won three times.
“It’s amazing because you’re still in the fight, rather than the outside looking in,” Curry told reporters after Sunday’s game when he faced James again. “Having been down 0-2 this season, nothing is guaranteed, you take nothing for granted.
“It’s special to know the first series we played against him in Cleveland in the ’14-15 season so far, we’re lucky to continue playing at this level and we’re excited for a new chapter. Two teams trying to keep their season alive.” and chase a championship. That’s what it’s about.”
James and the Lakers reached the second round of the NBA playoffs by exiting the play-in tournament first and then defeating the No. 2 seed Memphis Grizzlies in the first round.
After playing against the young and fast Kings, the Warriors know that the Lakers present a different challenge.
Los Angeles has been on a roll since the Feb. 9 trade deadline: Since then, they’ve gone 19-8 to finish the regular season with a 43-39 record, good enough to clinch the No. 7 seed. in the West. They beat the Minnesota Timberwolves in the first play-in game.
During the regular season, the Lakers won three of the four meetings, with those three victories coming after the trade deadline.
“They’re totally different from the Kings,” Curry told reporters. “They present many different challenges. We know [a LeBron] very good. We played against them a couple of times since the [fecha límite] of changes and they look extremely different. I know they are playing good basketball. It’s rare, a six and a seven seed series and we have home field advantage so we have to take advantage of that.
“But they’re big, so we need to have everyone focused on our preparation for the next 48 hours. Even if the guys didn’t run a lot in this series, that’s the nature of the playoffs. Going to a different team and a different style everyone needs to be ready to make those adjustments on the fly.”
Klay Thompson, a native of Los Angeles, said he was a “A dream come true” play against the Lakers in the NBA playoffs. His father, Mychal, starred in the Lakers and currently works as one of their announcers.
The Warriors are now 19-0 in the Western Conference playoff series under coach Steve Kerr, and they’ll put that perfect record on the line when they renew their rivalry with the Lakers.
The winner of the Warriors-Lakers series will advance to the Western Conference finals and will face the winner of the series between the No. 1 seed Denver Nuggets and the No. 4 seed Phoenix Suns.
Here’s the full schedule for the best-of-seven Western Conference semifinal series:
game 1: Tuesday, May 2: Lakers at Warriors: 7:00 pm PT-TNT
Game 2: Thursday, May 4: Lakers at Warriors: 6:00 pm PT — ESPN
Game 3: Saturday, May 6: Warriors at Lakers — 5:30 pm PT-ABC
Game 4: Monday, May 8: Warriors at Lakers — 7:00 pm PT-TNT
game 5 (if necessary): Wednesday, May 10 — Lakers vs. Warriors — Time TBD — TNT
game 6 (if necessary) : Friday, May 12 — Warriors vs. Lakers — Time TBD — ESPN
game 7 (if necessary) : Sunday, May 14 — Lakers vs. Warriors — Time TBD — TV TBD
Programming Note: NBC Sports Bay Area will provide full coverage before and after each Warriors-Lakers playoff game. All NBC Sports Bay Area Warriors game and pre- and post-playoff coverage can also be viewed on the NBC Sports app and at NBCSportsBayArea.com.
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