Golden State guard Stephen Curry, right, celebrates with Klay Thompson after their win over the Sacramento Kings in Game 4 of a first-round playoff series Sunday in San Francisco. The series heads back to Sacramento tied at 2-2. Jeff Chiu/Associated Press
SAN FRANCISCO — Stephen Curry scored 32 points but gave Sacramento a late chance when he called a timeout Golden State didn’t have, and the defending champion Warriors held on to beat the Kings 126-125 on Sunday when Harrison Barnes missed a 3-pointer at the buzzer, evening their playoff series at two games apiece.
De’Aaron Fox had 38 points, nine rebounds and five assists for Sacramento. His 3-pointer with 28.7 seconds left pulled the Kings within one, and then Curry missed a 16-foot jumper on the other end and Keegan Murray corralled the rebound. With Curry and Draymond Green defending, Fox dished to Barnes for the potential game-winning 3, which hit the back of the rim.
Golden State led 126-121 with 42.4 seconds left when Curry called the excessive timeout, and Malik Monk made the technical free throw for Sacramento.
Klay Thompson made a baseline 3-pointer to beat the third-quarter buzzer and another with 3:24 left, finishing with 26 points for the Warriors.
Game 5 in the best-of-seven series is Wednesday night at Sacramento’s Golden 1 Center.
Curry’s 3 with 4:10 remaining gave Golden State a 121-117 lead, and he finished 11 for 22 with five 3s while dueling all afternoon with Fox.
Draymond Green came off the bench after serving a one-game suspension while the Warriors dominated Game 3 without him. Given the momentum and success, Coach Steve Kerr stuck with Jordan Poole in the starting five Sunday.
Poole scored 22 points, Andrew Wiggins added 18 points and eight rebounds, and Kevon Looney pulled down 14 rebounds to go with eight points and six assists.
Knicks guard Jalen Brunson reacts after a 3-pointer Sunday against the Cleveland Cavaliers. Brunson led the Knicks with 29 points in a 102-93 win. Mary Altaffer/Associated Press
KNICKS 102, CAVALIERS 93: Jalen Brunson scored 29 points, RJ Barrett had 26, and New York took a 3-1 lead over Cleveland in their first-round playoff series with a win in New York.
Josh Hart moved into the starting lineup and added 19 points and seven rebounds for the fifth-seeded Knicks, who can reach the second round for the first time since 2013 with a victory in Cleveland on Wednesday. New York would host Game 6, if necessary, on Friday at what has been a deafening Madison Square Garden during the last two games that were dominant defensively.
New York forced Cleveland All-Star Donovan Mitchell into one of the worst games of his postseason career, finishing with just 11 points on 5-for-18 shooting. Darius Garland had 23 points and 10 assists for the Cavs, bouncing back nicely after going 4 for 21 in the Knicks’ Game 3 romp. Jarrett Allen and Caris LeVert each scored 14 points.
Barrett was only 6 for 25 in the two games in Cleveland but has been outstanding back at home, where fans chanted his name in the second half. He had five straight points to break the Knicks free from a 75-all tie, then added another basket before Hart scored to push it to 90-81 midway during a stretch when Cleveland could only manage two baskets in more than four minutes.
After limiting the Cavs to the lowest point total in an NBA game this season on Friday, the Knicks led most of the way in this one to reach the verge of the Eastern Conference semifinals for the first time since beating Boston in the first round in 2013.
They’ve only made it back to the playoffs once since then, falling in five games to Atlanta in 2021. But this team is more complete, thanks largely to signing Brunson last summer and acquiring Hart from Portland during this season.
Starting together for the first time since they were college teammates at Villanova, that duo combined for 20 of the Knicks’ 30 points in the first quarter, which ended with them leading by seven.
New York pushed it to double digits in the second quarter, and Brunson’s 3-pointer midway through the second made it 46-31. The Knicks were ahead 54-45 at halftime.
But Garland got the first two baskets of the third quarter, set up Cleveland’s next three scores, then had the Cavs’ next two field goals to tie it at 59. His three-point play gave Cleveland a 66-63 lead, and he had 11 points and five assists in the quarter, before Brunson made a 3-pointer with 6.2 seconds left that sent the Knicks to the fourth with a 73-71 edge.
NOTES
HEAT: Miami guard Victor Oladipo tore his left patellar tendon, a diagnosis that came after an MRI on Sunday. The injury ends Oladipo’s season and calls his availability for the start of next season – and likely beyond – into serious doubt. He will need a third major surgery in just over four years, the previous two coming after a quadriceps injury over his right knee.
Oladipo’s is the second significant injury for the Heat in the first three games of this postseason against Milwaukee. Eighth-seeded Miami holds a 2-1 lead over the top-seeded Bucks going into Game 4 on Monday night. Tyler Herro was lost for at least six weeks, which probably means the rest of the season no matter how far Miami advances, when he broke his right hand in Game 1 at Milwaukee.
Herro’s injury seemed to open a door for Oladipo to have a bigger role in Miami’s guard rotation. Oladipo played 26 minutes in Game 2 and 19 before getting hurt in Game 3.
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