Curry, Warriors outgun Doncic, Mavs in West finals series opener

SAN FRANCSCO: Stephen Curry scored 21 points as the Golden State Warriors bottled up Luka Doncic and the Dallas Mavericks to win their Western Conference finals series opener 112-87 on Wednesday.

Three days after Doncic destroyed the Phoenix Suns with a virtuoso performance, the Slovenian star found the going harder against a ruthless Golden State at San Francisco’s Chase Center.

Dallas had rained in buckets against Phoenix in Arizona on Sunday, but the scoring dried up against the six-time NBA champions.

The Warriors started slowly but pulled clear decisively in the second half after leading 54-45 at half-time.

With Doncic appearing to be nursing a sore shoulder, the Warriors outscored the visitors 34-24 in the third quarter to lead by 19 points heading into the final period.

An 8-0 start to the fourth quarter left the Warriors cruising 27 points clear at 96-69 to effectively put the game out of reach.

Warriors coach Steve Kerr was able to withdraw his starters with five minutes left in the game, earning valuable rest for what could be a long series.

Curry led the scoring with 21 points, 12 rebounds and four assists, while Jordan Poole and Andrew Wiggins had 19 points apiece.

“We did what we were supposed to do — we won the first game, but there’s a lot of work left,” Curry said.

“We had a specific game plan coming in and for the most part we executed it. It’s going to take that same effort three more times to beat this team.

“They’re a really good team. You’ve got to stay locked in. Hopefully we’ll come out on Friday (in game two) and get it done again.”

Klay Thompson failed to score a point in the first two quarters but got into the groove in the second half with 15 points. Seven Warriors players finished