Kevin Durant drove coast-to-coast just before halftime for a monster two-handed slam.

Klay Thompson swished a turnaround fadeaway as the halftime buzzer sounded and scurried for the tunnel hands raised high in triumph. Stephen Curry Jack Doyle Jersey , in street clothes, hopped up and down on his injured left knee celebrating wildly with his Splash Brother.

Draymond Green pounded the glass at every chance for another spectacular rebounding night.

The defending champions are back, all right. They are rolling. And Curry could be close to putting on a uniform again.

”I hope, but I’m not going to expect it because I don’t want to get my hopes up and not have them fulfilled,” Thompson said. ”If he doesn’t play, we’re prepared. If he does play, hallelujah.”

Golden State has endured barely a blip so far, losing only Game 4 of its first-round series against San Antonio before closing out the Spurs with Tuesday night’s 99-91 victory.

They will open the best-of-seven Western Conference semifinals against New Orleans in Saturday’s Game 1 at Oracle Arena. Former Warriors top assistant Alvin Gentry coaches the Pelicans.

”Well, fortunately, Alvin Gentry really doesn’t know what he’s doing,” coach Steve Kerr cracked. ”That’s a joke.”

For weeks ahead of the playoffs, the Warriors hardly looked like the super team that dominated through last year’s postseason. Yet Kerr and his players insisted all along they would find another level and groove when the stage got bigger in April – and they were spot on in those sentiments.

The defense has been stellar.

And the Warriors could be at full strength again soon, with Curry ready to lead the show once he’s healthy from a sprained medial collateral ligament.

The three other All-Stars and a cast of reliable role players have handled things beautifully without him.

”We’re a championship team. We know what type of defense we need to play,” Green said. ”I think throughout the regular season Shelby Harris Jersey , you want to get there every night, but it’s just not realistic, especially coming off a championship.”

Sure, Golden State might not make another remarkable, record-setting 16-1 run through the postseason again, but Kerr’s pass-happy bunch sure looks to be back in top form going into the next round.

And Green is leading the way by doing everything on both ends as usual. He grabbed a playoff-career high 19 rebounds in Game 5 after getting 18 his previous outing.

”We expect him to continue to play with this edge because when he does and he’s played with great emotion and passion, that’s when he’s at his best,” Thompson said.

Curry will be re-evaluated later this week as he continues to do more on-court work recovering from a sprained medial collateral ligament in his left knee.

He got hurt March 23 on the very night he returned from a six-game absence with his latest ankle injury. It was bad luck, too, as center JaVale McGee fell into him.

Soon, Kerr hopes, he will have his starting lineup intact again and his rotations more reliable – no longer having to piece things together as he did late in the regular season while using an astonishing 27 different starting lineups to get through and wind up a No. 2 seed this time.

”Steph has been coming into the gym every day working and he’s doing his thing and we are doing ours,” Kerr said. ”We are just hoping for the best. Not making any predictions.”

Golden State has won a franchise-record 12 consecutive postseason home games and 20 of the last 22 in the playoffs overall.

Kerr will push his players to keep the momentum from this series and build off all of the things the Warriors did so well.

”We played hard. We played really hard,” he said. ”We played together and stayed with it. We held them to 37 percent shooting tonight which is great. Our defensive effort for the five games was fantastic. It’s obviously going to get more difficult now as we go Mike White Jersey , so we’ve got to just keep going.”

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By sticking with Philipp Grubauer in net for Game 2, the Washington Capitals are taking a page from the Philadelphia Flyers‘ most recent goaltending decision.

Of course, it was an entirely different book after the Pittsburgh Penguins chased Brian Elliott in a 7-0 drubbing in the first game of their series. Grubauer was hardly to blame for allowing four goals on 27 shots in an undisciplined Game 1 overtime loss to the Columbus Blue Jackets.

But after Elliott rebounded to validate coach Dave Hakstol’s decision to go back to him, and Philadelphia tied the Battle of Pennsylvania at a game apiece, Washington’s Barry Trotz didn’t hesitate in going back to Grubauer in a crucial spot (7:30 p.m. EDT, NBCSN) instead of switching to Braden Holtby.

”There was nothing in that game that you’d say, why you would make a change?” Trotz said. ”Philipp’s been really good. … So, we’ll go back with Grubi; I’ve got a lot of confidence in him, and we’ll be ready.”

Goaltending could make all the difference for the Flyers against the Penguins and the Capitals against the Blue Jackets. But the two teams going into Sunday down 2-0 in their series are getting incredible play at the position and are still in trouble. In the Western Conference, Minnesota’s Devan Dubnyk almost stole Game 1 for the overmatched Wild against the powerhouse Winnipeg Jets, and Los Angeles‘ Jonathan Quick has stopped 81 of 84 shots and lost twice to the Vegas Golden Knights.

No one would confuse Elliott with Quick based on his history of playoff struggles and his hook-worth performance when he gave up five goals on 19 shots in the series opener. But he stopped 34 of 35 shots to steal home ice from the two-time defending Stanley Cup champions going into Game 3 Sunday (3 p.m., NBC).

”I thought he was our first star,” Hakstol said. ”He battled hard and made big saves at key times. I think that’s probably the most important thing.”

Dubnyk has been one of Minnesota’s most important players so far, but has been hung out to dry against an offensively potent Winnipeg team. He made 37 saves in Game 1 Ryan Grant Jersey , 40 more in Game 2 and the Wild still go home (7 p.m. EDT, USA) trying to avoid falling behind 3-0.

Playing without injured No. 1 defenseman Ryan Suter, the Wild have been outshot 84-37, putting pressure on Dubnyk to be the hero.

”You’re not going to win many getting 14 shots, 15 shots, 20 shots,” winger Zach Parise said. ”There’s just not a lot of room for error. He’s playing great. He’s giving us a chance. And we’re not really giving ourselves much of a chance.”

Quick has given the Kings even stronger goaltending, including 54 saves in a double-overtime loss at Vegas on Friday night. It’ll help Los Angeles to get top defenseman Drew Doughty back from his one-game suspension for Game 3 (10:30, NBCSN), which might be enough of a boost if Quick continues to stop this high a volume of shots.

”You’re just trying to make the next save,” Quick said. ”It’s a playoff game. You have to stay in the moment. Just like everyone. Just try and make the next save.”

Grubauer, who started just his second NHL playoff game Thursday, is staying in the moment so much he’s expecting to start until Trotz tells him otherwise. Washington’s coach deemed it a game-to-game decision, so even though Grubauer wasn’t bad Ethan Westbrooks Jersey , adjustments are necessary with the 2016 Vezina Trophy winner ready at a moment’s notice.

”You just look at the tape, I made some adjustments and worked on it today in practice,” Grubauer said.

Counterpart Sergei Bobrovsky has spent countless hours at practice trying to sharpen his game for the playoffs after struggling in three previous appearances. Bobrovsky stopped 27 of 30 shots in Game 1 against the Capitals and gives Columbus some high-level consistency in net that few playoff teams can count on.

”We’re just happy to see Bob play like Bob,” captain Nick Foligno said. ”We don’t need him to be the superstar. It’s just that’s his capabilities.”

INJURIES

The Blue Jackets will be without center Alexander Wennberg for Game 3 after a hit from the head by Washington’s Tom Wilson that went unpunished beyond a minor penalty. Coach John Tortorella didn’t care about the lack of punishment and is more worried about how 21-year-old Sonny Milano handles his second postseason game.

”There’s still a lot of things he needs to learn, but he can make an offensive play,” Tortorella said. ”So we’re going to give him a whack at this here and see where we go.”

The Capitals expect to get fourth-line center Jay Beagle back after missing the past four games with an upper-body injury, and should still have right winger T.J. Oshie and defenseman Michal Kempny in the lineup.

Pittsburgh defenseman Kris Letang will at least travel to Philadelphia after taking a maintenance day off Saturday. Wild coach Bruce Boudreau said he was giving Matt Dumba a rest after playing over 57 minutes and expects the defenseman to be good to go for Game 3.

BROTHERLY BLOOD

Columbus’ Nick Foligno and brother Marcus, a forward for Minnesota, are in the playoffs together for the first time and got off to a rough-and-tumble start. Nick took a slap shot to the face Thursday night, and Marcus got involved in a scrap late in Minnesota’s loss Friday night.

The two text regularly to give each other tips. Marcus had an easy one for Nick after the puck to the cheek.

”He said: `You’re a Kevin Hervey Jersey ,