South Africa allrounder Dwaine Pretorius will join Northamptonshire for this season's Vitality T20 Blast.

The 30-year-old Pretorius will link up with the Steelbacks squad for the tournament, which begins in mid-July, alongside another newcomer to Wantage Road, Faheem Ashraf of Pakistan. Pretorius may also be available for selection for the County Championship match against Worcestershire in August.

Pretorius is part of South Africa's squad for the World Cup starting on May 30, having played 19 ODIs and four T20Is.

"I am really stoked to be joining Northamptonshire for the T20 Blast and for some red ball cricket," Pretorius said. "I have always wanted to play county cricket - personally it's a dream come true and I can't wait for the opportunity. I will be doing everything I can to help the Steelbacks lift the cup and I'm thankful for the opportunity to be part of the team."

In his T20 career to date, Pretorius has scored 1426 runs with a strike rate of 141.46 - including 77 not out off just 42 balls against Sri Lanka in Johannesburg in March - and has taken 72 wickets with an economy rate of 8.22. He will join Northamptonshire subject to a No-Objection Certificate (NOC) being granted by CSA.

Northants head coach David Ripley said: "It's great to have Dwaine joining us for the T20 campaign. He is very hungry for his opportunity and gives us another hard-hitting allrounder in our line up, which in this format is always great to have."

Did Virat Kohli mock R Ashwin's controversial run-out of Jos Buttler after he caught his India team-mate at the long-on boundary? Paul Collingwood, former England captain and a staunch critic of the run-out of Buttler, certainly noticed it.

Love @imVkohli reaction catching @ashwinravi99 Great entertainment @RCBTweets and @IPL !! Mother cricket always gets you!! #mankad

— Paul Collingwood (@Colly622) April 24, 2019

With 27 required off the last over against Kohli's Royal Challengers Bangalore, Kings XI Punjab's captain Ashwin hit the first ball for a six. The next only made it as far as Kohli at the long-on boundary. Kohli made a hand gesture before moving his right hand - which held the ball - behind his body, an action not too dissimilar to flicking the bails behind you when you effect the run-out without delivering the ball.

Ashwin then proceeded to throw his gloves furiously upon reaching the dugout. He was asked about what had been going on between him and Kohli - Ashwin has been animated whenever his side has got Kohli out. Ashwin's response was short and crisp: "I just play with passion, so does he. That's it. As simple as that."

No current India cricketer has openly come out in support of Ashwin - or made any comment - on the run-out debate whereas current England cricketers - and others - have taken to Twitter to criticise him. The support for Ashwin has only come from former cricketers.

Ashwin did pull out of his delivery during his match against Delhi Capitals with Shikhar Dhawan, the non-striker, not leaving the crease. When Ashwin ran in to bowl the next ball, Dhawan danced outside the crease but with the bat inside it. Kohli reacted similarly when Sunil Narine pulled out of his delivery but without any intention to run the non-striker out. He squatted low to send the message he was doing all he can to keep his bat inside the crease.

Sam Billings' return to action for Kent lasted just a matter of minutes, as he suffered a dislocated shoulder that may rule him out of England's ODI trip to Ireland next week.

Billings, Kent's captain, had returned to the team for his first county fixture of the season, against Glamorgan at Cardiff in the Royal London Cup, after completing his stint with Chennai Super Kings in the IPL.

However, he suffered a dislocated left shoulder in attempting to stop a shot in Harry Podmore's first over of the match.

In obvious pain, Billings was left prone on the outfield for several minutes, and treated with oxygen before being helped from the field.

Kent later confirmed that he had been taken to hospital, where the shoulder was relocated, and returned to Sophia Gardens afterwards. He is scheduled to see a specialist on Friday, where he will undergo scans.

Billings had not been included in England's 15-man squad for next month's World Cup, but was likely to play against Ireland in Dublin next Friday, and had also been named for the one-off T20I against Pakistan in Cardiff two days later.

He is one of a number of concerns for England, particularly among their batsmen, as they build towards the World Cup opener against South Africa at The Oval on May 30.

Jason Roy is missing for Surrey in the latest round of Royal London Cup games, after suffering a back spasm earlier this week, while Eoin Morgan also sat out the same fixture for Middlesex after complaining of sore shins before the toss.

Kent's other England selection, Joe Denly, was not included for the trip to Glamorgan after himself suffering a back spasm while batting against Gloucestershire on Tuesday.

Alex Hales, meanwhile, has been put on indefinite leave by Nottinghamshire for personal reasons, but is expected to link up with the England squad for a pre-season training camp in Cardiff this weekend.

Toss: Rajasthan Royals chose to bowl v Kolkata Knight Riders

Rajasthan Royals captain Steven Smith decided to field first against Kolkata Knight Riders at the Eden Gardens on Thursday. Smith said that it was a welcome change to play on a slightly more grassy pitch, which his opposite number Dinesh Karthik also said would help the batsmen.

The home side have dropped Harry Gurney and KC Cariappa, and have brought in Prasidh Krishna and Carlos Brathwaite. That means there was still no room in the XI for Robin Uthappa and Kuldeep Yadav, who had been left out in Knight Riders' previous game, against Sunrisers Hyderabad.

Royals have given an IPL debut to fast bowler Oshane Thomas and also added Varun Aaron, dropping Ashton Turner and Dhawal Kulkarni.

Knight Riders are looking to break their five-match losing streak this season, having slid down to sixth on the points table after beginning the season well. They also have the worst bowling economy rate, conceding runs at 9.10 per over in IPL 2019. Royals have had problems of their own, chiefly to do with their team's batting and bowling not clicking together. They are currently in last place on the table with just six points.

Kolkata Knight Riders: 1 Chris Lynn, 2 Sunil Narine, 3 Shubman Gill, 4 Nitish Rana, 5 Dinesh Karthik (capt, wk), 6 Andre Russell, 7 Carlos Brathwaite, 8 Rinku Singh, 9 Piyush Chawla, 10 Prithvi Raj, 11 Prasidh Krishna

Rajasthan Royals: 1 Ajinkya Rahane, 2 Sanju Samson (wk), 3 Steven Smith, 4 Ben Stokes, 5 Riyan Parag, 6 Stuart Binny, 7 Jofra Archer, 8 Shreyas Gopal, 9 Jaydev Unadkat, 10 Oshane Thomas, 11 Varun Aaron

NEW YORK -- A video recording of a conversation about paying college coaches and athletes that was played Wednesday in the college basketball corruption trial featured aspiring sports agent Christian Dawkins promoting his connections to top coaches, including Arizona's Sean Miller.

At one point in the June 6, 2017, recording, Dawkins -- who is on trial for having allegedly bribed college coaches -- talks about incoming Arizona player Deandre Ayton and says Miller told him, "I'm taking care of everything myself. I wanna bring you in. I'll turn everything over to you."

The recording played while prosecutors questioned former financial adviser Marty Blazer, who was present for the conversation and said the reference was about Miller "taking care" of payments for Ayton.

"Sean Miller has to know everything that's going on. I can call Sean and have a conversation ... like this is what is needing to be done," Dawkins said on the video. He said that Miller is, "talking on the phone about stuff he shouldn't be talking on the phone about."

U.S. District Court Judge Edgardo Ramos ruled Friday that defense attorneys could not subpoena Miller and LSU's Will Wade to testify during the federal bribery trial. Steven Haney, Dawkins' lead attorney, said he was going to file a motion Thursday morning asking the judge to reconsider his decision about Miller.

"We are aware of the reports of the testimony today by a Government witness. We will continue to monitor the proceedings," the University of Arizona said in a statement. "As has been stated previously, the University of Arizona is committed to the highest standards of integrity and ethical conduct in all of our athletic programs and our commitment to those principles is unwavering."

The recording played Wednesday was of a meeting on a yacht docked in Manhattan, where Dawkins met with Blazer, his business partner Munish Sood and -- unbeknownst to Dawkins and Sood at the time -- two undercover FBI agents posing as potential investors in Dawkins' and Sood's new athlete financial services agency.

Dawkins and ex-Adidas consultant Merl Code are facing a series of bribery-related charges in connection with the alleged payments made to assistant basketball coaches in exchange for the coaches' persuading their top players to sign with Dawkins' new agency when they turned pro.

In August, Sood pleaded guilty to felony conspiracy to commit bribery, along with other charges, and he has been a witness for the government. Blazer began cooperating with the government in 2014, as part of an arranged plea deal after he was caught in an investment fraud scheme for which he pleaded guilty in September 2017.

In October 2018, a jury convicted Code, Dawkins and former Adidas executive James Gatto of conspiracy and fraud charges in the first federal case involving a pay-for-play scheme to send top recruits to Adidas-sponsored schools, including Kansas, Louisville and NC State. A judge sentenced Code and Dawkins to six months and Gatto to nine months in federal prison.

Much of the testimony and playback of phone calls and videos Wednesday included several references Dawkins made to the influence college coaches had on players and his connections. Blazer testified that part of the plan was to pay college coaches to gain early access to their top NBA-bound players, so they could gain influence and form relationships before the players knew their true worth.

Prosecutors showed a screenshot of a text message that Blazer said was Dawkins' list of coaches he planned to target. At the top, it said, "These are my main guys," and it included several names of schools and coaches, including six head coaches at the time: Michigan State's Tom Izzo, LSU's Wade, UNLV's Marvin Menzies, Louisville's Rick Pitino, North Carolina State's Kevin Keatts and Arizona's Miller, whose name was listed first. Pitino and Menzies have since been fired.

Some of the other schools on the list, along with names of assistant coaches, were Alabama, Arizona State, Cleveland State, Creighton, DePaul, Miami, Michigan, Oregon, Texas, Texas A&M and USC. The list did not indicate any payments to coaches, nor whether those coaches were contacted.

Blazer also testified that he met with the following assistant coaches: Yasir Rosemond from Alabama, Anthony Coleman from Arizona State and Amir Abdur-Rahim from Texas A&M (now Kennesaw State's head coach), but he did not provide any further details Wednesday of his meetings with those coaches. He said he met with USC's Bland, as well as Creighton assistant coach Preston Murphy, who Blazer said took $6,000 at the meeting and arranged to be set up on a monthly retainer.

In the video taken aboard the yacht, Dawkins also talks about his relationship with former Arizona assistant Emanuel "Book" Richardson, whom Dawkins said was worth paying $4,000 a month because Arizona would have top-10 picks every year.

Richardson, along with fellow ex-coaches Tony Bland (USC) and Lamont Evans (South Carolina and Oklahoma State) have already pleaded guilty to bribery conspiracy charges and are awaiting sentencing in their connection with the pay-to-play scheme.

Richardson admitted to accepting $20,000 in bribes. Richardson said he planned to use $15,000 to entice a high-profile prospect to sign with the Wildcats.

A fourth ex-assistant coach -- Chuck Person of Auburn -- has pleaded guilty to bribery conspiracy and is awaiting sentencing. He had been scheduled to go to trial in June, along with Rashan Michel, a former college and NBA referee who ran a successful custom-suit business in Atlanta and is still under indictment.

Defense attorneys said in their opening statements Tuesday that Dawkins and Code were opposed to paying coaches, saying it was a "waste of money," and that the undercover FBI agents were the ones pushing that plan.

But in testimony Wednesday, Blazer said Dawkins had already been making payments to Evans, then at South Carolina, and Blazer ended up taking over those payments.

In a recording of a meeting Blazer had with Evans, Sood and Dawkins in March 2016, Evans and Dawkins talk frequently about the influence Evans -- or coaches in general -- have on players, specifically on whom they choose to work with when they turn pro.

In a recording of a conversation Dawkins had with Blazer and Sood in the car after meeting with Evans, Dawkins said Evans was "going to bring you, give you access to the situation, the parents, whatever." At one point, Dawkins says to them, "you can never get caught up," which, Blazer testified, meant that the coach would get in trouble -- possibly fired -- if his payments were discovered.

Blazer said Dawkins told him that he had been going to South Carolina once a month to pay Evans $2,500 in cash so there would be no paper trail. Blazer testified that after he took over the payments, he traveled all over the country delivering them in person or sending them via wire transfers. When Evans pleaded guilty in January, he admitted to accepting $22,000 in bribes for influencing players at South Carolina and Oklahoma State.

OAKLAND, Calif. -- In recent days, some Golden State Warriors players admitted they were keeping an eye on their potential second-round opponent, the Houston Rockets.

"We see our opponent, they're up 3-0," Warriors guard Klay Thompson said of the Rockets after his team's Game 4 win Sunday. "So we don't wanna give them any more rest days."

But the LA Clippers, who beat the Warriors 129-121 in Game 5 on Wednesday to extend their first-round series, took exception to being overlooked.

"For us, our focus was to come in, extend the series and get another win on the home floor," Clippers star reserve Lou Williams said after the win at Oracle Arena, which pushed the series to Game 6 on Friday in Los Angeles. "It's their mistake for looking ahead. So that's on them."

The Clippers are the first team to win two playoff games as double-digit underdogs in the same postseason since the 1993 Lakers, according to ESPN Stats & Information. (The '93 Lakers won Games 1 and 2 against the Suns in the first round as 13.5- and 14-point underdogs before losing the best-of-five series in five games.)

Wednesday's upset also tied for the second-largest postseason upset since 1991, according to ESPN Stats & Info. The Clippers entered the game as 15-point underdogs.

After losing Game 5, Thompson admitted he was looking ahead.

"Yep, start with me. I was," Thompson said. "I thought we were going to come out and win tonight, but sometimes life doesn't go as planned. We're still in a great position with hopefully only 48 minutes left to close these guys out. They've been pesky. They've been tough, but now it's time to do what we do."

Warriors stars Kevin Durant and Stephen Curry, however, both said the team isn't looking past the Clippers.

"I know I'm not thinking about the future," Durant said. "Just thinking about the game. And I feel like everybody has their mindset."

Said Curry: "We understand, we've been in this situation plenty of times. We know how hard it is to close a series out. At the end of the day, as bad as we played in the first half, we were up one with 2½ minutes left. So we clawed our way back and gave ourselves a chance to win. They just made shots down the stretch. And you gotta, I think at the end of the day, look yourself in the mirror and hold our team accountable for how we started the game and gotta do a better job of that."

During the series, Clippers coach Doc Rivers said he felt that his team hadn't played to its potential.

"I told our guys, like, they haven't been [themselves] in the series," he said. "We have yet to put a game where we are us through the game."

But that changed Wednesday.

"That was us," Rivers said. "That was our team today. And so that was great to see."

Could the Clippers be ahead 3-2 in the series? Clippers guard Patrick Beverley seemed to say as much after the game when he referenced his team's performance in Game 4.

"This past game, Game 4, we felt like we should have won that," Beverley said. "We felt like we lost a game, not that they beat us."

Rivers also mentioned the possibility that Wednesday could've marked the last game for longtime Clippers broadcaster Ralph Lawler, who is retiring after the postseason.

"Ralph never speaks to me before the game when I'm on the floor, and he walked up to me, first time ever, and said, 'Coach, I've had 20 people [come up] to congratulate me on my career and say good luck, like, tonight is the end of Ralph. Please do something about that,'" Rivers said.

"So Ralph, we did. And it's all good."

Clippers players also spoke about extending Lawler's broadcasting career for at least one more game.

"It's great for Ralph," Williams said. "It's great for all of us. And Ralph's been around 40 years. So for us to have an opportunity to keep dragging him in the gym and having him around, it's great."

For his part, Warriors coach Steve Kerr heaped praise upon the Clippers, describing them as "a hell of a team" that won 48 games in the regular season.

"They have our respect, for sure," Kerr said. "They outplayed us tonight, and they've got a hell of a team. So we've got to bring it if we're going to beat them."

Thompson, when asked to describe the Clippers, replied simply: "They play hard. They play hard."

Detroit Pistons star forward Blake Griffin has undergone arthroscopic surgery on his left knee.

The Pistons said the procedure Wednesday was successful and addressed the issue that caused soreness in the knee across the last two weeks of the regular season and the postseason. They said Griffin is expected to be fully recovered before the start of training camp in September.

The 30-year-old forward mostly avoided injury this season, playing in 72 games, but he missed four of the final six regular-season games and the first two of the Pistons' first-round playoff series against the Milwaukee Bucks because of the troublesome left knee injury.

He averaged a career-high 24.5 points per game, along with 7.5 rebounds and 5.4 assists. He also made a career-high 189 3-pointers, shooting 36 percent from beyond the arc. This is the most games he has played since he appeared in 80 in 2013-14 with the Los Angeles Clippers.

HOUSTON -- Utah Jazz star Donovan Mitchell entered the offseason much earlier than he hoped and with a massive dose of motivation.

With the exception of his fourth-quarter heroics in the Jazz's Game 4 win, it was a mostly miserable first round for Mitchell as the Houston Rockets eliminated Utah in five games. Mitchell shot only 32.1 percent from the floor in the series, finishing with a 12-point, 4-of-22 outing in Wednesday's 100-93 loss.

"Honestly, I got some looks that I wanted," said Mitchell, who had only one assist and five turnovers in Game 5 and 16 assists and 21 turnovers in the series. "A lot of it is just trying to attack. I'm not going to stop attacking. Obviously, you don't want to shoot 4-of-22 with five turnovers. It happened."

No player had attempted at least 20 shots from the floor and hit less than 20 percent in a playoff game since 2003, until it happened twice in this series. The Rockets managed to win Game 3 despite Harden's 3-of-20 performance. The Jazz couldn't overcome Mitchell's off night, which included him missing all nine of his 3-point attempts.

"It's funny, Dame [Lillard] said this yesterday: 'You don't succeed without failure, and you don't succeed without going through times like this,'" Mitchell said. "To have that so vividly in my head in a moment like this -- I can tell you that I'm upset, but I'm going to be better, simply put."

Mitchell, 22, is a rarity as a player so young who serves as the unquestioned go-to guy for a playoff team. He became the first rookie to lead a playoff team in scoring last year and boosted his scoring average significantly as a sophomore, averaging 23.8 points for the 50-win Jazz this season.

The Jazz front office attempted to ease the burden on Mitchell before the trade deadline by pursuing Mike Conley Jr., but talks with the Memphis Grizzlies ultimately fizzled. As a result, opponents could make Mitchell the clear focal point of their defensive game plan, as the Rockets did with Eric Gordon as his primary defender.

The Jazz didn't alleviate any pressure on Mitchell with their poor shooting during this series. According to ESPN Stats & Information research, the Jazz generated the most uncontested field goal attempts per game (39.6) so far in the playoffs but shot only 48 percent on them, including 26 percent from 3-point range.

"In a lot of ways, as Donovan goes at times, we go," Jazz coach Quin Snyder said. "I won't call it a burden, but it's a responsibility that I think he's shown [he embraces] time and time again, even for a young player like that, and to rise to the challenge. You're not always going to have great nights. You're not always going to make the shot. You're not always going to have it go your way.

"The thing I'm grateful for in having an opportunity to coach Donovan is his approach, and how he goes into it. For all of us, for myself and Donovan, anytime you have disappointment and adversity, hopefully you challenge that and get better."

Asked specifically what he planned to work on during the offseason, Mitchell said: "Better shape, I'll leave it at that." That could be considered an admission that the stocky Gordon overpowered Mitchell physically frequently during the series.

Mitchell's spectacular stretch in Game 4 -- a 13-point flurry during Utah's go-ahead 15-1 run at the start of the fourth quarter -- came with Gordon resting. Rockets coach Mike D'Antoni made sure that didn't happen in Game 5, tweaking Houston's rotation to have Gordon mirror Mitchell's minutes.

"Eric does a great job on him, as good as can be done, and he did another terrific job," D'Antoni said of Gordon, who stripped Mitchell with 54.8 seconds remaining and the Rockets clinging to a one-point lead.

Harden, who has endured some rough playoff exits in his career, expects this series to be a blip in Mitchell's career.

"First-round matchup, it's tough playing against us," said Harden, whom Mitchell considers a mentor. "He's confident. You see what he did last game. He's capable of taking over a game, and it's only his second year. Once he gets them years under his belt and more comfortable -- obviously, we know what his job is -- but once he gets more comfortable in his role and he knows that he's one of those guys, the sky's the limit for him."

HOUSTON -- The faces of the Rockets franchise preferred to wait until the Golden State Warriors punched their ticket out of the first round to discuss the looming rematch with the dynasty that eliminated Houston last season.

James Harden declined to answer a question about the Warriors in the wake of the Rockets' grinding out a 100-93 win in Game 5 on Wednesday to eliminate the Utah Jazz, saying he would wait and see what happened in Golden State's series with the LA Clippers.

That was Chris Paul's plan, too, until Clint Capela blurted out the truth.

"That's what I want," said Capela, the rising star center who created headlines last season by declaring to ESPN that he believed the Rockets were better than the Warriors when they executed well. "I want to face them."

The Clippers prevented the Warriors from granting Capela's wish -- at least for now -- as LA extended the series with a 129-121 road win over Golden State in Game 5 on Wednesday.

Paul, who was seated next to Capela after Harden conducted a solo news conference, responded with a sigh. Paul, the savvy veteran point guard, instantly knew that Capela's confident comment would go viral.

"Look at you," Paul said, glancing at a reporter. "You can't wait to tweet that."

But Capela, who bounced back from an illness-influenced poor performance in Houston's Game 4 loss with 16 points, 10 rebounds and 3 blocks in the close-out victory, kept going. He saw no reason to hide the fact that the Rockets have been hoping to get another crack at the Warriors since they were eliminated by Golden State in Game 7 of last spring's Western Conference finals.

"We've been working on it all year long," Capela said. "I think if you want to be the champion, you've got to beat the champion. So at some point, you've got to do it, right?"

That point was conceded by Paul, who missed the last two games of last season's West finals due to a hamstring strain, an injury many in the Rockets organization are convinced cost them an NBA championship.

"Yep, make sure y'all put that, too," Paul said, meaning the full context of Capela's desire to see the Warriors in the second round.

"CC said it best. Real talk. In order to get to where you're trying to get to, you've got to go through them. They're the reigning champs, been running the West for, like, five years straight now."

The Rockets, known primarily for their historically elite offense led by Harden, earned their way to the second round in gritty fashion against the defensively dominant Jazz.

After opening the series with a pair of home routs, the Rockets sputtered offensively in the final few games, in which Harden averaged 26.0 points (more than 10 fewer than his league-leading average) on 32.3 percent shooting. But the Rockets played stingy defense throughout the series, holding the Jazz to fewer than 100 points three times in the series, though some poor shooting by Utah helped.

It was fitting that a couple of defensive stops were the key plays in the Rockets' Game 5 win. With Houston up one and 54.8 seconds remaining, Eric Gordon stole the ball from Donovan Mitchell, the Jazz star whom Gordon smothered all series, especially during Mitchell's 12-point, 4-of-22 shooting, 5-turnover outing Monday. After PJ Tucker sank a pair of free throws, Harden swiped the ball out of Rudy Gobert's hand as the Jazz big man went up for a dunk, essentially ending Utah's season.

"We didn't make as [many] shots as we wanted to offensively, but these last few games, we hung our hat on defense," said Harden, who finished Game 5 with 26 points on 10-of-26 shooting despite a 1-of-11 start and contributed 3 steals and 4 blocks. "That's what's going to get us to our goal. Shotmaking is extra. It's a bonus. If we're guarding like we're guarding and knocking down our shots, it's going to be real tough."

Of course, it has been tough to beat the Warriors in the playoffs for the past five seasons, in which their only series loss has come in the 2016 NBA Finals. It's a challenge the Rockets will readily embrace.

It doesn't bother Houston that a date with the Warriors would come a series before last season, the result of the Rockets' dropping to the Western Conference's fourth seed on the final day of the regular season after spending months digging out of the hole they created with an 11-14 start. The sooner the better, some Rockets figure.

"I don't mind playing them this early," Gordon said. "Everybody's going to be fresh. I'm glad nobody's injured. We're going to have everybody ready, so I'm glad where we are right now."

Rockets coach Mike D'Antoni tried to delay the discussion about a rematch with the Warriors, saying it was premature. However, he couldn't resist weighing in just a little bit.

"You know, we said all year that we were going to run it back," D'Antoni said with a laugh, referring to Houston's slogan this season. "Well, OK. I guess we're going to run it back."

OAKLAND, Calif. -- Golden State Warriors superstar Kevin Durant acknowledged one of the hard truths about his team's up-and-down season in the wake of a surprising 129-121 Game 5 loss to the LA Clippers on Wednesday night -- the group doesn't show a consistent killer instinct when it needs one, and the lack of intensity continues to cost it games.

"When we get a nice lead, we just tend to relax a little bit," Durant said. "I said it before. Teams are looking for something just to get them back into the game, you know what I'm saying? If we foul a 3-point shooter or turn the rock over or we shoot a few bad shots in a row, teams get going. They'll build some confidence. Because they're already playing loose, with nothing to lose, those shots, they don't have no pressure from the start to the finish, especially as an 8-seed. So they're coming out with some confidence already. And we kind of kept the door open with our intensity to start the game."

The Warriors' lack of intensity was a major talking point for players afterward as they tried to describe exactly what went wrong in a game they thought would close out the series. Golden State still has a 3-2 lead in the Western Conference first-round series, but the team has to go back to Los Angeles now for Game 6 at Staples Center on Friday night.

"It's very disappointing," Warriors forward Draymond Green said of not being able to finish off the series. "You know that falls on me. If I bring the intensity from the start, everybody usually falls in line on that side of the ball, so that's my fault. I got to be better."

The reality for the Warriors is that the same habits they built throughout the regular season were the same ones that doomed them Wednesday. As was the case throughout their first 82 games, especially in many of their 11 regular-season losses at Oracle Arena, some nights the defensive intensity and the focus just weren't there. In Game 5, those same two habits came to the forefront again.

After noting that his team's defensive performance was "not good," Golden State coach Steve Kerr sat at the postgame news conference trying to explain how the Warriors' issues won't go away.

"It's been a year where things haven't gone exactly smoothly all the time," Kerr said. "So it's -- I'm not surprised by anything. But I expected to come out and play better and to win the game. It's the NBA playoffs. This is a seven-game series, and you gotta play. You gotta defend with some urgency. And we gave up 129 points on our home floor, and they shot 54 percent.

"We weren't right from the very beginning -- everything that we did in L.A., we did not do tonight. We sort of seemed to take it for granted that we were gonna be OK. But I said it before the game: This Clipper team has been scrapping and clawing all year, and you knew they weren't gonna go down without a fight."

The Warriors repeatedly brushed off the notion that they were looking ahead to a potential Western Conference semifinals showdown with the Houston Rockets after the Rockets finished off the Utah Jazz on Wednesday in five games, but now that they find themselves headed for Game 6, they are confident they can rise to the occasion Friday night.

"This game sucked," Warriors swingman Klay Thompson said. "We lost. Let's go win Friday. Let's win big. Let's freakin' win by 30, like we're capable of. But it's basketball, so I'm excited for Friday."