ORACLE ARENA, OAKLAND, CA — The Boston Celtics paid a visit to Oakland this evening to face the Golden State Warriors, who were seeking their 19th straight win at home and coming off a 52-point performance by Klay Thompson.
Andre Iguodala was listed as probable, after sitting out Friday night with what head coach Steve Kerr termed a “tweaked knee”. Festus Ezeli remained out with a sprained ankle and Ognjen Kuzmic was listed as inactive.
1ST QUARTER: Frontline Focus
Andrew Bogut was a key factor at the start as blocked Celtics starting point guard Avery Bradley twice in the first six minutes of the game. Here was the second one:
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Bogut got started on offense early, after saying earlier in the week after practice that he needed to get more post ups and be a weapon down low. He got two field goals to drop, one a turnaround hook shot and this alley oop fed by Stephen Curry:
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Bogut was involved in a lot of plays, including a turnover that, truthfully, should have gone to Curry. Bogut made a lead pass on a Curry cut where Curry decided not to cut. Bogut threw his hands up in exasperation, but Curry immediately pointed to him to claim responsibility for the error, and hit his own head lightly twice in frustration.
On a transition play where Harrison Barnes got a Bradley missed three and outlet the ball to Curry, starting the early offense, Bogut raced down the court and play a little interference with Bogut. The Celtics defense did a good job in keeping the two at bay, but left Barnes wide open for a trail three. Curry fed him, but Barnes missed and, as Bogut huffed back on defense, left you to wonder if Barnes would have been better served to sacrifice the downtown jumper at that moment and try to re-work Bogut inside again.
Barnes did get in on the action, gliding in for a layup from the left side and driving from the right corner, giving a pump fake, and fading a little for a short jumper.
Meanwhile, Draymond Green also added to the Warriors’ frontcourt success, getting his own early block on Bradley, getting a running layup facilitated by a behind-the-back cross assist from Klay Thompson, attacking the rim and even making a fake pass to Thompson — who was open on the wing — before converting a rumbling layup down the lane, playing two-man action with Curry that led to a Curry bankshot on a mismatched Jared Sullinger, and not hesitating to take outside shots, although he was just 3-for-7 in the quarter and 1-for-5 downtown.
With 5:16 to play, Celtics coach called a timeout after Thompson scored a layup, but it was about the Golden State frontline as Barnes, Green, and Bogut had 4 points apiece and the Warriors led, 17-13.
Andre Iguodala checked in and immediately got a three-pointer from the top to drop, after Bogut posted up and let Curry maneuver through with Bradley all over Curry, preventing any sort of backdoor action. Bogut put his head down, bodied Sullinger, and dished out to an open Iguodala.
A Thompson driving layup that drew two free throws against Gerald Wallace while avoid a charge, a subtle part of Klay’s game that often goes unheralded, a Green triple, and a long two by Justin Holiday helped give the Dubs a 30-23 lead heading into the second frame.
The Celtics kept things close with and-ones by Phil Pressey on a layup versus Shaun Livingston and Sullinger spinning and attacking on Marreese Speights.
Green and Sullinger led all scorers with 7 points apiece while Evan Turner chipped in 6 points and Klay 5, with Curry tallying 2 points, 2 rebounds, 3 assists, and 1 turnover. Both teams played pretty even, but it was the Warriors’ going 2-for-9 from downtown that had Oracle still quiet.
2ND QUARTER: No Torches Lit
As the Sunday Oracle crowd slowly filed into the arena, one game after Thompson’s barn-burner, #DubNation was still looking for something to get excited about, but the Warriors couldn’t string together enough momentum to light the torch.
David Lee was the guilty party this time, killing two of the potential momentum starters. Although Holiday got an alley oop dunk from Lee, a subsequent trey by Barnes was followed up with a traveling call on Lee while received a pass on a cut to the hole. Then, after Livingston drilled a jumper, Lee committed a three-second violation, staying too long in the paint.
After a 7-0 run led by a Pressey triple and two buckets by Boston big man Tyler Zeller, Kerr called timeout and the Golden State lead had been cut to 37-34 with 5:48 to go in the half.
The Celtics did a good job of trying to keep Thompson from getting hot, although Klay clapped his hands in frustration on his second miss from downtown in the quarter, one in which he felt should have gone down. Thompson missed another three and so did Holiday, but Klay managed to get by the Boston close-outs with relative ease, floating by Zeller for an easy and confident lay-in from the left side, a far cry from seasons’ past and now-extinct #KlayUp’s that DubNation had once moaned and groaned about.
A soaring Barnes putback was met by a Sullinger strong running hook, and a Thompson driving reverse layup was met with a Celtics coach Brad Stevens timeout, at which point the Warriors led, 47-41, with 2:25 remaining.
Thompson finally notched a three-pointer for the Warriors, who shot just 4-for-15 from beyond the arc, after Curry’s “fly-by” three-point attempt out of a timeout went in-and-out. Barnes somehow corralled the rebound among at least three Celtics, flung the ball back out to Klay who was wide open at the top of the circle.
But Zeller connected on three straight from the field to keep things close.
With 2.3 seconds remaining, after Stevens called a timeout to draw up the last play for Boston, Curry stole a bad pass from Turner, raced upcourt, leapt, double-clutched, drew the foul during the shooting motion from Celtics guard James Young, and didn’t miss the halfcourt heave by much:
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The referees reviewed the play, with Stevens angry over the call and tip-toeing on the line of being called for a technical as an official gave him “the hand” to stop him dead in his tracks. The ruling was indeed a foul with 0.6 seconds remaining and Curry converted all three free throws.
That gave the Warriors a 56-49 lead at halftime. Thompson had a quiet 13 points on 4-for-8 from the field. Currry, Green, and Barnes had 9 apiece, with seven of those points from the line for Curry, and Holiday had 5 off the bench. Sullinger led the Celtics with 11 points and Zeller had 10 off the bench. Boston was also shooting bricks from beyond the arc: 4-for-14, but out-rebounded the Warriors, 27-21.
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