Golden State Warriors vs Boston Celtics Round-Up: Sights & Sounds

Incredible view of Iguodala from courtside — golden state warriors vs boston celtics. (Photo: @alexandriiiia’s Instagram account)

ORACLE ARENA, OAKLAND, CA — Although Andre Iguodala carried the Golden State Warriors, Stephen Curry had the buzzer beater, which we have more angles of in an accompanying post:

Then #Roaracle erupts as Gerald Wallace misses badly on the desperation three-point attempt at the buzzer for the Boston Celtics:

Bay Area Sports Guy had an excellent description of the final play:

“I think everybody was pretty surprised, including Steph, that they switched the screen-and-roll. At that point, that’s a no-brainer. Steph can iso the five-man, and if he happened to miss, which I didn’t expect him to, I had Avery Bradley on the block for a tip-in.”
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“I was able to get Avery (Bradley) to kind of shade me one way, and D-Lee set the screen on the other side. He set a great screen, so they had no choice really but to switch at that point,” said Curry, who scored 19 points (7-of-18) along with seven rebounds and four assists.
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“Then I was able to get enough space to knock down the shot. D-Lee set a great screen and I found a nice little bit of daylight to knock it down.”
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Curry also had some interesting insight into what goes on in his mind during plays like these.
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“We tried to go with like five seconds left for the screen-and-roll, so we can figure out how they’re going to guard … Once you’ve got the iso and the one-on-one, you kind of go into your dribble series and see how you’re going to get your open look. At that point I was comfortable and in rhythm. As long as I make it, obviously with two seconds left we can have better options on the defensive end to press up, take away a three and force a tough shot,” he said.

Monte Poole of CSN Bay Area summarizes:

Point guard Stephen Curry nailed an 18-foot jumper with 2.1 seconds left to finally smother a plucky Boston team.
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Andre Iguodala led the way for the Warriors with 22 points, seven assists, five rebounds and three steals. Curry added 19 points, Klay Thompson 17 and David Lee 16. Marreese Speights came off the bench to score 13 points.
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The Warriors built a 13-point lead in the fourth quarter, but Boston fought back to get as close as 1 (96-95) in the final minute before Harrison Barnes made 1 of 2 free throws. Celtics forward Jeff Green tied it with 11.6 seconds to play before Curry drained the game winner.

Rusty Simmons of the San Francisco Chronicle credited Iguodala’s play:

After looking around at his teammates and realizing how exhausted they were from a seven-game road trip, however, the swingman decided he couldn’t wait any longer to go all out.
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Iguodala had his second-best scoring output of the season, was a menace on defense and generally willed the road-weary Warriors into a position where Stephen Curry could sink a game-winning jumper in the waning seconds for a 99-97 victory over the Boston Celtics on Friday night in front of the 54th consecutive sellout crowd at Oracle Arena.

Jimmy Durkin of the Bay Area News Group reported on the weariness of the Warriors after the long roadtrip:

There was no denying the Warriors struggled to maintain energy. They found some fire at the beginning of both halves but otherwise were fighting fatigue the whole night.
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“We knew that we were playing on fumes, especially the starters that played a lot of minutes,” forward David Lee said. “But we’ve got a break coming up, so we knew we just had to get through this one. I’m very proud of our guys for finding a way to win.”
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The Warriors’ upcoming break is a much-needed one. They’ve got four days off before returning to action Wednesday at home against the Denver Nuggets.
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“It’ll be good for us,” said Andre Iguodala, who led Golden State with 22 points. “But the next game is going to be just as tough as tonight with those many days off.”
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The Warriors trailed by two at halftime but went on a 14-5 run in the third quarter that was sparked by Curry’s first two 3-pointers of the night.
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The final 3½ minutes of the third was owned by Marreese Speights, who provided the best minutes off the bench for the struggling Warriors reserves. He went on a personal 7-0 run and scored nine straight for Golden State as it took a 72-67 lead into the fourth.

After the game, Jackson joked how a pre-game text message from Speights probably bought Speights a few extra possessions during the game:

One can’t deny that Jackson’s culture of not giving up on guys has worked in terms of Speights’s production of late, as chronicled by our Maggie Pilloton recently.

PRE-GAME SIGHTS & SOUNDS

A Boston reporter asked Jackson about assistant coach and former Celtic and fan-favorite Brian Scalabrine. Jackson’s response: “The legend continues.”

More pre-game sights and sounds:

IN-GAME SIGHTS & SOUNDS

Iguodala carried the Warriors. Here’s one of his many jumpers that he made en route to a team-leading 22 points:

Draymond Green also received nine stitches, as reported by Sarah Todd of SFBay.ca:

In the opening minutes of the fourth Draymond Green, who received nine stitches after an elbow to the mouth on the final play of the first half, hit a 20-foot jumper, Speights dunked, and Curry made a three while being fouled and made good at the charity stripe for the four-point play giving Golden State an 11-point lead.

Golden State Warriors vs Boston Celtics Round-Up: Sights & Sounds From #Roaracle, Curry Buzzer Beater

Alan Draper

Alan Draper

Alan Draper