Warriors Game Day: Sights & Sounds From Dallas – Steph Curry Hits Game-Winner But Klay Thompson Also Saves The Day To Beat Mavs (Photo: @kt_king_terrell Instagram account)
AMERICAN AIRLINES CENTER, DALLAS, TX — After an extremely disappointing loss at home to the inconsistent New York Knicks on Sunday, the Golden State Warriors headed out to Texas for a two-game, back-to-back set against the Dallas Mavericks and San Antonio Spurs.
First up were the Mavs, who began the game just 1.5 games behind the Warriors in the playoff race, with Golden State sitting in the 6th of eight slots. Last time, the Dubs had held Mavericks superstar Dirk Nowitzki to just 12 points. You had the feeling that the future Hall-Of-Famer wouldn’t allow that to happen again. Even more of concern was the fact that the Dubs’ starting frontline of David Lee and Andrew Bogut would be sidelined with injuries.
PRE-GAME
During the daytime, the Warriors celebrated head coach Mark Jackson‘s birthday with specially made t-shirts, an idea by equipment manager Eric Housen.
IN-GAME
The Warriors starters came out focused and led early on, 14-6 with 7:52 to go. They would take a 30-21 lead by the end of the first frame, shooting 57% while holding the Mavericks to just 39%.
The Warriors bench couldn’t hold the lead, but Jordan Crawford was in #Steezus “microwave” form as he torched the Mavs for 10 early points off the bench. With 8:30 to go in the 2nd quarter, it was Warriors 35, Mavs 30. However, Nowitzki was making fall-away after fall-away and led the game with 11 points.
With 2:55 to go in the half, the Mavs took the lead, 51-48, with Klay Thompson making plays and single-handedly keeping the Dubs close after the bench squandered lead again.
At halftime, the Mavericks led, 62-53. Nowitzki was up to 22 points already, on 9-for-14 from the field. Thompson countered with 13 points, but Stephen Curry had only 6. Worse, the Warriors were outscored 41-23 in that quarter.
However, the Warriors fought back after halftime, cutting the lead to 63-61, in favor of the Mavs, with 9:04 remaining in the third. Golden State held the Mavericks to just one point in the first three minutes of the second half.
At the end of the third quarter, the Warriors had figuratively stolen the lead, 85-81, holding Dallas to just 19 points in the quarter and shooting 67% from the field. Curry began cooking with a couple of stepback threes, one of which he actually over-ran the line and managed to get back behind it before launching.
Not only that but one fan from the stands managed to capture courtside video of Curry setting a great pick on an out-of-bounds play that freed up Marreese Speights for a layup.
Curry’s numbers ballooned up to 17 points, 7 assists all of a sudden, but the Mavs had taken the lead, 104-102 with 2:25 remaining.
After some clutch shots by the #SplashBrothers, the Warriors had the ball with the opportunity for a two-for-one in the waning moments of the 4th quarter, but Speights missed a dunk. However, the Dubs got the offensive rebound, but couldn’t convert. Neither could Monta Ellis for the Mavs, either, as he mishandled and never got a shot off. With the score stuck at 108-108, the game went into overtime.
In overtime, Thompson came to the rescue and Curry put the nail in the coffin with a game-winner. Jermaine O’Neal got a key block on the defensive end preceding Curry’s shot, that was debated as a goal-tending call, but it was not called.
The Warriors won 122-120 in overtime as Curry exclaimed, “We out! See ya!”
Golden State was led by Thompson who scored 27 points, while Curry tallied 23 points and 10 assists. There were a lot of heroes for the Warriors, including O’Neal’s 20 points and Andre Iguodala, who also hit a clutch three and collected 16 points, his best offensive outing since probably before straining his hamstring.
Video clips of the game-winner:
POST-GAME
#DubNation loves memes, and here was a popular one that got floated around on social media, befitting April Fool’s Day:
Curry talked to Diamond Leung of the Bay Area News Group after the game about his game-winning shot:
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