ORACLE ARENA, OAKLAND, CA — The traffic around the Bay Area was brutal this evening, as the San Francisco Giants hosted the Kansas City Royals in Game 3 of the World Series, while Cal hosted Oregon at Levi’s Stadium in college football, and the Golden State Warriors took on the Denver Nuggets at Oracle Arena.
To top it off, it was bobblehead night for Stephen Curry — Andre Iguodala‘s was on Tuesday night.
Warriors fans were out in full effect, as another sellout crowd made it to #Roaracle early to get their hands on Curry’s bobble head:
Signs it's @StephenCurry30 bobblehead night… pic.twitter.com/0UaXkskBIm
— Golden State Warriors (@warriors) October 25, 2014
Head coach Steve Kerr announced that the starting lineup would consist of Harrison Barnes again, with Andre Iguodala coming off the bench. He also said that Festus Ezeli would be held to no more than 12 minutes played, and:
Steve Kerr said he'll approach tonight's preseason finale like a dress rehearsal for next week.
— Rusty Simmons (@JRustySimmons) October 25, 2014
…which probably meant that the starters would finish the game, barring an overwhelming blowout.
Before the game started, Curry was also honored by general manager Bob Myers for being selected to the All-NBA Second Team last season:
Tonight's @StephenCurry30 bobblehead commemorates Curry’s selection to the 2013-14 All-NBA 2nd Team. pic.twitter.com/CgjZOyqV5g
— Golden State Warriors (@warriors) October 25, 2014
As we covered in the first half report, Andrew Bogut came out strong once again, showing off his versatility:
[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-4eQy4ddnlg&w=560&h=315]However, the Warriors still had to deal with turnovers. Here’s one from Curry:
https://instagram.com/p/ukD9zgtAUf
In the second half, Klay Thompson caught fire, en route to 35 points:
https://instagram.com/p/ukD9zgtAUf
The Warriors seemed to have at least three broken plays that ended beautifully for them. One resulted in a Curry behind-the-back assist to a Bogut reverse slam. Another had Thompson almost losing the ball, only to find Curry, who delivered to Harrison Barnes for the slam. And then there was this one, keyed by Bogut’s offensive board tap-out:
https://instagram.com/p/ukE7D4nUd6
Speaking of Barnes, he had a quiet game, but ended up with at least two emphatic finishes at the rim such as this one, and-one, off the quasi-Triangle set:
https://instagram.com/p/uj801rsPTc
Here’s another angle of his and-one:
https://instagram.com/p/uj82NFhYfM
Even Justin Holiday got into the action with this cut to the basket, rewarded by Bogut:
https://instagram.com/p/ukFoTlHr40
After the game, Kerr addressed the media and pointed to defense as the priority for the next few practices, now that the turnovers seemed to have abated and the offense was clicking in reaching 119 points.
Thompson was a big part of that offense and he talked about being the go-to guy in crunch time:
Post-game in the Warriors locker room, David Lee talked about the Warriors’ depth:
The Warriors also announced that Holiday made the final 15th roster spot. Andre Iguodala, who played with Justin’s brother Jrue Holiday when they were with the Philadelphia 76ers, gave his input on Justin:
The Warriors also announced that there would be no practice on Saturday. Golden State will face the Sacramento Kings in the season opener in Sacramento next Wednesday.
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