ORACLE ARENA, OAKLAND, CA — The Golden State Warriors welcomed the return of Klay Thompson from a sprained right hand to face the San Antonio Spurs at Oracle Arena. Spurs head coach Gregg Popovich surprised everyone by not resting Tim Duncan and Manu Ginobili on the second night of a back-to-back.
[NOTE: Check out the post-game on-the-scene report.]It was also former Warriors first-round draft pick Marco Belinelli‘s return to Golden State, and he greeted color analyst Jim Barnett warmly (and then some):
#quitefrankly RT @LOLKNBR: #SensualBasketball RT @BekeGSW: Lmao Jim Barnett was like get off me fool http://t.co/tCwL7BbR7u
— Let’s Go Warriors 💦💛💙 (@LetsGoWarriors) November 12, 2014
FIRST QUARTER
The Warriors came out and played well on defense, closing out on the Spurs effectively, but San Antonio made their shots and got a couple of great drives by Danny Green and an and-one at the rim by Tony Parker
Meanwhile, with Kawhi Leonard coming off a strong defensive performance last night in an 89-85 win against the Los Angeles Clippers in Southern California, Harrison Barnes utilized the Dubs’ offensive system and found himself converting layups and open three-pointers.
Barnes scored 11 points in the first frame. The first was a left corner trey, wide open, thanks to an aggressive drive-and-kick by Draymond Green. The next was a quasi-Triangle-induced layup where he wheeled around Andrew Bogut, who had the ball at the high pinch, and received the pass for the two points, although Barnes could have easily been called for a travel.
After two free throws on an aggressive drive, Barnes got another bucket, this time against Matt Bonner, as Warriors head coach Steve Kerr opted to sub in Andre Iguodala for Draymond, making Barnes the “stretch four”. Barnes had Bonner at his whim, faking a shot and going up-and-under for a short jumper as Bonner flew by.
Barnes also hit another triple from the same spot as the first one, with the assist going to a driving Klay Thompson. Barnes even had a block of Corey Joseph, saving a sequence after Curry had gotten picked cleanly by Joseph.
But Manu Ginobili provided too much punch for the Spurs off the bench, and his 7 points helped the Spurs take a 29-26 lead into the second quarter.
Curry had a rather quiet 7 points himself, an indication of his superstar status. One of the better field goals was courtesy of Draymond, who set a solid pick on Parker, resulting in a mismatch for Curry with Bonner on him. Curry easily took Bonner to the hole as Duncan watched nearby, helplessly.
On another play, Curry got past Joseph on the right baseline then put his body into Joseph, very Chris Paul-like, and got the and-one on the contact.
Thompson got his first bucket of the game after a couple misses early on, but would display some rust.
But Ginobili got the last laugh, as he made a shot at the buzzer with the lengthy Shaun Livingston flying by harmlessly. Ginobili also had a beautiful fading touchdown pass to Aron Baynes, but Baynes’ shot attempt was blocked out of bounds by Festus Ezeli, who had made his first shot on a hook, the only bucket the Warriors’ bench could muster in a drought-filled period of four minutes throughout the first and second quarters.
SECOND QUARTER
In the second frame, the Spurs were still on point, committing just 3 turnovers til the end of the first half. Everything the Warriors did seemed to be matched immediately by San Antonio. Thompson would get a nice drive to the hoop to cut the Spurs’ lead to one, but Danny Green would return the favor on the other end, going backdoor on him for a layup.
Kerr called timeout after that, with the Warriors down 42-41 with 2:56 to go in the half.
The quarter played out the same, although the Warriors shot themselves in the foot a couple times and ended up committing 8 turnovers for a total of 11 against the Spurs’ aforementioned 3.
Barnes would stay hot with a swish from the baseline, but Parker would come back with another big shot, much to the delight of the loud minority of Spurs fans cheering at #Roaracle.
The end of the quarter was the same bad formula. Curry tried an over-the-head pass to Iguodala at the top. With Danny Green in the way, Iguodala couldn’t see the ball well and bobbled it, leading to a Curry turnover. Sure enough, Duncan got a banker to drop before the halftime buzzer.
Still, it was just a 50-44 deficit. Incredibly, the Warriors were shooting 50% compared to the Spurs’ 40%, but the turnover disparity, albeit not as egregious as in the Phoenix game, was making the Dubs pay a price.
Barnes matched his season high with 15 points (11/1/2014 vs the Los Angeles Lakers).
THIRD QUARTER
The Spurs came out of the half and shot much better, and the Warriors couldn’t respond in a commensurate manner. Out of the gate, Danny Green his a fade-away, Bonner got a three-pointer, and Leonard got a dunk after Curry turned it over at the rim, despite penetrating past the San Antonio perimeter.
The pin-point Spurs offense exposed a character flaw in the Warriors’ vaunted defense: not being dirty enough. Danny Green hit another three-pointer as the Spurs ran their motion offense up top, with Bonner supplying the misdirection, running by with Draymond Green on him, but getting in the way of Thompson, who got nudged, which freed up Danny Green. On those sort of plays, Klay just has to be meaner.
The Warriors got a spark as Draymond got a dunk, then Curry made a superstar move to the hole for an and-one. But the Spurs extinguished that quickly. Ginobili got by Ezeli for a nifty reverse, Iguodala was late on a close out on the hot Manu, and by the time Curry subbed out with 1:35 to go, the scoreboard showed 79-65 in favor of the Spurs.
Thompson, who played the entire quarter, got an and-one when the Warriors needed it most, absorbing the hit in mid-air and converting a running right-hander, then got a steal and fed Leandro Barbosa on the run-out.
However, the Spurs shot 14-for-23 in the quarter and the Warriors were up to 15 turnovers compared to San Antonio’s 5.
FOURTH QUARTER
With the Warriors’ bench lacking any oomph, Kerr turned to Marreese Speights and he delivered.
However, Iguodala made a bad turnover and was passive again on offensive, sending a ball into the backcourt on a “blah” kick-out to Barnes up top. It prompted Dan McCarney of the San Antonio Express News to tweet, “Iguodala looks like a shell of himself. A shell of a shell. Gets ball under rim, eschews shot attempt and throws it into the backcourt.
Yet the Dubs were down just 88-79 with 8:33 to go, slicing three points off their deficit with Curry on the bench for a good five minutes of game time.
But when Curry returned, he immediately gave up a layup to Parker. It was that kind of night for Curry.
Golden State made their last run with about six minutes to go. Duncan charged into Curry and the Warriors cut the lead to just six points with 4:09 to go, thanks to Speights jumpers and even relentless defense as Duncan couldn’t get the ball to go from point-blank range.
That’s when Duncan made an and-one with Draymond Green crashing to the floor, exasperated that the charge wasn’t called. Draymond couldn’t believe it and wore his emotions on his sleeve, often times a non-killer’s mentality when it comes to winning, by openly showing that adverse plays negatively affect your team:
RT @48MoH: #lifecomesatyoufast pic.twitter.com/fF3ITwcimY
— Let’s Go Warriors 💦💛💙 (@LetsGoWarriors) November 12, 2014
After a Leonard three-pointer that was preceded by a drive by Parker preceded by a beautiful screen by Duncan, it was apparent that the Spurs were not going to let the Warriors back in on this game.
A Klay trey was met by a Parker trey, epitomizing the dominance of the Spurs on this night, and it was an insurmountable 108-96 with 1:52 to go.
Thompson nailed a three-pointer out of a timeout shortly thereafter, with threes the only way for a miracle comeback, but his foot was on the sideline and it was a turnover.
The Spurs won handily, 113-100. Parker scored 28 points, Leonard 19, and Ginobili 17. Joseph added 11. San Antonio shot 46-for-93 from the field for 49.5% and 10-for-25 from downtown, a 40% clip.
Klay led the Warriors with 29 points, Barnes recorded 22 and 8 rebounds, and Curry collected 16 points, 6 rebounds, and 5 assists, but shot 0-for-7 from downtown, ending his consecutive game three-point-made streak at 75, far behind Kyle Korver‘s NBA record of 127. Curry was also just 7-for-18 from the field overall.
Check out the post-game on-the-scene report.
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