This is a continuation of the halftime recap from Chesapeake Energy Arena, where, in the absence of Andrew Bogut (out with an orbital contusion), the Oklahoma City Thunder had turned the game into a slugfest against the Golden State Warriors.
THIRD QUARTER
Festus Ezeli started the third quarter in place of Bogut. The first timeout was taken with 9:47 to go and neither team had scored.
Ezeli finally got a bucket to go for the Warriors with 7:27 to go after a missed dunk by Draymond Green. Despite getting two offensive board in one sequence, Harrison Barnes exited, in favor of Andre Iguodala, with head coach Steve Kerr opting roll the dice.
After Stephen Curry exhibited a series of crossovers on the switched Serge Ibaka, Curry missed the layup but Ezeli got the putback. However, he would also pick hiup his 4th personal foul shortly thereafter.
Reggie Jackson continued to out-athleticize Curry, getting an alley oop assist to Andre Roberson which trimmed the Dubs’ lead to 63-61 with 3:42 to go in the period.
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Kerr rolled the dice again by opting for Brandon Rush, but it was Marreese Speights who provided the sparks for Golden State. With the quarter coming to a close, Speights coerced Ibaka into a foul on his jumper, then got an and-one over Nick Collison, who tried to draw charge, but didn’t give enough space for Speights to land.
Kerr tried to wake up his team, drawing a tirade-laced technical foul with 1:34 to go and a slim 66-65 lead. Curry rested, but it was Jackson’s quarter, scoring 8 points to Curry’s zero.
“Mo” finished the quarter with 21 total points scored, while the #SplashBrothers threw up a rare goose egg for the quarter and everyone not named Speights shot a combined 30%. Meanwhile, Iguodala had a slight limp, with courtside beatwriter Rusty Simmons of the San Francisco Chronicle tweeting that Andre’s knee was “killing him”.
FOURTH QUARTER
In the final frame, Speights continued to buoy the Dubs’ offense as the #SplashBrothers continued to struggle. Klay Thompson finally got a bucket to go after the break, but missed his next two as it was Speights who was converting.
Curry got some high Triangle action going up top and found Speights with an overhead pass from the right to the middle. Mo drained it, to give the Warriors a 72-79 lead with 7:45 to play. After that, Thompson ran the high action and delivered a behind-the-back to Speights, who found Shaun Livingston on a cut for an easy layup.
All told, it was Livingston and Speights getting offensive rebounds and looks for the #SplashBrothers, but Thompson and Curry just could not convert, as Currty and Thompson were a combined 11-for-32 while Speights went 10-for-15.
Ezeli tried to step up, but it was an up-and-down night for the young big. With 5:45 to go and up six, 81-75, Curry delivered a nice dime for a dunk, but Ezeli’s slam was rejected by Ibaka. Still, Ezeli got a lay-in to trickle in, thanks to a nice interior assist by Klay. However, Festus would foul out on the next sequence as Ibaka hung in the air for Ezeli’s contact.
Speights came back in to close it out at the “5” spot with Iguodala, Green, Curry, and Thompson. With 4:22 to go, Kerr called timeout with the Warriors up, 83-79.
Everytime the Warriors seemed to put the clamps on the game, they were snatching defeat from the jaws of victory. Curry got an “iso” on Ibaka and took him into the lane, spinning back, fading, but missing. Green got the putback and-one — but missed the free throw.
Speights got a point-blank dunk — but missed it. That would’ve put the Warriors up 8. Anthony Morrow came back and made Golden State pay with a three-pointer.
And on a lead pass, Steven Adams tipped the ball out of bounds, but the official thought it was off Thompson and saved the possession for the Thunder. The Warriors caused a turnover, however, and Iguodala came streaking down the court, drawing contact to get to the line, but somehow managed to bank the shot in against Jackson. It was also Jackson’s fifth foul. The Dubs were up six with a little over two minutes to play.
Jackson bursted easily past the tired legs of Thompson to cut the lead to four, 88-84. Barnes followed that with an ill-fated layup that got blocked by the interior defense of the Thunder, but Ibaka killed the momentum on the other end by dunking in a Morrow runner that was good anyways. Offensive goaltending!
With the Dubs seemingly in control, Curry got another switch on Ibaka after Green supplied the pick, but airballed the long two. Then Jackson missed a three-pointer, but the Thunder got the offensive board and called timeout with 26 ticks to go. Curry clapped his hands in self-disgust. On the ensuing side inbounds, Morrow missed a three but Ibaka cleaned it up with a dunk putback over Barnes.
Thompson got the baseline inbounds after the made basket and thought the Thunder would foul, but three defenders surrounded him and he was able to bounce the ball off one of their legs. There were 17.9 seconds to go with the Warriors up two, and Kerr called timeout to advance the ball.
Curry got the ball and was immediately fouled. True to his poor performance, he missed the first shot but rattled in the second on a high-arcing throw. The Warriors were up 3, 89-86, with 16.7 to go.
The Thunder got the look they wanted, a wide-open Andre Roberson from the deep left elbow, but he airballed the shot. Klay got the rebound, was fouled, and nailed both free throws to seal the deal with 5.7 seconds left.
Speights led all scorers with 28 points, 16 in the 2nd half, as Thompson and Curry combined for just 35 points on 11-for-35 from the field, 6-for-17 from downtown. Green had a quiet 10 points, 9 rebounds, and 6 assists. Barnes tallied zero points on 0-for-5 from the field.
It was the Dubs’ fifth win in a row. The Warriors (10-2) face the Miami Heat on Tuesday.
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