ORACLE ARENA, OAKLAND, CA — This is a continuation of the halftime recap of the Toronto Raptors at the Golden State Warriors.
3RD QUARTER: Steph Curry With The Hops (Boi)
The Warriors kept their foot on the gas pedal at the start of the second half as Klay Thompson got things started with a three-pointer assisted by Stephen Curry. Then, on a pass that went too high from Curry to Draymond Green, Green tapped it back to Thompson, who hit an open left banker from fifteen feet.
The hustle plays abounded, as Green got a massive blocked shot on the bigger Jonas Valanciunas:
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On the ensuing sequence, Harrison Barnes missed a jumper, but Marreese Speights got the offensive board, missed the putback, but Curry tracked down the high-bouncing rebound, tipping the ball to himself as he ended up on the left elbow. With Thompson to Curry’s left and getting open, Curry faked towards Klay, found Barnes, who then found Speights for the interior bucket.
Curry kept the momentum going as he stole the ball from Amir Johnson on the perimeter, wrangling the ball away, then got it to Speights on the fastbreak. Speights missed the layup, but Curry tapped the ball in as Patrick Patterson got a hand on it, with the ball going through the hoop anyways.
Speights got in on the putback action after Green stole a Kyle Lowry pass, then got it to Curry who got it to Speights, who missed the layup but got a one-handed putback with the right-hand, giving the Warriors a 79-63 lead with 8:15 to go in the third quarter.
Speights carried that momentum for a jumper on the way down from his jump, at the free throw line, assisted by Green. After that, Speights played great one-on-one defense on Lowry, keeping his hands up as Lowry missed the layup. With the tide heavily shifting in the Warriors’ favor, Speights motioned for the #Roaracle crowd to get louder.
Golden State showed the breadth of their weaponry as Thompson took his turn, getting a jumper, then blocking Patterson from behind under the rim, and getting a trey via Curry to take a commanding 87-66 lead over the Raptors with 6:13 to go and Toronto head coach Dwayne Casey calling timeout.
But after the timeout, David Lee converted an alley-oop from Green for an 18-point lead…
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…and Curry made it a 20-point bulge again with four minutes to go after this impressive slam dunk assisted by Andre Iguodala, who had gotten the loose ball created by Thompson on defense:
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Suffice it to say, Curry was pumped:
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But Johnson got a hook shot to go, an alley-oop, and Lowry followed that up with a trey and the Raptors stayed within striking range, down 93-80 with 2:20 remaining.
Justin Holiday, continuing his solid play from the first half, got a left baseline jumper to fall with 25.2 seconds remaining, to give the Warriors a 97-84 lead heading into the final frame.
Lowry led all scorers with 22, Greivis Vasquez added 21, mostly from his great first-half play. Thompson led the Dubs with 20, Curry added 19 points and 10 assists, Speights had 18 points, and Green tallied 16 points, 8 assists.
4TH QUARTER:
The Warriors couldn’t blow the doors open — until Curry checked back in the fourth quarter with 7:31 to go in the game. Add to Curry’s wizardry Speights’ hustle and stroke, and the Raptors could not answer, even though Lou Williams got hot and did his best.
After Green got a steal on Terrence Ross, Thompson shot a three that rattled in and out, but Speights got the rebound. He put it back, only to miss, but — as he’s done on multiple occasions now — put his own miss back in.
Williams got two stepbacks to answer that and cut the lead to 110-101 with 5:58 left.
But Curry took over after that, getting a right-handed layup to fall after scissoring through the Raptors defense, largely against the likes of the flat-footed Vasquez.
After Speights drew another one of his patented charges (on Johnson), Curry went lefty this time with the surgical drive, delivering the ball to Speights, who wiggled for an interior bucket.
Curry wasn’t finished as he drove once again past Vasquez, faked a pass to the corner to throw off Williams, and laid it up cleanly on the right bank. That gave Curry 26 points and a 116-101 lead with 3:43 to play. Speights then got a fadeaway after Curry drove hard to the left side and reversed it back to Speights, one of many #MoBuckets assisted by Steph on the night.
Fittingly, the Warriors blew the game open and took out the Raptors on a hustle play.
Speights actually bricked a jumper from the top, hitting the left side of the backboard, but Green retrieved the carom and, with just 6 ticks left on the shotclock, found Curry in the left corner for the demoralizing splash against Toronto, bringing #Roaracle to its feet and Golden State an insurmountable 121-101 lead with just 2:15 remaining.
Curry added a left-elbow three-pointer from thirty feet with 1:38 remaining to make it 124-101. Casey had no choice but to burn a timeout and that was all she wrote.
Curry led all scorers with 32 points on 10-for-18 field, 5-for-11 downtown, and 12 assists. Green compiled a triple-double with 16 points, 11 rebounds, and 13 assists, although he only had 1 rebound at the half. Speights scored 26 points on 12-for-19 shooting and 8 rebounds. Thompson added 20 points on 8-for-13 field, 4-for-6 downtown, and Lee chipped in 12 points, 7 rebounds, on 6-for-10 shooting. Holiday contributed 9 points off the bench.
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