ORACLE ARENA, OAKLAND, CA — This is a continuation of the halftime recap of the Chicago Bulls at the Golden State Warriors. The Warriors took a 56-51 lead into halftime.
3RD QUARTER: Two Sound Basketball Teams Playing Solid Ball
The third quarter was filled with subtle but solid basketball play. With Andrew Bogut a late scratch with the flu, Marreese Speights was matched up at center against the taller Joakim Noah and the 6’7″ Draymond Green drew the defensive assignment against the 6’11” veteran Pau Gasol.
As was the backcourt matchup in the first half, the matchup on the front line did not disappoint and headlined the beginning of the second half.
Green won the first battle against the power forwards, drawing a rebounding foul on Gasol while boxing out fifteen feet from the defensive rim. Gasol got his revenge on Speights, however, blocking a #MoBuckets jumpshot, but Speights recovered and the ensuing jumper trickled in from the baseline.
Derrick Rose raced downcourt and converted a reverse layup going left to right, and the Bulls had narrowed the halftime lead by the Warriors to 62-60 with 7:14 as Golden State head coach Steve Kerr called the first timeout of the second half.
Klay Thompson then proved he was the best player on the court, save for Stephen Curry‘s explosive first quarter, as Thompson drove into the lane, faked the layup, let Joakim Noah fly by, and converted the easy two.
Gasol and Green then went mano-y-mano in the low block. Pau held the ball high with his outstretched arm, as Green flailed at it like a seal trying to hit a balloon at the top of a wire, and Gasol spun and took him strong to the baseline for a beastly layup on the left bank.
On the next post up opportunity, however, Thompson helped out Green, dancing back and forth between his cover, shooting guard Kirk Hinrich, as Gasol worked his positioning with the ball in his hands against Green in the familiar left block.
Klay was enough of a pest to Gasol to force him into a bad pass that sailed over Hinrich’s head and into the baseline seats and Hinrich tried to go backdoor.
Thompson showed off more of his precision skill getting a beautiful bounce pass timed perfectly to a cutting David Lee for an and-one. Lee used that momentum to hit a jumper the next time down and, after a steal by Green on Gasol, left a drop-pass for Curry, who trailed and shot a three.
However, the shot didn’t fall. Instead, Derrick Rose drained a triple on the other end after Curry subbed out on a dead ball for Shaun Livingston. Gasol hit a tough turnaround jumper against the draped Green and Green, exasperated and exhausted, missed an open three-pointer on the rotation on the other end.
The Bulls momentarily took the lead as Tony Snell made a layup and Rose went razzle-dazzle to cross Livingston with his shoulder fakes, resulting in cheers from the Bulls fans in the #Roaracle crowd, giving Chicago a 75-73 lead with 2:19 to go in the quarter.
But Lee became a weapon, perhaps his best offensive output this season, scissoring through the paint for a lefty layup, pulling up for a jumper, and spinning around Gasol for two more as the Warriors took an 81-77 lead with the period coming to a close. But Aaron Brooks came right back with a coast-to-coast layup, with the ball tickling the rim and finally dropping as the buzzer sounded, and the Bulls were within striking distance heading into the final frame, 81-79.
Thompson still led all scorers with 26 points, Rose countered with 22. Lee had 17 off the bench and Curry and Barnes both chipped in 12 apiece. Gasol added 11 rebounds and Curry had 8 dimes.
4TH QUARTER: Thriller
Curry got the Warriors rolling early in the fourth, first with a “CP3”-like body foul draw for an and-one…
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…then this incredible overhead no-look assist to Lee for the dunk that made it 88-79, Warriors, with 10:34 to play:
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Golden State had a couple of opportunities to maintain a comfortable cushion, but squandered them away on the charity stripe. Andre Iguodala, who played great defense all night, stole a pass from Rose, Rose’s 11th turnover of the game, and got fouled by Nikola Mirotic. The refs reviewed the play and awarded Iguodala a clear-path foul: two free throws and the ball. However, Andre missed both and Golden State maintained an 88-80 lead with 9:23 left.
Later, Barnes got hit hard under the hoop by the much smaller Aaron Brooks. The officials reviewed that one as well, but ruled the foul a common one. Still, Barnes missed both shooting fouls.
The Warriors got some separation as Lee got a putback of a Curry missed layup and was fouled for the and-one by Taj Gibson and Justin Holiday got a layup on a cut assisted by Lee, Thompson pulled up on a long two over Kirk Hinrich, and — thanks to excellent defense by Iguodala and Speights under the rim — Speights got a layup on a “tic-tac-toe” connected by Green to Klay.
Golden State pulled ahead, 99-92, and Chicago head coach Tom Thibodeau called timeout to stop the bleeding with 5:24 remaining.
Rose and Gasol led a Bulls charge, however. Curry played great defense and knocked the ball out from the Chicago post, but Rose corralled the loose ball on the perimeter and took Curry hard to the middle, leaping high above Steph for the difficult arching floater. Rose followed that up with yet another floater after that, and Gasol faded away for a clutch jumper and Kerr was forced to call timeout to stem the tide with the Warriors up, 99-98, with 4:07 to play.
Golden State couldn’t put Chicago away with its explosive three-pointers, as Curry and Thompson both missed from downtown while Gasol snatched two missed Rose answer-back three-pointers, the second of which was a line drive miss, and converted both additional sequences, one on a dish to Noah for a slam over Thompson and the other from the free throw line after being fouled by Lee.
With just 1:10 to go, Golden State held a slim 105-104 lead.
On Chicago’s possession Rose missed a jumper, but Noah got the rebound and missed the fade. Lee tracked down the ball, but upon giving it Curry, Curry turned it over. Oracle screamed for a foul on the apparent slap, but to no avail. Rose ended up with the ball and delivered to a wide-open Hinrich, who drilled the long two to give the Bulls a 107-105 lead with just 17 ticks left.
Kerr called timeout and the refs reviewed the play to confirm that Hinrich’s shot was a two-pointer.
Out of the timeout, Iguodala found himself up top with just 5 seconds to play and launched the triple, missed, but Green got the rebound, tried to put it back in, missed, but got it back in once more with just 2.6 left:
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Rose missed a desperation heave from 35 feet and the game went into overtime, tied at 107-107.
OVERTIME:
Overtime started as a stalemate, as Gasol and Iguodala were both guilty of bad passes, Rose kept launching threes that missed, but Barnes also missed an open triple.
Curry converted a nice bounce pass from Green and also a beautiful reverse layup in traffic.
Chicago had the ball on their own baseline and Hinrich threw a lob to Gasol, but Green used his length to tip the ball up and his youth to out-jump Gasol on the ensuing tips, and the Warriors had the opportunity they needed with 42 seconds remaining.
With the “two-for-one” strategy in full effect, the Warriors couldn’t get a good shot off and Thompson ended up shooting a three-pointer from the deep right elbow with two Bulls next to him, missing with 28 seconds remaining but still a chance to get the ball back after the next possession.
With 7.0 seconds remaining, Rose had the ball with Thompson assigned to him. It looked like Rose had the step on Thompson off the dribble, but instead, Rose went for the step back and tough angle, fading shot… went in!
Kerr called timeout and the Warriors drew up a play. Iguodala received the ball on a backdoor under the hoop with 2.9 seconds left, but Mirotic fouled him and the refs ruled it not a shooting foul, even as Iguodala tried a shot from way behind the backboard after the whistle.
Kerr called another timeout and, on the ensuing side-out play, Thompson got the ball, penetrated, lofted a bankshot, but it came off too hard and the Bulls had eeked out a 113-111 victory in overtime.
Rose and Thompson led the way with 30 points apiece. Rose was 13-for-33 from the field and just 4-for-12 from beyond the arc, 7 rebounds, and only one assist, but he made the bucket when they needed it most.
Klay was 13-for-27, going cold in the second half yet corralling a team0-leading 10 rebounds in the process, and Curry added 21 points and 9 assists. Lee had 24 points on 10-for-17 field off the bench, including 9 rebounds.
For the Bulls, Noah and Gasol both had 18 points and near identical stat lines: 7-for-12 field, 4-for-4 free throws, and 16 rebounds and 8 assists for Gasol, 15 rebounds and 6 assists for Noah.
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