ORACLE ARENA, OAKLAND, CA — This is a continuation of the halftime recap of the Detroit Pistons at the Golden State Warriors.
3RD QUARTER: Oracle Gets Restless
Oracle Arena waited and waited for something big to happen, such as “splashes”, but they would have to wait some more, as Greg Monroe rejected a two-handed slam attempt by Andrew Bogut, which Harrison Barnes cleaned up with a driving layup after an offensive rebound by Stephen Curry.
Draymond Green showed off a nice right-to-left behind-the-back dribble to initiate a left-handed attack down the lane, but after a Monroe lefty bucket, the game was tied at 63-63 with 6:56 remaining and #Roaracle began to get restless, cheering their Dubs on as much as they could, while the Pistons’ bench was all standing in celebration of their solid play this night.
Curry finally got a bucket to drop, curling around a screen and making the one-handed runner even as he mishandled the catch, staring at the ball in frustration after it went through.
But Curry would miss a step-back trey attempt with the shotclock winding down, the ball going in and out, then Green turned the ball over with a wild pass into the baseline seats, and Warriors head coach Steve Kerr called timeout with the score 65-65, with 5:41 to go in the third.
Golden State still couldn’t break free by the end of the period. Thompson got a three, but Reggie Jackson answered with a putback of his own miss. Bogut got a monster block of Cartier Martin while defending a 2-on-1 break…
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…but Tayshaun Prince finished the possession with a long flat-footed two.
Curry would get a pull-up and Klay a trey from the left corner assisted by a Green left-handed drive, but the shot was changed to a two-pointer as the Pistons called timeout with 2:25 to go and the score 73-71 in favor of the Warriors.
Leandro Barbosa closed out the frame with a three as Curry passed up a shot from downtown, finding himself suddenly doubled, and delivering a left-handed behind-the-back toss to Barbosa in the corner to free the ball from traffic.
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But after a fumbled defensive rebound by Andre Iguodala, Martin tossed an inbound to Spencer Dinwiddie, who drilled the trey at the buzzer. The Warriors took a slim 79-76 lead into the final frame.
4TH QUARTER: Klay And Andre Lead Power Surge
Things went back and forth again. Iguodala stole the ball from Monroe, but Jodie Meeks stole it back, only to have Marreese Speights draw a charge on Dinwiddie on the ensuing transition.
But Iguodala got a pretty spin and a two-handed dunk in the lane, leading to a timeout by Pistons head coach Stan Van Gundy with the Warriors up, 85-81, with 7:14 to play.
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After a Jackson bucket with Curry on the bench, Thompson sparked the Warriors’ momentum as, standing beyond the arc, he received a pass from Shaun Livingston who was in the post. Then Klay surveyed the situation for a second, and launched a triple.
Barbosa stole the ball from Meeks and drew the foul on the other end. Iguodala’s two-handed putback dunk drew a roar from the crowd, but it was waved off. Still, Barbosa drained both free throws and Curry was back in with 6:28 remaining and Golden State stretching out their lead to 90-83.
Klay provided another dagger as Jackson missed back iron, Green corralled the rebound, led the break, and found Thompson on the right wing, who pumped, let the defender fly by, side-stepped, and drilled the trey.
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All of a sudden it was 93-83 with 5:36 left and Van Gundy called another timeout.
Golden State added a few more spectacular plays while about the only highlight the Pistons had was an Andre Drummond putback dunk on a shot that Monroe missed badly too far.
After an Iguodala-to-Speights halfcourt alley-oop layup…
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…Thompson had a righty floater trickle in, Curry slung the ball with his left hand to Green for a two-handed and-one dunk as Drummond was late on the rotation and committed a touch foul too late.
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Klay then added a steal of Monroe at the high post, resulting in another dunk, this time for Iguodala as Curry dribbled around up top, as if putting the Pistons in a trance.
Iguodala got yet another dunk as Green stole another bad pass by Detroit and Van Gundy called a mercy timeout with the score 104-90 and 1:46 remaining.
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The game ended with the score 105-98, Warriors, as Thompson led all scorers with 27 points on 11-for-19 shooting. Curry scored just 9 points, but collected 11 assists on 4-for-15 field. He still got a three to drop, extending his consecutive three-point-made streak, going just 1-for-7 from deep. Green added 13 points and 7 rebounds, Bogut 12 points and 6 rebounds, and Iguodala 13 points and 7 rebounds. Speights had 12 points, 5 rebounds, Barbosa had 10 points, and Livingston had 5 assists and 4 rebounds.
Drummond led the Pistons with 22 on 11-for-25 field and a whopping 27 rebounds, while Monroe chipped in 20-and-8. Jackson had 14 points, 9 assists in defeat.
The Warriors will head to Denver for their next game two nights from now.
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