ORACLE ARENA, OAKLAND, CA — The Houston Rockets were in Oakland again for Game 2 of the 2015 Western Conference Finals against the Golden State Warriors.
The Warriors were without Marreese Speights, who was still nursing a calf strain.
The Rockets were without Patrick Beverley and Donatas Motiejunas, again. Dwight Howard was questionable at shootaround but was listed as active 25 minutes before halftime.
1ST QUARTER: Steph Curry With the Shot
Both teams traded baskets early, with James Harden in the mid-post against Klay Thompson turning and fading for an and-one jumper, but Stephen Curry going down the left side of the lane for a righty banker over Jason Terry.
Draymond Green made a corner three, but then committed two turnovers, one behind Thompson on a cut and another in the paint where he drove in against the Houston defense leaving him alone and left his feet during a bounce pass. Andrew Bogut also got an alley oop from Curry…
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…but then got his backdoor bounce pass to Thompson knocked away by Trevor Ariza.
Ariza took the ball down the court, lobbed it to Josh Smith too hard, but Smith found Terry beyond the arc all in one motion and the Rockets took an early 10-9 lead as Steve Kerr took the first timeout with 7:44 to play.
Curry also missed a deep trey while switched on by Howard, a play that would have blown the roof off of Oracle had Steph made it.
Out of the timeout, Green fed a Bogut dunk by spinning inside the paint, then Bogut did well to slap out a Howard strong jump-stop attack, then Klay made two jumpers in a row.
But Terrence Jones suddenly came alive for the Rockets, getting an iso spin banker on the left baseline over the smaller Thompson, an inside runner via entry pass from Harden, then a tip-in of a missed layup by Corey Brewer on a break caused by a bad over-the-head pass attempt to Leandro Barbosa by Curry that was easily stolen by Pablo Prigioni.
But after Bogut swatted Harden…
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…Curry came back with three treys, the first two assisted by Andre Iguodala from the left and right sides…
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…then after a tip-in by Festus Ezeli on a Green missed baby hook, Draymond found Curry up top from the corner for another splash.
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That gave the Warriors a 32-26 lead with 1:05 to play in the first frame.
After a Harden stepback swish, Steph missed from the top, but Jones couldn’t catch Harden’s entry pass and Iguodala drew two free throws on a foul of his Euro-Step to finish the fast break.
Green blocked Howard at the other end and with less than 2 seconds remaining, Iguodala found Leandro Barbosa on the touchdown pass layup.
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The Warriors took a 36-28 lead into the second quarter, with Curry leading the way with 15 points points on 4-for-6 downtown. Green had 4 assists and Iguodala 2 steals.
2ND QUARTER: Bench Unit Dominates
Shaun Livingston stayed consistent off the bench with a jumper, then Howard threw the inbound after the made basket to Barbosa near halfcourt, who passed it up to Bogut, who left a drop pass for a soaring, spectacular one-handed dunk by Iguodala.
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Shortly thereafter, Pablo Prigioni missed a trey attempt, Harrison Barnes rebounded it, passed it out to Iguodala, who found Barbosa streaking down the left lane for a layup. Rockets head coach Kevin McHale called timeout and Draymond rushed out to congratulate (and bump) Barbosa with a vigorous “walk-with-me” hype session.
The bench unit wasn’t done, as Barbosa found Bogut after attacking the rim, then Barbosa drove again and dished to a cutting Livingston for a two-hand jam.
Ariza answered with a nice lefty dribble drive past Iguodala and Bogut, but Barnes buried a triple from the left elbow, thanks again to a Barbosa attack followed by a swing pass from Iguodala, and McHale burned another timeout with the Warriors taking a 49-32 lead approaching 7 minutes remaining.
McHale re-inserted Howard and it paid dividends, as Dwight got a two-hand putback dunk out of the timeout, then against Kerr’s small lineup with Green at the “5”, as Howard shielded Draymond in the paint, received the entry and easily scored at the rim.
Golden State still maintained a three-plus possession lead, but were careless with the ball nevertheless, as Green’s swing pass sailed into the sideline, unforced.
The Warriors’ offense stopped clicking with the starters back in, as Thompson’s triple from the right side was forced with no one underneath to rebound and 4 seconds remaining on the shotclock.
Bogut committed a defensive three-second violation and Harden made a left side jumper.
Green got the ball down low against the smaller Terry, took a jump stop inside but got his pass back out deflected by Harden. Although the Warriors got the ball back and Draymond found Curry on the left side for a splash as Howard was stuck on him in the early transition, Harden took over.
Draymond tried to draw a charge on Harden, but didn’t get the call as Green fell to the floor and Harden made the layup.
After Draymond up-faked and dished to Bogut for a slam, Steph and Klay were up top on Harden and Curry decided to switch onto Harden one-on-one. Harden took Steph left and stepped back for another jumper, closing the Warriors lead to just 55-50 approaching a minute remaining.
Golden State committed its 11th turnover of the half — all committed by the starters — as Curry drove left, slipped, and sent a pass to the baseline seats intended for Iguodala in the left corner. Not surprisingly, Harden made the Warriors pay again, with yet another stepback mid-dribble on the left elbow for a trey-ball swish.
Steph failed in his attempt to answer with a two-for-one trey attempt from the right wing that bounced out, and as Iguodala doubled with Klay on Harden, Harden dished to a cutting Jones who then fed Howard for an alley-oop dunk as Iguodala and Bogut were caught in no-man’s land.
With the half expiring, the Rockets doubled Steph up top and he dished to Draymond on the right wing. Harden blocked Green’s trey attempt at the buzzer.
The game went into halftime tied, 55-55. Curry had 17 points and Bogut 10, while Draymond tallied 6 assists, but Green also had 4 turnovers and Bogut and Curry were guilty of 3 each. Harden collected 19 points and Howard added 11.
(Photo: @letsgowarriors Instagram account via @sebove)
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