The Golden State Warriors were at the Toyota Center to face the Houston Rockets. The Warriors were without Andrew Bogut, who suffered a concussion as a result of a laceration on a hit by Dante Cunningham in the win three nights ago against the New Orleans Pelicans.
The Rockets were without Donatas Motiejunas due to back pain.
1st Quarter
The first frame felt like a playoff game, with the intensity and anticipation. Warriors courtside reporter Ros Gold-Onwude tweeted that the intensity on the floor was thick.
Stephen Curry was on point again scoring 11 in the quarter. Last season’s MVP and runner-up duel between Curry and James Harden didn’t disappoint. The Dwight Howard versus Festus Ezeli battle down low had some sparks as well.
With over 9 minutes to play, Howard missed an inside attempt and the ball trickled towards Draymond Green, who had fallen partially out of bounds. Curry, however, came over to save the ball and lead the break.
Past halfcourt, an inside-out dribble seemed to lull the helping Terrence Jones to sleep as he thought he could pass off Curry to the retreating Ty Lawson, but Curry took advantage of the extra space and pulled up for a three swish.
The next time down the floor, Harrison Barnes fed Curry coming off a curl and Steph drilled another one in nearly the same spot.
Barnes kept the momentum going and, on the next possession, drove from the right wing into the lane, switched hands to his right and slammed it home in traffic:
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Here’s another angle:
And let’s take another look at Andre Iguodala‘s reaction:
Andre's reaction ? pic.twitter.com/fz9H6t9lwJ
— Julie Phayer (@juliephayer) October 31, 2015
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Harden answered with a step-back jumper, then Curry drilled a pull-up three to answer that, but Ty Lawson drilled a triple at the shotclock buzzer.
Meanwhile, Klay Thompson picked up two early fouls and headed to the bench as Shaun Livingston subbed in.
Rockets’ backup power forward Montrez Harrell made an impressive impact for Houston, providing tons of energy including a putback dunk on a Harden drive, then another dunk after which his leg got entangled with Green.
Green held on and also pushed away Harrell, but the referee caught Harrell on the verbal retaliation and Curry drained the technical free throw.
After that, Curry had a few #StephGonnaSteph highlights, that didn’t necessarily turn into points:
- On a baseline out-of-bounds play, Curry and Patrick Beverley got into the usual tussle on the baseline, ready for a move by Curry to get open, but no one was taking the ball out while all of it was happening. Without an inbounder ready, the referee put the ball on the floor and began counting out the five-second call. Curry quickly took a step out of bounds picked up the ball, Green bolted to the three-point line and swished it after quickly catching Curry’s pass.
. - Curry got a crossover step-back shooting foul on Harrell helping, although Steph missed the first of three free throws.
. - Curry went with a behind-the-back lefty zing pass to Livingston, but the play ended with a pass to Iguodala who passed it back to Livingston, who got blocked, and then Ezeli got the offensive rebound but also got blocked. Harden screamed in appreciation of the defensive effort by the Rockets while Ezeli wondered what the call was.
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Barnes ended the quarter with an upfake then a dribble to his right for a pull-up swish, followed by spin on the post getting fouled against Beverley, followed by a coast-to-coast strong layup with 3.4 seconds to go.
That gave the Warriors a 30-29 lead heading into the second stanza.
2nd Quarter
Leandro Barbosa came off the bench and once again provided “blurriness” as he lobbed an alley-oop to Ezeli, then got a steal, but his lefty hung on the rim and fell short — Barbosa’s second miss from point-blank range — as Curry and Green cheered him on from the bench.
Green checked in right after that and immediately drew Howard’s third personal on a bad screen.
Thompson came back in and got going quickly with a long two from the left corner fed by Curry, making it 44-37, Warriors.
That seemed to get Klay going, as he went left-to-right down the lane and put a little English off the board in traffic.
Then Curry stole the ball on a bad turnover by the Rockets and gave a lead pass to Iguodala, who streaked up the court for a finger roll with Thompson as the other fast break attacker.
Harden then missed another of many shots, Green got the rebound, dribbled up, and found Curry with a cross-court pass to the deep left wing. With the close-out coming fast, Steph launched the catch-and-shoot and the trey gave Golden State a 51-37 lead with 4:04 to go.
Houston head coach Kevin McHale took a mercy timeout.
Out of the timeout, Curry got another steal, an ill-advised cross-court pass from Harden, and Steph took it down the court himself, weaving through some orange cones wearing Rockets jerseys and going in for the unmolested scoop.
Harden finally got a late three to go, bringing his floor game to a disappointing 2-for-11 and 1-for-5 from beyond the arc, but Curry stole the show once more.
Getting surrounded by three Houston players at the top of the circle, Steph went with the low-to-the-ground dribble and flung the ball lefty no-look at the last moment to Ezeli near the basket, but Ezeli got fouled while trying to convert the dunk:
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Here’s another angle:
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Jason Thompson finally scored his first bucket as a Warrior, missing a shot inside, but getting the board and floating it in with 18.9 seconds remaining.
That gave Golden State a 57-42 lead. Curry led all scorers with 17 points on 5-for-10 field, 4-for-8 downtown, 5 rebounds, 4 assists, and 1 steal (although it seemed like he had more).
Barnes had 8 points and Ezeli added 7 points, 5 rebounds.
Harrell had 11 for Houston and Harden added 9.
(Photo: @letsgowarriors Instagram account via @khirst__)
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