SLEEP TRAIN ARENA, SACRAMENTO, CA — This is a continuation of the halftime recap of the Golden State Warriors at the Sacramento Kings.
The Warriors took a 46-38 lead into the second half.
3rd Quarter – Curry Heats Up
The Warriors got out to a horrific start as Draymond Green turned the ball over on the first possession, then Klay Thompson made a poor bouncer trying to get it to Festus Ezeli.
Along with a Thompson missed jumper, the Kings got three free possessions and Kosta Koufos scored a jump hook on each successive turn.
With the score narrowed to 46-44, Golden State’s interim head coach Luke Walton took a timeout with still 10:24 to play in the third and inserted his small-ball lineup as Andre Iguodala subbed for Ezeli.
Despite getting a long two from Curry, a shot put runner, and a catch-and-swish three from Thompson on a jumpball between Green and Rajon Rondo, the Warriors led just 56-55 with 6:17 to go.
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But Marco Belinelli missed a three, Curry got the rebound and went the length of the floor for a layup.
Curry then missed two threes on a couple of breath-taking sequences in which Iguodala found him in the corner and Draymond rebounded his miss to give him another try, but eventually the sequence ended with another baseline inbounds score, this time from Steph to Klay on a layup.
Green then got a dunk after a Rondo missed layup. The Warriors, with Iguodala at the top, ran a misdirection play on a long curl for Curry coming off baseline screens, with Draymond slipping to the hoop wide open as two Kings converged on Steph.
Curry heated up, pushing the tempo and getting another layup and-one on a crossover step through at the Kings’ free throw line, amid three defenders.
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Steph added an uncontested layup after knocking the ball free from Ben McCollum, isoloated on the left wing.
Curry would have had another uncontested steal, but McCollum was called for a traveling violation while attacking the paint. Steph continued the fast break after the whistle and was called for delay of game, the team’s second warning, resulting in a technical foul.
Although McCollum missed the freebie, that play seemed to kill the momentum Curry had built.
Omri Casspi came back with two threes and a layup and, although Iguodala drilled a three in the right corner assisted by Green, Thompson made a bad pass, Curry got picked from behind after getting swarmed past half court in transition, and Iguodala made another bad pass.
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The Warriors took a 72-68 lead into the final frame.
The Warriors committed 8 turnovers. Their shooting was atrocious: 4-for-28 beyond the arc, with the #SplashBrothers going a combined 9-for-24.
4th Quarter – Small Ball Closes Things Out
Walton had Shaun Livingston, Leandro Barbosa, Iguodala, Barnes, and Ezeli start the 4th quarter.
Iguodala and Barbosa missed threes and the Kings took a 78-76 lead on an alley-oop from Rondo to Willie Cauley-Stein.
At the 7:51 mark, a TV timeout was called and Walton reinserted his small-ball lineup of Curry, Thompson, Iguodala, Barnes, and Green.
Steph committed two quick turnovers, taking his eye off the ball on a swing pass from Klay, then getting trapped by Rondo and Belinelli and stepping on the line.
But the Kings couldn’t capitalize as Gay dribbled the ball out of bounds on an attack on Thompson.
The Warriors then took advantage of the attention on Curry. Green was fouled on another misdirection play where the defense gravitated toward Steph, then Draymond found Thompson for an open reverse layup on a similar play.
Curry added a three in between those two sequences and the Warriors took an 81-79 lead with 5:43 to go.
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Klay committed his second three-point shooting foul on Belinelli, but then came back with a catch-and-shoot trey from the right wing to widen the lead to 94-84 with 1:38 remaining, as #DubNation chanted, “Let’s go Warriors!” in the enemy arena, as Kings fans filed out of Sleep Train.
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Belinelli, Gay, and Rondo did their best to close the gap, but a Curry left corner triple assisted by Barnes put the Kings away, 97-88, with 42.4 seconds left.
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Curry added 4 more points from the free throw line to chants of “Warriors!” which morphed into “M-V-P!” as Golden State notched their seventh straight victory with a 103-94 final score.
Steph finished with a game-high 24 points, but shot just 2-for-10 from downtown. Klay added 18 and Ezeli had 10 points, 12 rebounds. Green tallied 10 points, 9 rebounds, and 7 assists. Off the bench, Iguodala scored 14 points, grabbed 6 rebounds, and dished out 4 assists.
Gay and Belinelli led the Kings with 22 points, while Rondo notched a triple-double with 14 points, 12 rebounds, and 15 assists.
The Warriors face the Detroit Pistons at Oracle Arena in two nights on Monday.
(Photo: @letsgowarriors Instagram account via @dannopog)
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