ORACLE ARENA, OAKLAND, CA — This is a continuation of the halftime recap of the Los Angeles Lakers at the Golden State Warriors.
The Warriors held a 52-49 lead heading into halftime.
3rd Quarter – Curry Stirs The Pot
The third quarter started with the same feel as the first half, as Andrew Bogut began things with a lead pass that had no chance of reaching either of its apparent intended targets: Stephen Curry or Klay Thompson, who were both cutting into the paint.
But Draymond Green and Bogut helped disrupt an inside attempt by Julius Randle, Klay eventually ended the sequence with a three from the left corner.
Green got picked from behind on the right wing by Kobe, but Roy Hibbert launched a two-handed chest past too far, nearly putting Bryant in harm’s way as he tried to save the ball from the Warriors’ baseline, and Brandon Rush benefitted from that miscue with a three from the left corner again.
Still, the Warriors had a relatively paltry 11 assists to 10 turnovers and were shooting just 38.8%.
Bryant came back with a right-baseline jumper, but Steph started to assert his will from 24 feet out, hitting three triples in a span of less than five minutes.
The first was assisted by Bogut on the inbound then in transition…
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…the second a right-wing pull-up in transition that went in, out, then back in, and the third a left corner pivot-and-launch to make it 73-66, Warriors, with 4:21 to go in the third.
Sprinkled in there was a “tic-tac-toe” play to Green to a Bogut slam via lob…
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…and another Rush triple from the left corner. The Lakers countered with a Euro-step layup by Jordan Clarkson and a two-handed double-clutch dunk by Randle, assisted by Lou Williams.
Later, Andre Iguodala checked in and fed Draymond on a slip cut down the lane for a dunk, but the Warriors led just 76-70.
Festus Ezeli subbed in a got a two-handed dunk down the left baseline on a feed by Curry, Shaun Livingston drilled a banker on the right side, “and-one”, and after a D’Angelo Russell missed a runner, and with 43.5 seconds left, Iguodala found Curry on a post pattern and Steph finished with a one-handed dunk, although he landed rather tenuously — albeit with no harm evident — on his left leg:
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Curry then stole the ball from Lou Williams, but missed the pull-up three in transition, which would have blown the roof off of #Roaracle had it dropped.
But Harrison Barnes managed to get a near-dunk bucket down on the right baseline, and the Warriors had taken control, 86-72, after three periods. Curry led all scorers with 26 points.
4th Quarter –
The bench unit went on an 8-2 run to start the fourth quarter, with Livingston and Barbosa hitting shots, then Ezeli providing the punctuation mark with an alley-oop slam assisted by Livingston.
But Randle and Clarkson came back with their own 8-2 run, punctuated with a two-hand jam down the lane fed by Clarkson, and Walton called timeout with 6:56 remaining and Golden State up by 14 again, 96-82.
Livingston continued his strong play with a pull-up, then a drive down the right side for an “and-one” on Russell. Meanwhile, Scott brought Kobe back in to cheers from #Roaracle, with 5:36 to go, but Golden State was ahead comfortably, 100-85.
A Ryan Kelly “and-one” banker versus Ezeli, assisted by Bryant, brought Los Angeles back to within 103-90 with 4:20 left, but the Lakers were running out of time.
Kobe checked out with 3:04 remaining and the Warriors up, 107-90, waving to more cheers from the crowd.
Final Score: Warriors (37-3) 116-98
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