ORACLE ARENA, OAKLAND, CA — The San Antonio Spurs (38-6) were in town to face the Golden State Warriors (40-4) in an historic meeting of two clubs a combined 78-10, the best record between two teams ever in the NBA.
The Warriors were without James McAdoo (toe) and Kevon Looney (inactive). The Spurs were without Tim Duncan (knee soreness), who flew home to San Antonio on the road trip. Matt Bonner was listed as inactive.
1st Quarter – Chef Curry Makes An Early Appearance
The Warriors drew first blood with Klay Thompson getting a backdoor layup via Draymond Green…
https://platform.vine.co/static/scripts/embed.js…plus nailing a right baseline jumper on an offensive rebound of Stephen Curry’s missed three by Andrew Bogut, then a nice drive by Klay to lob to Bogut for a one-handed slam at the last moment: https://platform.vine.co/static/scripts/embed.js
Golden State then forced turnovers, although the Spurs could make a valid argument to call most of them bad passes.
David West made a bad entry to LaMarcus Aldridge, which turned into a Curry bomb from the edge of the logo on a handoff-dribble from Bogut at the top:
https://platform.vine.co/static/scripts/embed.jsThen Kawhi Leonard made a bad pass that Steph picked, and Curry raced down the court to finish with a beautiful wrap-around reverse layup on the fast break. That made it 11-7, Warriors, and Spurs head coach Gregg Popovich took a timeout with 7:55 remaining. Out of the timeout, Leonard made another bad pass stolen again by Curry, then Harrison Barnes ran a play for Steph, finding from the top to the left wing, and Curry swished the triple before Aldridge could close out in time: https://platform.vine.co/static/scripts/embed.js
Later, Bogut made an exquisite steal of Aldridge’s dribble drive from the mid-post, leading Steph to feed Andre Iguodala for a dunk, giving Golden State a 20-12 lead with 5:47 to go:
https://platform.vine.co/static/scripts/embed.jsBut even after yet another Spurs turnover in which Manu Ginobili’s post entry to Leonard went too high and got bothered by Curry, Green missed a three from the top, then tried a haphazard cross-court one-handed laser pass to Steph from the left corner that Leonard stuck out his paw and stole. After Kawhi faded away for a pretty jumper after that, Warriors head coach Steve Kerr called timeout with Golden State up 20-14 with 4:09 left. Festus Ezeli checked in and immediately got an inside jump hook over Aldridge, but then committed a bad pass after Green got doubled in the corner, throwing the ball into the sideline stands as the intended target, Leandro Barbosa, awaited the swing pass about five yards away. Finishing out the quarter, Curry got a pass deflected, but Barbosa happened to be in the right spot and got his body on it, the ball ricocheting back to Steph in the right corner. There, he drilled another three: https://platform.vine.co/static/scripts/embed.js
Iguodala got a nice big-stepped blow-by past Jonathan Simmons on the right side, and after Boris Diaw got fouled beyond the arc by Barnes and canned all three free throws, Curry took a sideout fro Barbosa with 5.7 seconds left, turned Patty MIlls on a dime, and got a finger roll down the lane before help could arrive:
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That gave Steph 15 points in the period on 5-for-8 field, 3-for-4 downtown, with 3 steals. The Warriors took a 29-23 lead into the 2nd quarter.
2nd Quarter – Sdot Slams His Way Onto The Scene
Shaun Livingston was the “X-Factor” for the Warriors’ bench unit to start the second quarter, forcing Popovich to call timeout with 9:50 to go and the Warriors’ lead stretching to 33-25 with 9:50 to go before the half, after LIvingston made a cut and got a layup fed by Iguodala.
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But LIvingston wasn’t done.
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He got two-hand slam from another bouncer from Iguodala, then another a minute after that, this time assisted by Green, and West finally broke the Spurs’ drought with a left baseline jumper that swished through as the shotclock buzzer sounded, trimming the Golden State lead to 39-31.
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However, Livingston answered with a fade swish from the left baseline over Tony Parker.
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After a nice poke-out of a Parker dribble by Draymond, Leonard eventually scored on an isolation vs Klay, but Thompson came back with a curl play, and-one, on a runner against Kawhi.
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Klay added a back-cut assisted by Green, but a Parker upfake led to an Aldrdige slam at the rim, uncontested, and Kerr called a timeout with the Warriors up, 47-37 with 5:27 to go.
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Curry went behind-the-back and finished a pretty runner past Mills, Marreese Speights grabbed a Kyle Anderson miss and fed Livingston, who went coast-to-coast, the benificiary of a Spurs “parting of the Red Sea” for yet another dunk, and Golden State was now up 16, 53-37, with 4:44 to play.
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Green manufactured a trip to the line with a throw off the backboard after weaving through some traffic, and Draymond made another great defensive one-on-one play, poking the ball out from Leonard’s spin, but the Warriors couldn’t capitalize, although Brandon Rush eventually got a catch-and-shoot triple.
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Rasual Butler answered with a three from the left wing and Kerr moved the chess pieces with another timeout to stop short any Spurs momentum.
Out of the timeout, Draymond got a slam dunk with 1:06 remaining and that was enough to give the Warriors a nice cushion at halftime, 62-47.
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(Photo: @letsgowarriors Instagram account via @treads.or.trails)
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