This is a continuation of the halftime recap of the Golden State Warriors at the Oklahoma City Thunder.
The Thunder took a 57-46 lead into halftime.
3rd Quarter – Warriors Claw Back, But Durant Shows Out To Close Out
After a halftime in which ESPN sideline reporter Lisa Salters said that she heard Draymond Green give a profanity-laced tirade that could be heard in the hallway outside the Warriors’ locker room, Klay Thompson came out and hit two jumpers off the bat.
After Stephen Curry stole a bad pass by Kevin Durant, Curry drove the left side of the lane against Russell Westbrook, but his feet got entangled with Westbrook’s and Steph ended up turning his left ankle.
But he managed to dish off to Harrison Barnes under the hoop on the play, Barnes gave an upfake, then dunked the ball two-handed. Meanwhile, Curry pleaded for his team to foul, as he was in pain under the stanchion:
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Barnes did foul, but it was a shooting foul against Westbrook. Shaun Livingston checked in for Steph as he headed to the locker room.
In Curry’s absence, the Warriors fought through some further adversity, as a Green triple fell short, Livingston had an entry pass into Green go through Draymond’s legs, and a Livingston pass inside to Andrew Bogut went unexpected and led to a lost ball.
But even after an Andre Roberson three from the corner and a strong Steven Adams layup down the lane on a catch, Thompson made a tough driving reverse layup, then made a jumper, and the Thunder started to miss some free throws.
Warriors head coach Steve Kerr went with offense with Curry out, subbing Marreese Speights for Bogut, and the move paid immediate dividends, as Livingston got a catch down low and zipped the ball to Speights for a jumper at the top of the circle, after Serge Ibaka missed two consecutive ill-advised threes from the left wing.
Later, after some empty possessions, Westbrook got an “and-one” down the right side of the lane against Iguodala with 5:52 to play, but Curry was set to check back in after Livingston drilled a left side pull-up jumper to make it 70-63, OKC.
Speights made another jumper, this time assisted by Green as OKC bit on Klay…
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…then after a Westbrook traveling violation and a timeout, Curry made a three that tickled the rim, out of the timeout. Meanwhile, Draymond got fouled off the ball, but he missed the free throw. The Warriors had climbed back to a 71-68 deficit with 4:04 remaining.
Golden State kept the pressure up, with Green stealing the ball from Westbrook on a sidestep move, followed by a Westbrook three over Curry that went way too hard. Draymond outlet the rebound to Andre Iguodala, who found Speights again for a layup.
Like he did in the first half, Dion Waiters was instant offense for OKC off the bench and immediately drilled two jumpers, but Curry came back with a right wing pivot-and-launch from beyond the arc over Waiters…
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…then drew free throws on Waiters after Green stole the ball on an Enes Kanter drive.
With 2:27 to go in the third, the Warriors tied the game at 75-75.
Steph gave them a brief lead at 78-77 after getting isolated against Kyle Singler, crossing him over and stepping back for a triple from the left wing with 1:20 left:
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That gave Curry seven threes on nine attempts.
But Durant put the Thunder on his back to close out the quarter, getting a right wing pull-up from beyond the arc, then after Ibaka rebounded a Speights missed jumper for his 12th board of the night, Durant crossed over Iguodala on the left wing and drained another triple to put OKC up, 83-78, with 12.7 seconds remaining.
On the last play for the Warriors, Curry tried another pivot-and-launch from the right wing, but Durant was there for the block.
4th Quarter – Nailbiter!
Steph made some nice passes to a cutting Barnes and Anderson Varejao to start the final frame, but both missed at the rim. Kanter made a short turnaround fade, Durant swished a jumper, and after a Livingston foul, Kanter took a trip to the line and put OKC up by twelve, 90-78, with 9:15 remaining.
However, Livingston righted the ship as he got an “and-one” to drop against Roberson, Thompson got a jumper to fall, and Iguodala snagged a missed Klay three-pointer after that, fed Green down low, who fed Barnes for another dunk to make it 92-85, Thunder.
That gave Draymond 11 assists and 9 rebounds to go along with just 1 point, but OKC was still winning the boards, a massive 48-to-21.
Klay and Green made some great defensive stops against Westbrook…
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…and Adams, respectively…
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There was even an earlier hustle play against Ibaka that was called a foul on Draymond…
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…but the Thunder held a 94-85 lead with 5:45 to go as Thompson missed a fly-by three attempt. Kerr took a timeout with 6:07 remaining.
Curry came back in, but Westbrook made an acrobatic layup down the left baseline. Klay answered with a layup caught from Green, just past Adams.
Ibaka missed late in the shotclock, Thompson missed a three after hesitating, Westbrook and Ibaka missed again, and Steph finally ended the scoring drought with a left-to-right drive into the lane to cut the OKC lead to 96-89 with 3:36 to go:
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The Thunder once again got caught late in the shotclock and, this time, Westbrook airballed a deep three, then Steph pulled up from the top, thanks to interference from Iguodala, and the Warriors were back within 96-92 with 2:50 left:
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Durant missed, Green chased down the rebound after tipping it, then got fouled as Curry attacked the rim, but Draymond missed from the line again, only hitting the second of the two, but the Warriors were within one possession with 2:21 to play.
With 1:56 remaining, Westbrook missed over Klay, but Roberson tapped the rebound, OKC got possession, and Donovan called a timeout, after which Durant made a move to the lane and got fouled by Iguodala.
Durant made both, of course, but Curry struck again from the top to make it 98-96, Thunder, with 1:37 to go, giving nine triples on twelve attempts:
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Durant played “tic-tac-toe” to Westbrook, who drove and found Ibaka wide open on the right baseline. The Warriors conceded the shot and Ibaka delivered, swishing the jumper. On the other end, Curry drove the left side, went with a jump stop, but the refs blew the whistle and said he jumped into a double-hop, which he did.
With 1:09 to play, OKC had the ball up 100-96, but Durant couldn’t time an alley-oop cleanly and airballed the attempt, Green corralled the rebound, found Steph, who drove up and found Klay in the left corner for a splash worth three points, with 36 seconds left:
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With 27.4 seconds remaining, Donovan took a timeout with OKC leading, 100-99.
Out of the timeout, Durant drilled a triple with 14.5 seconds to play, over Iguodala and on a feed from Ibaka. Kerr called timeout.
Thompson got the ball at the top out of the timeout, drove the lane which was left wide open, scored the lay-in just before Adams got there, and the Warriors did not foul on the inbound, which may have surprised Durant in the corner.
With pressure coming, Durant threw the ball to halfcourt without really seeing a recipient, and Klay got his left hand on it. Green then tracked the ball down and saved it back to Thompson before going out of bounds on the sideline.
Klay found Iguodala, who elevated for the shot at the buzzer, absorbed contact by Durant, and a whistle was blown as the buzzer sounded.
The officials put 0.7 seconds on the clock, Kerr elected to leave Draymond and Barnes in on the rebound instead of bringing in Bogut, and Iguodala swished the first and nailed the second to tie the game, then gave a shrug:
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Donovan called timeout, Durant took a fade-away jump hook from the deep right baseline, the shot clanked off, and the game went into overtime tied at 103-103.
Overtime – The Chef
The Thunder got off to a great start in overtime, as Westbrook converted an “and-one” down the right side of the lane, then after a Draymond miss, Ibaka got a two-hand dunk fed by Durant.
But Curry forced the action on Durant, knowing he had five fouls, and Steph took him to the hole and fouled him out, Durant reaching in from behind, although Steph once again missed the first of the two free throws.
Green deflected a pass on the defensive end, Klay got the ball, dished to Curry and Steph hit another three from the top against Singler and, just like that, the Warriors were back in business, down 108-107:
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It was Curry’s tenth trey of the night, which also tied him for the record of having the most threes in an NBA season, just 58 games in.
Iguodala and Green missed layups after that, Ibaka made a layup, but Steph came back once more with a right side pivot-and-launch again, this time over Singler, which tied the game at 110-110 with 2:25 remaining.
Roberson putback his own miss on a nice hustle play over Draymond, Curry took a heat-check from the right wing with no one rebounding, and Ibaka made a left baseline jumper that trickled in off the board and rim to give OKC a 114-110 lead with 1:41 to go as Kerr took a timeout.
Out of the timeout, Steph maneuvered just past Singler to take a fade-away from the right elbow well inside the arc, but Green pulled down the offensive rebound, waited a moment, and found Klay on the right wing for three.
The Warriors were down just 114-113 with 1:29 to play.
Golden State’s championship-caliber defense emerged again, as Thompson managed to stifle Westbrook’s probing, but eventually Westbrook managed to draw a whistle on an exasperated Klay after Ibaka pulled down an offensive miss, his 20th rebound on the night. Thompson didn’t think he applied enough contact for a foul, and after two free throws, Westbrook put OKC back up, 116-113.
Steph drove in again on the next opportunity and was fouled on the head, and made both free throws this time to cut the OKC lead to 116-115 with 50 seconds remaining.
Westbrook attacked again, found Roberson cutting, and Roberson stepped up again as the ball dropped after tickling the rim, putting the Thunder back up, 118-115 with 33.9 ticks to go as Kerr called another timeout.
But Westbrook made a critical error out of the timeout. Curry found Green on the slip, and Draymond found a cutting Klay for a reverse layup, with the bump from Westbrook:
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Thompson pumped his fist in celebration and made good on the ensuing free throw to tie the game, 118-118, with 29.5 seconds to play.
On the next possession for OKC, Thompson’s defense rose to the occasion once more, stopping Westbrook on the left side, then Westbrook went in again with a full head of steam into the lane, banked it too hard, and Green managed to tip the ball to Iguodala despite Ibaka’s presence.
Iguodala got the ball to Steph and, with Roberson not closing quickly enough, Curry launched from the edge of the Thunder logo after crossing halfcourt, and the shot went in with 0.6 seconds left!
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Curry and Iguodala celebrated with a dance:
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The Warriors took a 121-118 lead.
Donovan called timeout to advance the ball, Westbrook got the inbound, took a fade-away jumper from beyond the right arc and the shot fell short off rim, the buzzer sounded, and Golden State escaped with their 53rd win against just 5 losses.
The win also clinched a playoff spot for the Warriors.
Curry finished with 46 points on 12-for-16 treys — the first time a player in the NBA has hit double-digit threes in consecutive games — Klay added 32, Draymond had 14 rebounds and 14 assists, and Iguodala added 12.
Durant finished with 37 points and 12 rebounds, Westbrook had 26 points and 13 rebounds, and Ibaka tallied 15 points and 20 rebounds. OKC outrebounded Golden State by an incredible 62-32 margin.
After a 5-1 road trip, the Warriors return to the Bay Area to face the Hawks in three nights.
(Photo: @letsgowarriors Instagram account via @raynicelcf)
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