This is a continuation of the halftime recap of the Golden State Warriors at the Minnesota Timberwolves.
The Warriors took a 61-58 lead into halftime.
3rd Quarter – Chef Curry, But After The Whistle
The Warriors lacked energy in the third quarter, committing eight turnovers as Stephen Curry’s count in that category reached five.
But Klay Thompson stroked it from downtown, although he missed a ton inside the arc.
Meanwhile, Curry hit threes too, but two of them were after fouls by the Wolves to stop the transition:
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With 7:04 remaining, Thompson hit his fifth trey in as many tries from the right wing and the Warriors cut the Wolves’ lead to 72-70.
After Draymond Green blocked a jumper by Andrew Wiggins, Curry crossed halfcourt and pulled up for a triple:
.@stephencurry30 from distance on @csnauthentic pic.twitter.com/AnWxDPEa6m
— GoldenStateWarriors (@warriors) March 22, 2016
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But the teams traded buckets, the Warriors getting a touchdown pass from Klay to Harrison Barnes, who used an upfake to let Ricky Rubio fly by, a dissecting lefty layup by Steph, and a strong drive out of a timeout by Green.
However, Brandon Rush couldn’t catch an easy lead pass and Curry made a silly turnover, and a Wiggins jumper, a missed trey by Steph, and free throws Zach Lavine gave Minnesota an 89-81 lead with 1:44 left.
Livingston and the bench unit answered, with a dunk down the left side, a Speights swat of Gorgui Dieng, a fastbreak give-and-go — after a Green block of a Tyus Jones jumper — between Livingston and Leandro Barbosa that resulted in a Barbosa layup, and an inbound steal right after that by Livingston, resulting in a swing pass from Ian Clark to Draymond, who converted with a pretty Euro-step move to the hole.
Just like that, Golden State erased their deficit and tied the game at 89-89, heading into the final frame.
4th Quarter – Green Makes Some Big Plays On Both Ends
Aside from a bad screen, Anderson Varejao came in in the fourth quarter and gave solid minutes, splitting free throws and converting an entry pass from Curry, Steph’s 10th assist, Marreese Speights got his second and third blocks of the night…
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…and Barnes picked up a lost ball by Wiggins to laser a fast break layup to Barbosa…
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…but Clark slipped for the second time in the game for a traveling violation and Towns and Wiggins cointinued to hit buckets…
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Wiggins’ 24th game-leading point of the night came an impressive inside move…
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…but free throws by Green then Curry knotted the game up at 99-99 with 4:30 remaining.
The Warriors’ defense forced tough shots as the limited the Wolves to 5-for-21 in the quarter…
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…and another shotclock violation, then Klay missed a layup, but Draymond was there to clean things up, screaming, “And one!” once again:
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Thompson then played great defense on a Wiggins attack from isolation in the left mid post, Green helped out a got his third blocked shot of the night, but Steph couldn’t take advantage, missing again from deep as he dribbled-and-popped from the left wing porch and was short on the launch.
Towns came back, up-faked Green and soared past Rush and Varejao:
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Curry tried another triple, this time a stepback from the left arc, but was short yet again, and the game hit the two-minute mark tied, 101-101.
Out of the timeout, Lavine pulled a long jumper that missed and Steph and Draymond answered right back with this perfectly executed cut:
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Timberwolves head coach Sam Mitchell took another timeout, and out of the timeout, Lavine ended up pulling from long range again, missed again…
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…but Draymond fouled Towns on the rebound.
However, Towns missed a jumper, Barnes missed an open three, and Steph managed to somehow corral the rebound on the right baseline, losing the ball in traffic. The officials reviewed the play and confirmed that the ball had gone off the Wolves.
Livingston made the inbound from the baseline with 1:09 to play, and Green went around the paint and slipped to the basket at the last moment, getting the bucket and yet another “And one!” scream, giving the Warriors a 105-101 lead, approaching a minute to go:
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Ricky Rubio hit a deep left flat-footed jumper with 57 seconds left, Warriors head coach Steve Kerr called timeout, Green ended up with an open three from the right wing that hit the rim short, the ball was loose, but Wiggins eventually grabbed it.
The only problems was, by then, the Wolves couldn’t get a two-for-one with the game clock down to about 25 seconds remaining. Wiggins attempted this tough shot…
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…then Thompson got the rebounded and Minnesota had to foul. Klay got the ball to Curry, who was fouled, and made both throws with 13.3 seconds to play, and Golden State had a nail in the coffin with a 107-103 lead.
However, Steph nearly pulled that nail out, fouling Wiggins on a designed play out of another timeout, beyond the arc:
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But Wiggins missed the first, made the second, Mitchell called another timeout, and instructed Wiggins to miss the third in hopes of an offensive rebound with just 7.1 seconds to go.
Wiggins did a good job of missing the free throw, but the Warriors were ready for it, the bal caromed to the right baseline inside of straightaway where Towns had good position, and Klay got another key rebound and was immediately fouled.
Thompson drilled both to ice the game, 109-104.
The Warriors (63-7) will head back to the Bay Area and face the Clippers in two nights at Oracle.
(Photo: @letsgowarriors Instagram account via @frnkdnny)
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