ORACLE ARENA, OAKLAND, CA — This is a continuation of the halftime recap of the Oklahoma City Thunder at the Golden State Warriors, Game 7 of the 2016 Western Conference Finals.
3rd Quarter – Warriors Comeback
To start the third quarter, the Warriors came up empty on two possessions. After getting multiple second chance opportunities, Westbrook found Steven Adams for the 6 foot push shot to extend their lead to 8.
Finally, Stephen Curry broke the ice as he hit the walk up three pointer…
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…however Ibaka responded with a deep two pointer. Bogut checked out and Ezeli came in nice and early.
Klay Thompson stayed hot as he hit his 5th three pointer of the game.
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Durant then got a friendly roll on a jumper even though it was perfectly defended by Iguodala. The Warriors continued to trade 3’s for 2’s as this time Andre Iguodala splashed the right wing three pointer after receiving the pass from Steph. OKC called timeout with the score at 54-51 with 7:47 left in Q3.
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After getting another stop, Stephen Curry tied the ball game with another top of the key three.
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Westbrook, Klay and Roberson missed shots then after Curry got the switch, he crossed over Adams and hit a three to give the Warriors the lead.
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Durant answered with a layup then Green picked up his 4th foul on an offensive foul – he had to take a seat.
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After multiple misses by both teams, Andre Iguodala and Barnes stole the ball off of Durant then Iguodala took it the length of the floor to get the tough layup to go, and he was unfortunate not to get the foul called. The Warriors led by 3 with 4:16 left in Q3, OKC called timeout.
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Waiters dribble to the right side of the floor and got the falling away shot to go to cut the lead to one then Barnes missed a wide open three.
Ibaka missed then Shaun Livingston got the friendly roll on his Shaun-O-Matic and then he pushed the tempo and got the huge dunk to go and-one. He converted the three point play.
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Livingston then blocked a Westbrook shot then Kanter blocked Barbosa’s lay-up attempt. Steve Kerr then called timeout with his team up 64-58 and 2:07 left in the third. Things got a little bit heated between Curry and Westbrook…
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Leandro Barbosa got the ball at the three point line, put the ball down and got the high floater to go. Waiters missed a three then Harrison Barnes hit a corner three to celebrate his birthday.
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Anderson Varejao drew a charge on Westbrook….
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…then he got the tough bucket to go after crossing left to right
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Durant got two free throws to go then after multiple misses, Curry missed a quarter court shot on the buzzer, Oracle was ready to explode. After three quarters, the Warriors led 71-60.
4th Quarter – MVP Closes It Out
Kevin Durant hit another fadeaway from the baseline over Iguodala to start the fourth. Thompson responded with a nice take and finish with the left hand, but then Waiters hit the step back long two. Speights committed the offensive foul and the score was 73-64 with 10 minutes left in the game.
Livingston gave a behind the back pass to Speights who missed the bunny…
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…then Ibaka responded with an and-one. Kerr called timeout before the free throw. The Warriors lead was cut to 7 with 9:04 left. Curry checked into the ball game after the timeout.
Green missed another easy lay-up then Ibaka hit a corner three pointer after OKC had missed their previous 13 three point attempts.
It was time for Stephen Curry to get a bucket and he delivered with the ginormous three over Durant…
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…then a mid range jumper to extend the lead to 9.
Westbrook hit a tough three, but then Curry got a reverse lay-up to drop…
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…Durant responded with a three of his own and the lead was down to 5.
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Draymond Green drove through the middle of the lane to get a tough lay-up to extend the lead to 7.
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Ibaka hit two free throws and the score was 82-77 with 5:30 to go. Klay Thompson got the feed from Curry and hit his 6th three of the night.
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Klay then blocked Westbrook’s lay-up then Draymond Green hit the top of the key three, his first of the night.
Westbrook got a bucket but Curry answered as he dribbled behind his back, got past Durant and got the driving shot to go. OKC called timeout as the score was 90-79 with 2:57 left in the game
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Kevin Durant hit a three…
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…then after a Thompson miss, Durant got into the lane where he was fouled by Green, who was a little bit late. The score was 90-84 after the made free throws. After a Warriors turnover, Durant then hit a mid range elbow jumper in front of Thompson. Steve Kerr called timeout with the lead only 4 with 1:40 left.
After a bad start to the possession, Green was forced to call a short timeout, 1:22 left, Warriors ball.
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With the shot clock running down, Stephen Curry then drew a foul on Ibaka on a three point attempt – he made all three to extend the lead to 7.
Steph Curry draws the foul on Ibaka and just tosses it in from deep after the foul called. pic.twitter.com/pR5I6OTirj
— ⓂarcusD (@_MarcusD_) May 31, 2016
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Durant missed a shot, Barnes’ three just rattled out with 50 seconds to go, Durant missed a long three then Curry dribbled the ball all around the court behind hitting the three point to ice the game. OKC called timeout with 26 seconds to go and the score 96-86 in the Warriors’ favour.
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Ibaka was fouled after a Waiters miss then Curry dribbled the clock out. The Warriors completed the historic comeback and they now advance to the NBA finals for consecutive seasons.
FINAL: Warriors (4-3) won 96-88
Stephen Curry finished with 36 points and 8 assists and Klay Thompson had 21 points
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