STAPLES CENTER, LOS ANGELES, CA — This is a continuation of the halftime recap of the Golden State Warriors at the Los Angeles Lakers.
The Warriors took a 53-43 lead into halftime.
Q3: Injury Scare(s)
It wasn’t necessarily pretty basketball, but the Warriors kept creeping further and further away from the Lakers to start the third period, as Los Angeles just couldn’t hit the broadside of a barn.
Draymond Green hit a three on the extra pass from Kevin Durant:
👌 (via @CSNAuthentic) pic.twitter.com/wIoobl9qx6
— GoldenStateWarriors (@warriors) November 26, 2016
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Things got sloppy as Zaza Pachulia tried to pass to Stephen Curry right next to him, clogged in the lane, and Jordan Clarkson was soon off to the races for an “and-one” against Durant.
Still, that only trimmed the Warriors’ lead to 64-50 with 8:20 remaining.
Curry then picked Jose Calderon and, this time, didn’t muff the layup at the other end.
After a Lakers miss by Brandon Ingram, now 3-for-13, Steph found Zaza who found Draymond Green for a dunk, and Lakers head coach Luke Walton called timeout as Golden State lead leaked ahead, 68-50, with 7:16 to play.
Out of the timeout, Durant made a runner on a shot from the hip, Pachulia found Green for a reverse layup, and the Warriors were now up by 24.
But they went cold, then Andre Iguodala bricked a jumper, the ball caromed near the Lakers’ bench, Curry dove for it and heaved a three at the shot clock buzzer, and only hit glass for a violation.
The Lakers had to pry Steph out of the courtside seats.
But that scare turned into an actual injury for not one, but two, Warriors as Ian Clark got hit in the head as Lou Williams attacked the paint.
Clark, writhed in the pain and became a bowling pin that ended up getting stepped on the throat by Draymond, sending Green to the ground with what appeared to be a sprained ankle:
Draymond Green lands on teammate Ian Clark, turning his ankle and knocking Clark's head into the ground pic.twitter.com/qgtO7q6eP4
— Kenny Ducey (@KennyDucey) November 26, 2016
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Draymond clutched his left leg and Clark remained down, both in the key, as trainers rushed to their aide, Clark holding his head.
Green finally got up out of the crowd of teammates and sat on the Warriors bench, limping badly in the process. After a few moments, Draymond headed to the locker room, still limping but not as badly Shortly thereafter, Clark followed suit, walking under his power, but clearly still not right.
The lull in the action left some uninspired misses by both clubs, until Steph finally hit a right-wing swish on a short feed by Iguodala.
Tariq Black went to work down low, though, but eventually David West found Klay Thompson on a reverse layup past Williams.
Metta World Peace had a nice drive-and-dish to a cutting Larry Nance, Jr., but Nance got whistled for a touch foul on a KD iso on the right side, spinning away.
Durant once again only hit one of two throws and the Warriors took a 80-64 lead into the final frame.
Q4:
[…will be added shortly!…]KD stutter step
Durant stutter steps and sinks the jumper for #DubNation on @NBATV! #NBARapidReplay pic.twitter.com/bbp8a0kY8a
— NBA (@NBA) November 26, 2016
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(Photo: @letsgowarriors Instagram account via @brucecabo)
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