ORACLE ARENA, OAKLAND, CA — Three nights after defeating the Hawks in a thriller at home, the Golden State Warriors (16-2) were back at #Roaracle to face the run-and-gun Houston Rockets (11-7).
The Warriors were without Damian Jones, who was on assignment with the D-League Santa Cruz team. The Rockets were without Nene Hilario (rest) and Chinanu Onuaku (D-League assignment).
Q1: Harden Heating Up
Golden State started with a nice “tic-tac-toe” from Klay Thompson to Zaza Pachulia to Kevin Durant:
Using the full shotclock on @CSNAuthentic. 🏀 pic.twitter.com/fopuSzJ4VU
— GoldenStateWarriors (@warriors) December 2, 2016
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However, the Rockets lived up to their billing and came out a scorching 6-for-7 from the field. The Warriors matched the early couple buckets, but Pachulia went down a slippery slope, getting swatted alone under the rim by Clint Capela, picking up a foul on the loose ball.
Then James Harden got Thompson off-balance and went past the helping Stephen Curry for a lay-in.
Durant pulled a three in front of Ryan Anderson from the right side, but missed, then Anderson swished a deep left catch from Harden.
Pachulia then made a bad screen, pummeling Harden with a little garnishing from Harden.
Warriors head coach Steve Kerr opted not to take out Zaza after his second personal, and paid the price with soft rim protection when “The Beard” shook free and went down the lane for a dunk.
Kerr called timeout as the Rockets leapt out to a 13-4 lead.
Instead of going with JaVale McGee, Kerr went to Andre Iguodala for Pachulia, thus inserting the “Death Lineup” early, with Durant remaining in the game.
Although Draymond Green threw the ball away, Harden got swatted from behind off the board by Durant…
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…with a little look by “KD”, and on the break, Curry fed Iguodala for a slam dunk.
After Anderson missed a fade-way in the mid-block over Steph, Durant brought the ball up, up-faked his man, shook him with a dribble in the motion of the up-fake, and went with big steps in the lane for a layup.
Later, Thompson hit a three as Iguodala got the ball in the post and dished back out to Green, who found Klay, halving the Rockets’ lead to 14-11 with 6:30 remaining.
Draymond then came alive as the Houston started assuming he would pass, and got three straight drives down the lane for lay-ins, one righty, one lefty, then the last one high off the board righty over Capela, and Rockets head coach Mike D’Antoni called timeout to stop the bleeding as the Warriors swung the pendulum around and took a 17-16 lead with 5:22 to play.
Kerr put McGee in this time, but he charged on his first touch on offense, then timed a Harden drive wrong on a pick-and-roll, one more layup for Harden.
Klay hit a three from the left wing, ignoring Trevor Ariza and Eric Gordon both lunging out, and Iguodala added a catch from the same spot.
But the Rockets countered with a three from Sam Dekker, Harden drew an up-and-under shooting foul on Curry, Steph’s second personal after fouling Harden on the previous play, sending him to the bench, and Gordon hit a jumper then a triple.
Meanwhile, Durant drew foul shots on Dekker from the deep right wing, although the whistle was well before the shot and Durant swished from about 25 feet. He sank both throws, though, but a sequence later, Patrick McCaw muffed KD’s laser pass down low.
Patrick Beverley turned the ball right back, traveling, and Durant did a fake step-back on Gordon and slithered into the paint for another righty scoop, giving him eight points to lead the Warriors.
Kevon Looney got a piece on Montrezl Harrell’s shot, and Golden State raced up-court, with Thompson pulling up from the left arc just a millisecond late for a bucket just after the buzzer.
The Rockets held a 32-30 lead after the opening frame.
Q2: Steph Saddled
Harrell stepped to the spotlight as the Warriors lost track of him and he got two dunks and a putback in a span of less than three minutes, the last of which had Durant, McCaw, and David West all looking at each other for a terribly blown assignment that left Harrell an uncontested dunk.
But Durant up-faked Harrell again from the perimeter, with a little head shift to boot to throw him off-balance, plus an “and-one”. On the next possession, though, Gordon struck back with an and-one of his own, getting past West.
Then Curry got whistled for his third personal on an attack by Beverley, sending Steph to the bench for the remainder of the half.
With 8:42 to go, the Rockets led 40-35 at a TV timeout.
Out of the timeout, KD found a cutting Ian Clark for an easy two…
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…but Gordon this time went lefty again past Draymond for yet another and-one.
Later, Green applied pressure on Capela and forced a moving pivot foot, and Curry drilled a three at the other end, giving the Warriors their first lead at 44-43.
Harden missed a three, and Shaun LIvingston caught a touchdown pass from Iguodala…
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…forcing D’Antoni to call another timeout as Golden State took control of the momentum, 46-43, with 6:39 left.
But out of the timeout, Capela beasted on the offensive boards and Klay couldn’t help himself with a slap on the wrist as Capela dunk the ball home, then Anderson hit two deep threes from the left arc.
Before the second one, Harden attacked the lane, got the ball entangled with Green and eventually blocked by Draymond, but the refs called a foul. Green picked up a technical, which Harden missed, but on the next Warriors possession after the free throws, Kerr picked up a T, which Harden hit.
Durant got called for a charge as he got past him and slapped on the arm, but barreled over the help, and that’s when Anderson hit his second triple, to take a 54-48 lead for the Rockets.
But the Warriors answered as KD posted up then got a lob that went too far from Draymond. Durant darted the ball back up top to Livingston and he found Iguodala from the left corner for three.
At the other end, though, Ariza tipped in a Harden attack, then Iguodala got called for a foul on Anderson when it looked like Anderson charged into him.
Later, Harden missed a three, but KD threw the ball away back to Harden in transition, and Ariza scored on the touchdown pass by Harden, giving the Rockets a 60-53 lead.
Kerr took a timeout with 2:29 remaining.
Out of the timeout, Green got a layup, but the Warriors couldn’t keep the Rockets off the glass as Capela got a layup.
Clark managed to score a drive as Capela goal-tended, and Durant blocked Capela on the next play, leading to a fast break where Green found KD, who gave it back to Draymond for the layup:
KD has gone to a different level with the Ws pic.twitter.com/mdg3EVu7yO
— BBALLBREAKDOWN (@bballbreakdown) December 2, 2016
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With 1:00 to play, the Warriors cut the Rockets’ lead to 62-59.
However, after a Gordon miss, Durant couldn’t convert as Harden got his hand in to stop KD’s attack on the break, the Warriors called timeout but Durant missed on the two-for-one.
On the last play, Ariza missed from the right corner, but Anderson snuck in for yet another putback…
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…giving Houston 10 second-chance points to zero for Golden State, even as the Warriors shot 55% from the field.
Clark missed from half-court and the Rockets held a 64-59 lead at halftime.
Anderson, of all people, led the Rockets with 15 points, with Harden at 14 and Gordon chipping in 12. Durant tallied 19 points, Green 10 points, 6 rebounds, 6 assists, but Curry only had 11 minutes played, saddled with those 3 fouls.
(Photo: @letsgowarriors Instagram account via @allenchantheman)
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