This is a continuation of the halftime recap of the Golden State Warriors at the Washington Wizards.
The Wizards held a 61-49 lead at halftime.
Q3: Clawing Back
The Warriors got off to a strong start in the second half, as Stephen Curry finally drained a triple, his first in 15 attempts since last night against the 76ers…
https://twitter.com/NBA/status/836749984993275904/video/1
…then Zaza Pachulia made an and-one bucket at the rim plus got smacked in the face by Markieff Morris, for a Flagrant One foul.
Pachulia hit the free throw, Draymond Green took it strong to the hole past John Wall…
https://twitter.com/warriors/status/836751543315529730/video/1
…then Klay Thompson left a nice pass down low to Pachulia after an up-fake, and Wizards head coach Scotty Brooks called timeout as the Warriors got the game back to a mere 63-59 deficit.
Out of the timeout, John Wall got his 13th and 14th assists on the night on an alley-oop to Morris and a feed to Marcin Gortat, prompting a timeout by Warriors head coach Steve Kerr.
After that, Golden State chipped away.
Green found Curry for a layup and Patrick McCaw hit a catch-and-shoot trey from Draymond…
https://twitter.com/NBA/status/836752998156091393/video/1
…but Otto Porter kept the Warriors at bay with a triple.
Steph later found Green for a touchdown jam off of a defensive rebound…
https://twitter.com/NBATV/status/836754064033492992/video/1
…Golden State drew fouls on drives, with Curry doing his best to force the action, although he got hit in the left thigh by Gortat for a stinger on one of the drives, and Shaun Livingston came in and provided tremendous defense.
Four straight free throws by Livingston gave the Warriors an improbable 80-79 lead with 2:10 remaining, Kelly Oubre answered with a splash on the catch from the right arc, but Steph came down the right side with a tough layup via behind-the-back move on Wall…
https://twitter.com/JaeAzizi/status/836755918121414656/video/1
…only to have Andre Iguodala tap the ball, resulting in Golden State’s second delay-of-game call:
https://twitter.com/JaeAzizi/status/836756079744733187/video/1
After the free throw, Curry hit a trey after Livingston bounced the ball off a Wizard leg…
https://twitter.com/NBATV/status/836760896265404416/video/1
…then David West swatted a nifty behind-the-back move by Wall off Wall…
https://twitter.com/JaeAzizi/status/836756410448797696/video/1
…and the Warriors tied the game 85-85 heading into the final frame.
Q4: Defensive Lapses Cost Warriors
Klay got a layup early on, but Livingston held his ankle as he tumbled to the floor…
https://twitter.com/JaeAzizi/status/836758346543706115/video/1
…but after spending some time on the floor, incredibly got up as if nothing had happened. Thompson had to take a foul on the inbound to buy Livingston time.
Later, Livingston gave a “hesi” move on the left side, then turned the corner and finished with a two-handed flush, which brought the Warriors to within 92-90:
https://twitter.com/JaeAzizi/status/836759181440868352/video/1
After a timeout, Markieff Morris tried to dunk the ball, but Livingston outstretched hand swatted the ball away, he got the rebound, and stopped and popped from the free throw line in transition to give him 14 points and the Warriors a 93-92 lead.
Patrick McCaw came in a drew a foul after an up-fake, but only hit one of two free throws, as had West and Klay earlier in the quarter, then came a wild sequence.
Wall short-rimmed a jumper, James McAdoo boarded, outlet to Livingston, and Livingston missed another dribble-and-pop from the free throw line.
But Curry stole the outlet, tried a reverse layup and got blocked, only to get his own rebound with the quick hands. The Warriors couldn’t get anything going and Draymond ended up throwing up a prayer from the right arc at the shot clock buzzer, only to have Steph grab the board again.
Curry threw up a shot from the right backboard, got it blocked again, but the Warriors still got the ball back, only to have Livingston lose the handle in the paint.
Morris ended up hitting a triple from the right side, and the Wizards were back up, 95-94, as Kerr called timeout with 5:33 left.
Out of the timeout, more craziness ensued as Iguodala missed a dunk, Green snatched away a lob attempt by Wall, only to have Steph dribble out of bounds trying to go behind-the-back.
But Curry ended up boarding a missed open three by Iguodala and shaked-and-baked Gortat for a foul, which resulted in free throws as the Wizards went into the penalty:
https://twitter.com/KNBR/status/836762446513618944/video/1
However, Green lost the ball with no call on a post entry catch, Wall found Gortat on the break, Draymond got a put-back of Klay’s ninth miss (3-for-12) from downtown, but Otto Porter answered with a three off a post entry to Gortat, and Kerr called timeout with 2:39 to play, the Wizards up, 102-100.
Out of the timeout, Draymond hit a triple on the catch from Thompson, Bradley Beal answered with a tough runner, Iguodala threw the ball away on a precision attempt to Green down low, and Beal drew a foul on Livingston.
Beal’s free throws gave the Wizards a 106-103 lead with 1:18 to play, but Draymond struck again from the arc from the same spot, this time from Iguodala, and with 1:04 to go, the game was tied, 106-106:
https://twitter.com/JaeAzizi/status/836764432013283328/video/1
But Wall found Morris on an alley-oop as the Warriors didn’t react quickly enough and Kerr called timeout again, their last one save a twenty-second one.
Out of the timeout, Curry raced down the left side for a layup…
https://twitter.com/JaeAzizi/status/836764917084540928/video/1
…Wall missed a jumper in response, but Porter got the offensive board and drew a foul on Steph.
Porter hit both throws, and with 17.5 seconds left and only one twenty-second timeout remaining, Steph took a long three from the top with 3.7 seconds to play, missed it back-iron, and Morris was fouled on the rebound.
Morris hit both from the charity stripe, giving the Wizards an impressive 18-for-20 from the line on the night, and Kerr called his last timeout, down 112-108.
The ball went into Klay then back to Iguodala, then to Klay again and, with no contact given by the Wizards, Thompson shot a meaningless off-kilter three from the left wing and the buzzer sounded with Washington (35-23) victorious over Golden State (50-10):
https://twitter.com/JaeAzizi/status/836765417213329408/video/1
[twitter-follow screen_name=’poormanscommish’ show_count=’yes’]
(Photo: @letsgowarriors Instagram account via @ponybraxton)
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