This is a continuation of the halftime recap of the Golden State Warriors at the Boston Celtics.
The Warriors took a 55-48 lead into the second half.
Q3 – Razzle Dazzle
The Warriors got off to a cold start as both Stephen Curry and Klay Thompson missed threes, but the Celtics also clanked and Klay and Draymond Green hit back-to-back triples.
Isaiah Thomas answered with a three of his own, but Thompson got a hand-off from Green and drained another jumper, Amir Johnson threw a pass off Kevin Durant’s leg, and Draymond ended up hitting another three from the weakside as Curry dribbled to the hoop after a feed on the wing from Durant in the pinch post:
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Marcus Smart couldn’t drill a trey over Green, then “KD” got a near-steal that had the Celtics scrambling in the back-court, forcing a late shot-clock three by Smart.
At the other end, Steph’s pass inside got deflected, and Klay found the loose ball in the key and easily hit the short jumper, forcing Boston head coach Brad Stevens called timeout as Golden State stretched their lead to 68-51 with 8:25 remaining.
Out of the timeout, KD knocked the ball away from Avery Bradley, and Curry ran the break with just Thomas back defending, easily sending a lob over the 5’9” point guard for a one-handed jam:
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Steph then stole a pinch post entry by Smart, led the break, then put on the brakes as everyone flew by at the top of the arc, and the shot trickled in with Curry watching it go in, giving Golden State a commanding 73-51 lead:
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Stevens took another timeout, but the Warriors weren’t done.
After another late-shotclock try by Smart got deflected by Draymond, Steph upfaked Thomas in stride and drove to the hole for two more.
Green went inside to find Klay, and Zaza Pachulia even hit a jumper as the Celtics refocused all of their defensive efforts towards other players, retreating, and Pachulia celebrated the jumper with a little Steph-like “giddy-up” slap of his side:
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Here it is, set to Ginuwine‘s “Pony”:
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It was meant to mimic Durant’s celebration against the Raptors the other night:
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Klay then deflected a Thomas right corner triple, but Steph picked up his third foul and got whistled for a technical as he complained about tapping the dribble out of Thomas’ hands cleanly.
Draymond added another great defensive play, this time smothering Jaylen Brown’s attack, and after some empty possessions, Durant stole the ball from Terry Rozier for his third steal, but Ian Clark was slow on the break and got blocked.
KD continued to get his hands on nearly every loose ball, including one in which he was clowned by Draymond for not quite reaching:
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Durant also went crashing into the photographers on the baseline after a nifty fast break back-flip by Curry and was unharmed as KD drew the foul and the Warriors took the ball out of bounds:
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Clark made up for it later with a cross-court catch-and-splash from Curry, David West tapped a missed three by Gerald Green that Andre Iguodala corralled, and with the quarter winding down, Steph almost got stuck deep past the arc, but at the last moment found West on the right side and West drilled the turnaround at the buzzer.
That gave the Warriors an 86-57 lead heading into the final frame, outscoring the Celtics 31-9 in the third period.
Q4 – Curry Off Kilter, Closes Out
Golden State notched their 30th assist of the night as Durant found Thompson on a cut, and the Warriors happily traded baskets after that.
Klay hit a swish on a curl, Durant drilled a catch-and-shoot triple, and the Celtics got a three from Jaylen Brown and a runner by Bradley.
But Iguodala banked home is own miss and got fouled in the process, and with 8:25 remaining, the Warriors held a 95-71 lead after Iguodala missed the bonus free throw.
Out of the timeout, the Warriors played a bit sloppy. Klay lost the ball going up for a jumper and Golden State head coach Steve Kerr called a timeout with 7:09 to play, up 95-75.
But Patrick McCaw got a runout layup and Stevens called another timeout.
With the energy lacking, the lead whittled away to 97-81 when Green got a defensive rebound and fired a touchdown pass to Steph, who then smoked the lefty layup, hitting board, but no rim, as Curry continued to struggle on this night.
Pachulia added a bad screen on action with McCaw, but Boston was running out of time as a Rozier putback trimmed the Warriors’ lead to 97-83 with 3:11 to go.
Curry added a sling pass on a roll to Draymond that flew several yards over into the baseline seats, and Brown hit a jumper in the lane after first getting blocked by Green to bring the game to within 99-87 with under two minutes to play.
But Steph finally hit a dribble-and-pivot from the deep right corner, giving 14 points on 6-for-18 field.
Curry added a runner, but airballed the last shot before the shot-clock buzzer.
(Photo: @letsgowarriors Instagram account via @_thegoldenhoop)
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