This is a continuation of the halftime recap of the Golden State Warriors at the Milwaukee Bucks.
The Warriors held a 69-66 halftime lead.
Q3 – Klay Back!
Klay Thompson finally got going at the start of the third quarter as he hit a catch-and-shoot triple from the right arc, assisted by Kevin Durant, who got doubled on the opposite pinch post.
Thompson then hit two more on a drive-and-kick by Durant, then later on a curl delivered by Curry from the top.
But before Klay hit his third trey, KD posted up Jabari Parker, but Parker was aggressive and physical, and their knees hit, sending Durant to the floor, and forcing Kerr to call timeout:
Warriors’ Kevin Durant tweaks left knee, stays in game pic.twitter.com/fRHZadoxls
— Kenny Ducey (@KennyDucey) November 20, 2016
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Fortunately, Durant was okay as it was only a knee bump, although KD missed a catch-and-shoot three in transition right after the timeout.
A Dellavedova dribble-and-pop over Green, and two Parker buckets momentarily gave the Buckets a 78-77 lead with 7:23 to play, but Steph and Klay got buckets each from curls, Thompson’s was a three, and Draymond drew a charge from John Henson trying to post up, which turned into a technical on Henson as he argued the call too vehemently.
Kerr inserted JaVale McGee, Tony Snell shorted a triple from up top, McGee grabbed the rebound, nearly decapitating Michael Beasley on the rebound, outlet to Curry, and Steph pushed the ball, waiting for a cut for KD, and fed him for a dunk down the lane…
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…causing Bucks head coach Jason Kidd to call timeout with 5:58 left.
The Warriors took a 85-78 lead.
Draymond then found McGee for a dunk…
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…then on the next sequence, Curry upfaked to get the defense on their heels, finding Thompson on the left wing for another catch-and-shoot triple.
Shortly thereafter, Steph and Draymond played “tic-tac-toe” with Green finding McGee for another smash:
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After a Parker stop-and-pop, McGee tapped out Curry’s missed finger roll, and Andre Iguodala got the ball back to Steph for a corner triple, but his foot was on the line as he finally drilled a long-distance shot.
Green then stole Malcolm Brogdon’s dribble while he wasn’t looking and coasted in for a two-handed slam, prompting Kidd to call timeout with 2:57 left, the Warriors taking a 96-84 lead.
Later, with the score 99-90, Jason Terry had come into the game and accidentally ran into Beasley on a drive, but the referee inexplicably called Iguodala for the foul. Beasley ended up missing both free throws, however.
With 17.6 seconds to play, Klay hit another jumper, this time a swish on the catch via KD at the left baseline, tallying 18 of his 22 points in the quarter.
Patrick McCaw played good containment defense on Giannis Antetokuonmpo on the last play, but grazed his elbow and Giannis pulled the Bucks to within 103-92 at the end of the third period.
Q4 – Giannis And Parker Fight Back
Durant started the final frame with a crossover of Antetokuonmpo for a pull-up jumper, and David West made his imprint on the game, faking inside to finish with a strong lefty move.
The Warriors played keep-away around the horn beautifully, but Shaun Livingston missed the point-blank layup, although he got hammered, then missed one of two free throws.
West added a nice offensive board of an airball from Andre Iguodala in the right corner, and Golden State held a 109-95 lead with 9:47 left.
But Jason Terry hit a corner three as Thompson inexplicably left him in the corner and Antetokuonmpo turned a missed three by Iguodala into free throws on the transition attack (again).
With 9:14 remaining, the Warriors stayed ahead, 109-100.
Out of a timeout, Durant went to his crossover-and-pop again, this time over Beasley, then after West made a nice box-out to get a Beasley miss, West tapped a miss by Livingston to Klay, then got the ball from McCaw inside and dished the ball back out to Thompson for a triple.
Klay hit again from the left baseline and the Warriors held their largest lead at 116-102 with 7:29 to go.
McCaw was short on a runner, sharp-shooter Mirza Teletovic hit a three in transition, and Kerr called a twenty-second timeout with 6:51 left, still up, 116-105.
Kerr subbed Curry in to go along with Livingston, McCaw, Green, and West, but the offense went stale and Steph had to shot-put a three on the catch late in the shotclock, and Antetokuonmpo slammed another fast break home on a “tic-tac-toe” from Teletovic and Terry.
Curry got a finger roll assisted by West in the post, but bricked a three, extending his long-distance woes since last night in Boston.
Out of a timeout, Antetokuonmpo swished a triple, Green made a bad pass to Livingston, and Parker got a putback of Teletovic’s missed three, shanked the putback, but hustled and banked home the second try past Draymond.
Just like that, the Bucks were back in business, down just 118-112 with 4:26 left.
Durant couldn’t hit a runner, and Antetokuonmpo was Plastic-Man running down the floor again, getting fouled by Curry on the break.
With 4:05 remaining, Kerr inserted Klay as Antetokuonmpo made it a four-point game, 118-114.
KD, who looked like he had heavy legs since the knee-on-knee, had a three fall short, but Iguodala was there to get the rebound and the ball went in weird with a quasi-slam. The clutch bucket gave the Warriors a 120-114 lead.
Teletovic and Thompson traded turnovers, and Tony Snell hit a catch-and-shoot from a strong move inside by Parker.
Curry came back with a jab-step on Dellavedova and finger-rolled his way to a 122-117 lead with 2:45 to play.
But Parker rose up once more and went down the left side to hit a banker plus the harm, and Kerr called another timeout as the Bucks cut the lead to 122-120 after Parker’s bonus free throw.
Out of the timeout, Durant missed again too hard on a left corner three, but Draymond tipped the ball off Teletovic with 2:19 to go, too much time left for the officials to review the play.
Klay made another bad pass on a duck entry pass to Green, but Antetokuonmpo missed a dunk on the break.
The Warriors couldn’t take advantage as Steph threw a bounce pass too hard. The replay confirmed the ball stayed with Golden State.
Draymond tried to attack the left side, but missed and Teletovic missed a wide open three from the top.
Dellavedova played stifling defense on Curry again from the top and, despite nice behind-the-back crossovers to shake “Delly” a bit, Steph bricked another one, but Iguodala grabbed the board.
Green tried to go inside again, but got rejected by Antetokuonmpo, who then had Steph iso’ed up top. KD came over to double and ended up deflecting a pass out of bounds.
There were only 4.1 seconds to go on the shot clock, with 35 seconds left on the game clock, and Kidd called a timeout.
Klay matched up on Antetokuonmpo and forced a tough shot as the shot clock buzzer sounded and Steph corralled the rebound.
The Warriors still had to shoot, though, and Durant controlled the offense, but back-rimmed a stop-and-pop.
With 10.1 seconds remaining, Kidd burned the Bucks’ last timeout.
On the side-out, Snell threw the ball into Antetokuonmpo on the post, but Draymond amazingly tapped the ball out, Thompson recovered, and Giannis fouled him immediately:
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Klay swished the first free throw, then toilet-bowled the second one, and with 8.5 seconds to play, the Bucks were out of timeouts and down by two possessions, 124-120.
Antetokuonmpo spun past Green, who reached in, and Giannis went to the line again with 1.7 seconds to go.
Antetokuonmpo swished the first. Kerr brought in Zaza Pachulia to rebound, Giannis purposely missed the second throw, Teletovic tipped it back to him, and Antetokuonmpo missed a jumper at the buzzer, giving the Warriors (11-2) a 124-120 win.
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