Two nights after defeating the Nets at home, the Golden State Warriors (49-9) began a five-game roadtrip with a stop at the Philadelphia 76ers (22-36).
The Warriors welcomed back Kevin Durant from a one-game absence due to a left pinkie contusion.
Q1: Curry Off-Kilter
Both teams displayed plenty of firepower on the outset. Kevin Durant blew by Dario Saric for a reverse jam…
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But the Sixers answered the call, as Robert Covington hit a three over two close-out Warriors, Jahlil Okafor scored inside after charging into Zaza previously on nice back-pedaling defense, Nik Stauskas drained a trey, Sergio Rodriguez hit from distance, and even T.J. McConnell got in the mix, taking Stephen Curry baseline for a reverse-turnaround mini-jumper.
With 5:36 remaining, Draymond Green broke free down the lane and slammed a dunk down the lane, giving the Warriors a 22-21 lead as 76ers head coach Brett Brown took a timeout.
Curry couldn’t connect from beyond the arc, airballing a three and short-rimming another early step-back, resulting in a coast-to-coast layup by Rodriguez, but eventually Steph found JaVale McGee for a dunk.
Golden State’s woes from the arc (0-for-8) continued as Curry airballed another one, but Rodriguez started to shoot blanks and Steph found Draymond for a touchdown jam with 35 seconds to play, which gave the Warriors a 32-31 lead heading into the second stanza.
Q2: Turnovers And Iron Unkind
David West hit a bucket inside to start the second quarter, then Thompson seemed to break the ice on a tic-tac-toe three via a pass from West to Green outside, then to Klay on the left wing.
Brown took a Gregg Popovich-like timeout early, with the Warriors up, 37-31, with 11:06 to go.
Later, the Sixers couldn’t hit anything, and Green found Thompson on a cut for a layup, giving Klay 10 points and Draymond 5 assists.
Okafor lost the ball against Green, and West drew an inside foul. His free throws gave the Warriors a 45-35 lead with 8:20 left, and seemingly Golden State was creeping away.
But then the Warriors committed three straight turnovers, with Thompson attempting an ill-advised behind-the-back bounce pass, off a drive, that trickled out of bounds.
Robert Covington converted a nice up-and-under layup, the Sixers got two offensive boards that ended with Rodriguez draining another triple, and Warriors head coach Steve Kerr called timeout as Golden State’s lead dwindled to 46-40 with 6:05 remaining.
Closing out the half, the Warriors continued to miss from the arc, much of them open shots, and the team ended up a paltry 1-for-16 on threes.
Despite another nice dunk on a drive past Saric by Durant, Richaun Holmes smashed an alley-oop lob by Rodriguez over Green…
[protected-iframe id=”104cdffee511606e3da47a233616b398-114320562-10106876″ info=”http://twitframe.com/show?url=https%3A%2F%2Ftwitter.com%2FSportsCenter%2Fstatus%2F836384655825854465″ width=”360″ height=”360″ frameborder=”0″]…Steph made a bad pass inside in traffic, Saric got a dunk against “Red Sea” Warriors defense, Stauskas drew three foul shots on a close-out by Klay, then added a triple, but Golden State made a living at the free throw line, going 26-for-29 from the stripe to keep things close.
After missed threes by Klay and Durant, plus a logo-distance heave at the buzzer that just missed by Rodriguez, the Warriors took a slim 59-56 lead into halftime.
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(Photo: @letsgowarriors Instagram account via @lovetee03)
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