MADISON SQUARE GARDEN, NEW YORK, NY — The Golden State Warriors‘ #SplashBrothers duo, Stephen Curry and Klay Thompson, were two of the Western Conference’s five starters in tonight’s 64th NBA All-Star Game (#NBAAllStarNYC).
1ST QUARTER: Steph Dazzles, Harden Finishes
The game started with John Wall feeding LeBron James for an alley-oop dunk. Thompson got a touch early, but missed his first trey attempt from the left elbow. Curry also missed an early shot, missing a reverse “statue of liberty” layup against the expected porous defense.
The early defense by the Splash Brothers wasn’t that great either, although there’s certainly no disrespect with that, as Wall took Klay left baseline for a reverse bucket, pirouetting in mid-air, to tie the game early at 6-6. Wall also crossed Curry over for a dunk, making it 8-6, East.
But Curry had one of many razzle-dazzle plays when he went behind-the-back to feed James Harden for the easy two:
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Thompson also got his shot blocked in rather embarrassing fashion to start out, as Harden dribbled near him and dropped a between-the-legs pass to Klay from the right elbow, but Pau Gasol menacingly ran back and swatted Thompson’s shot into the stands.
But the Warriors’ contributions began to trend positive after Curry got an offensive rebound in the paint and delivered a left-handed behind-the-back assist to a cutting Harden for the dunk, making it 12-10 West with 7:55 to play in the first frame.
After a missed trey by Kyle Lowry, Klay got the rebound, dribbled up court and found Curry for a wide-open triple from the left elbow, giving the West a 22-18 lead with 5:54 to go.
Curry then slapped the ball out of Wall’s hands under the rim and went behind-the-back again to Klay in the corner, who missed:
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On the way down the other end, James missed a dunk, and Thompson ended up feeding LaMarcus Aldridge for a three from the left corner.
Klay added another assist to Harden for three and East head coach Mike Budenholzer called timeout, trailing 28-18 with 4:59 to play.
West head coach Steve Kerr made some mass substitutions, but kept Curry in as the only starter, and Steph got his first three shortly thereafter.
Wall then got a defensive rebound, but Curry once again was there to steal the ball. Surveying what other West players were around, he dribbled between his legs and fed a lob to Harden for another dunk, giving the West a 35-23 lead.
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Curry came out shortly after that at the next break.
At the end of one, Thompson was 0-for-4, all three-point attempts, for zero points, but had 3 assists to go along with 2 rebounds. Curry had 6 points on 2-for-5 field, 2-for-4 downtown, with 4 rebounds and 3 assists. Harden led the team with 13 points, 4 assists. Russell Westbrook had 12 quick points off the bench.
The West led the game after one quarter, 47-36.
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