ORACLE ARENA, OAKLAND, CA — Four nights after the 66th NBA All-Star Game, the Golden State Warriors (47-9) were back on the floor at home to face the Los Angeles Clippers (35-21).
The Warriors welcomed back Zaza Pachulia (right shoulder strain) and David West (non-displaced fracture, left thumb), while the Clippers were without Chris Paul (thumb surgery) and Brice Johnson (back).
Q1: KD Hurts Wrist, Curry Heats Up
Kevin Durant seemed to jam his left wrist on a drive that was fouled by Blake Griffin, but Durant stayed in the game after briefly meeting with the trainer on the sideline. He made both his free throws.
Klay Thompson hit a triple, but Draymond Green got called for an offensive clear-out down low on a Thompson drive later.
JaVale McGee came in after the first timeout and, after Stephen Curry contorted and made a three even with contact from Austin Rivers…
[protected-iframe id=”0608239d7d15946847c98f6d3adb66da-114320562-10106876″ info=”http://twitframe.com/show?url=https%3A%2F%2Ftwitter.com%2FHelloRooter%2Fstatus%2F834979539277213697″ width=”360″ height=”250″ frameborder=”0″]…McGee promptly tipped in a missed Curry righty scoop down the right side.
That gave the Warriors an 18-14 lead, but Jamal Crawford made an impressive floater in traffic and Golden State head coach Steve Kerr took a timeout with 4:12 remaining, the Warriors up, 18-16.
Out of the timeout, Curry’s earlier triple on Rivers was ruled a two, but “KD” hit a three, Steph drew two free throws, then got this “hesi” pull-up off a nice defensive play by Durant…
[protected-iframe id=”6f6325694f3ac2522498fadfa1c95656-114320562-10106876″ info=”http://twitframe.com/show?url=https%3A%2F%2Ftwitter.com%2Fwarriors%2Fstatus%2F834979911496417281″ width=”360″ height=”250″ frameborder=”0″]…then Curry hit a long trey in transition:
[protected-iframe id=”cefaab2d70260c5ceb0c0fe12de08375-114320562-10106876″ info=”http://twitframe.com/show?url=https%3A%2F%2Ftwitter.com%2Fquark_antiquark%2Fstatus%2F834979587125805056″ width=”360″ height=”250″ frameborder=”0″]David West came in and promptly found Patrick McCaw for a cut and two points at the rim, Green found Andre Iguodala for a two-hand slam, but Marreese Speights hit a triple from the top after Draymond nearly stole the ball from Blake Griffin on a dive, and that salvaged the quarter for the Clippers.
The Warriors took a 31-24 lead into the second stanza.
Q2: Iron Unkind
The bench unit stalled for the Warriors at the start of the second frame, although Durant did come back after x-rays on his left pinky were negative. Speights hit an and-one against Shaun Livingston in the post.
For more than four minutes, Golden State shot blanks and the Clippers went on a 13-0 run to take a 36-31 lead before KD slung a pass to a slipping James McAdoo for a two-hand jam down the lane with 7:37 to play.
McAdoo got another two-hand smash after disrupting a scoop by Crawford, and playing tic-tac-toe with Durant in the high post on a laser feed down to Livingston under the hoop:
[protected-iframe id=”00098878a22d20d47f8bc323158d1b93-114320562-10106876″ info=”http://twitframe.com/show?url=https%3A%2F%2Ftwitter.com%2FNBAonTNT%2Fstatus%2F834983768658067456″ width=”360″ height=”250″ frameborder=”0″]With 7:01 to go, Clippers head coach Doc Rivers called timeout as his lead dwindled to 36-35.
Later, Durant got a dunk this time after missing a layup and McAdoo stealing the ball from Speights on the rebound, with an additional stare-down to boot from “Mac” to “Mo”:
[protected-iframe id=”69e3a8412ac7f8ab484e59ffc91094a4-114320562-10106876″ info=”http://twitframe.com/show?url=https%3A%2F%2Ftwitter.com%2FJaeAzizi%2Fstatus%2F834984836175552512″ width=”360″ height=”360″ frameborder=”0″]KD added a sharp-angled bounce pass to Livingston on the break after J.J. Redick missed a three with McCaw draped over him…
https://twitter.com/unstoppablebaby/status/834985513861824512/video/1
[protected-iframe id=”8f5bd33347e1bd3a700f103208220ad5-114320562-10106876″ info=”http://twitframe.com/show?url=https%3A%2F%2Ftwitter.com%2Funstoppablebaby%2Fstatus%2F834985513861824512″ width=”360″ height=”250″ frameborder=”0″]
…but a trap on Crawford left DeAndre Jordan on the baseline, and he hit a reverse jam with the slap from McCaw and made the bonus free throw.
Los Angeles took a 47-41 lead, Steph missed a righty scoop, and Crawford came back with three more over Durant.
Rivers added a trey, Iguodala got called for an offensive grab on a cut past Rivers, and with 2:34 left, the Clippers held a 42-53 lead.
Green hit a catch-and-shoot triple from the left wing, but Redick got an up-and-under layup against some porous Warriors defense, KD hit back-iron on an early triple from up top, and after Griffin missed a post-up jump hook on Durant, ball out of bounds on Golden State, Rivers hit an impressive step-back three over Durant’s good close-out, late in the shotclock.
Rivers then picked Steph before crossing halfcourt, and lobbed to Jordan for a smash.
Just like that, with 39 seconds remaining, the Clippers’ lead swelled to 61-45.
Draymond attacked and drew two foul shots, sinking both, Griffin got blocked then missed a three on the inbound, leading to a coast-to-coast drive by Curry, drawing a foul on Jordan.
After two made throws, Jordan missed a layup at the buzzer, but Jordan picked up a technical for tossing the ball away after the miss, and the Warriors trailed at halftime, 61-49.
[twitter-follow screen_name=’poormanscommish’ show_count=’yes’]
(Photo: @letsgowarriors Instagram account via @annemarie818)
Add The Sports Daily to your Google News Feed!
