ORACLE ARENA, OAKLAND, CA — Two nights after defeating the Blazers at home, the Golden State Warriors (31-5) were back at #WarriorsGround to face the Memphis Grizzlies (22-16).
The Warriors were without Damian Jones, who was on assignment with D-League Santa Cruz. James McAdoo was placed on the inactive list.
The Grizzlies were without Deyonta Davis (left foot), Brandan Wright (left ankle), while Wade Baldwin IV and Troy Williams were on D-League assignment.
Q1: English!
Kevin Durant started the game by turning the corner on the left side and going in for a two-hand jam, and Stephen Curry made a layup on a cut assisted by Zaza Pachulia…
[protected-iframe id=”d3250053d399ddb346724799b5922568-114320562-10106876″ info=”http://twitframe.com/show?url=https%3A%2F%2Ftwitter.com%2Fwarriors%2Fstatus%2F817580024433774592″ width=”680″ height=”320″ frameborder=”0″]…but the Grizzlies answered with two drives to the bucket with a hook and a floater finish by Marc Gasol.
Later, after some empty possessions where Draymond Green and Chandler Parsons missed threes, Durant brought the ball up early in transition and found Thompson on the right wing for a splash.
Memphis head coach David Fizdale took a timeout as Golden State inched out to a 14-8 lead with 6:21 remaining.
Out of the timeout, Klay and Draymond stopped Tony Allen at the rim, but Pachulia missed a push shot at the free throw line.
After JaMychal Green missed a triple, then Curry made an upfake on a catch from the left wing, split the close-out, got past Allen, drew contact on Gasol, and converted a reverse bucket with English on it:
[protected-iframe id=”f0dc02e251b0e6d101f6fcd0719f8843-114320562-10106876″ info=”https://vine.co/v/5VPX5JKqdQY/embed/simple” width=”300″ height=”300″ frameborder=”0″]https://platform.vine.co/static/scripts/embed.jsMike Conley answered with a right-side stepback, and a couple sequences later, Steph struck again with the English, going with an up-and-under to finish again on the right side of the board:
[protected-iframe id=”d289878d7b6c1780c46cb8a2acaff43b-114320562-10106876″ info=”http://twitframe.com/show?url=https%3A%2F%2Ftwitter.com%2Fwarriors%2Fstatus%2F817582678421606400″ width=”680″ height=”320″ frameborder=”0″]That gave the Warriors a slow-bleeding lead of 21-11 with 4:24 to play, but Gasol drew a foul on Pachulia to stem the tide.
Curry drove again and got another right side banker, Conley responded with three more from way out, and Thompson got a catch from the up-faking Zaza at the free throw line, getting dared to pull the trigger from Gasol, and Klay converted down low to take a 25-16 lead as Fizdale called another timeout with 2:58 to go.
Out of the timeout, both teams traded threes. Vince Carter hit one, Steph hit another, and even Zach Randolph connected from the corner to make it 29-25, Warriors.
Curry came back to get fouled on the wrist on a trey by Andrew Harrison, but Harrison answered with a lefty drive, then Patrick McCaw came in, missed a corner three, and Andre Iguodala grabbed the offensive board.
Iguodala dished back out to “KD” beyond the arc, who was wide-open, but Durant elected to pass up the shot and wind down the clock, as there were still about 12 seconds left.
Durant made a couple crossover moves against JaMychal Green, then finally stepped back for a long two at the buzzer to give Golden State a 34-27 cushion after the first frame:
[protected-iframe id=”2699356bb7cc8651e850fd5328aa52ed-114320562-10106876″ info=”https://vine.co/v/5VPjLVgdz3l/embed/simple” width=”300″ height=”300″ frameborder=”0″]https://platform.vine.co/static/scripts/embed.jsCurry led all scorers with 17 points on 6-for-8 shooting, 1-for-2 on treys, and 4-for-4 from beyond the arc.
Q2: Sharing
Starting the second stanza, Shaun Livingston got things started with a pull-up, Klay got an “and-one” on a drive, but the Grizzlies came back with two straight buckets, one from Randolph and the other a Chandler Parsons, before Warriors head coach Steve Kerr called a timeout to stop the momentum that was building.
Out of the timeout, Durant made a crossover and drove in for two, Livingston hit again, and after Allen got blocked by both KD and David West, KD grabbed a miss from Conley and went coast-to-coast for a Euro-step layup plus the harm by Parsons.
His free throw put Golden State up, 48-33, with 6:57 remaining.
Randolph stayed hot, getting a left side bucket assisted by Gasol, Livingston answered yet again with a dunk via Draymond, but Parsons hit a three over Draymond, and Green came back with a runner to keep the lead double-digits at 52-38.
Later, Steph made a step-back jumper off a curl with Draymond, the pass fed by Livingston, Gasol hit a jumper from the left side, then Curry tossed the ball up high after getting trapped near the halfcourt line, and Draymond caught the ball, lobbed to an early-jumping Iguodala, but Andre hung to end the alley-oop with a floating reverse two-hand smash:
[protected-iframe id=”9b8e2dad3dcfb9d662f5ce6e669075a8-114320562-10106876″ info=”http://twitframe.com/show?url=https%3A%2F%2Ftwitter.com%2FNBA%2Fstatus%2F817591999289180161″ width=”680″ height=”320″ frameborder=”0″]After a missed step-back triple from the right side late in the shotclock by Steph over Carter, Conley waltzed down the left side for a scoop, aided by a massive screen by Gasol on Curry, and Kerr took a timeout as Golden State held a 58-49 lead with 2:42 to play.
Out of the timeout, Iguodala missed a layup, but Allen missed a short jumper, got his own rebound, got the next shot deflected by Durant, and KD went off to the races, pulling up at the free throw line for an easy “J” as Gasol was left helpless in his own tracks.
Later, Draymond stopped Gasol twice in the paint on successive possessions, forcing an airball on a deflection one of them and a brick on the other, then Conley drew a foul on a drive against Curry, Durant volleyball-swatted the shot, but was called for goal-tending.
Conley’s free throws pulled the Grizzlies to with 62-55 with 42.9 seconds to play.
Steph made an up-fake, then drove in the lane to feed Draymond, who got fouled and made both free throws, then Iguodala got in the action in making Gasol’s quarter miserable, disrupting another drive for another brick by the Memphis big man, and the Warriors had the ball in KD’s hands by midcourt, guarded by Gasol.
Durant tried to shake the pinching Gasol, who was rightfully aggressive in the obvious mismatch, but KD opted for an open Curry on the left wing, who then up-faked again, split the defense into the paint, and with the halftime clock about to expire, dished back out to Klay at the last moment for a triple on the right arc.
[protected-iframe id=”f3b2db547fd59acfd0fcfd09fbce2540-114320562-10106876″ info=”https://vine.co/v/5VPYm6L1bnz/embed/simple” width=”300″ height=”300″ frameborder=”0″]https://platform.vine.co/static/scripts/embed.jsThe splash gave the Warriors a 67-55 lead in a vintage sharing of the ball, with the defense helplessly on their heels, among the Big Three scorers of Golden State, probably exactly what fans envisioned when Durant was acquired over the summer.
Curry led all scorers with 19 points, Durant added 16 points and 7 rebounds, while Conley led the Grizzlies with 15 points and 6 assists.
[twitter-follow screen_name=’poormanscommish’ show_count=’yes’]
(Photo: @letsgowarriors Instagram account via @strive2bstrong)
Add The Sports Daily to your Google News Feed!
