ORACLE ARENA, OAKLAND, CA — This is a continuation of the halftime recap of the Toronto Raptors at the Golden State Warriors.
The Warriors took a 63-47 lead into halftime.
3rd Quarter – DeRozan Chips Away
Stephen Curry splashed a deep two to start the third quarter
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Andrew Bogut started off the second half strong with not one, not two, but three dunks, one on an alley-oop from Klay Thompson…
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…another on a tip-in, and a third on a pass from Stephen Curry:
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But Bogut picked up his fourth personal after rejecting Jonas Valanciunas at the rim, but hitting him on the arm on the putback.
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As he did in the first half on Bogut’s second and third personals, Festus Ezeli checked in and immediately contributed with an alley-oop of his own assisted by Draymond Green:
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However, the Warriors couldn’t stop DeMar DeRozan, who drove hard for a layup, assisted DeMarre Carroll on a reverse lay-in, then converted another attack.
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Valanciunas added a tip-in and, all of a sudden, the Raptors had climbed back to just a 77-71 deficit with 4:23 to play. After Curry made a floater to stop the bleeding for the Warriors…
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…DeRozan got another bucket driving to the hole, his 19th and 20th points on the night, to pull Toronto to within 4 points…
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…but it was Steph again with the stop-gap step-back three-pointer to go back up, 82-75, with 3:15 to go:
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Marreese Speights checked in for Green after Draymond got his fourth personal fouling DeRozan on a deep corner two from the right baseline, and promptly drilled a long two.
Curry added a floater, getting hit on the wrist, but no call…
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…then after Cory Joseph made a strong drive for two free throws with 6.5 seconds remaining, the Warriors got the ball to Andre Iguodala on the run and he managed to side-step Luis Scola just enough down the left side of the lane to get an and-one call on a banker.
However, Iguodala missed the free throw and Golden State took a 90-83 lead into the final frame.
4th Quarter – Hack-A-Bogut No Match For Good Old-Fashioned Elite Defense
A Scola jumper and a Lowry three got Toronto as close as 90-88 early on, but Speights got an and-one on Iguodala’s 7th assist on the night.
Then Patrick Patterson lost the ball and Leandro Barbosa went the length of the court to finish with a high-off-the-backboard layup.
However, Barbosa was called for a foul on the next time down for the Raptors, a timeout was called by Toronto, and both Barbosa and Warriors interim head coach Luke Walton were whistled for technical fouls.
That gave Toronto some life and, after Lowry canned both technical foul shots, DeRozan drew a shooting foul on Harrison Barnes and cut the Golden State lead to 95-92 from the free throw line with 7:55 to go.
The Warriors made two bad turnovers in the process. An Ian Clark swing pass was read easily and intercepted by DeMarre Carroll, but fortunately for Golden State, Iguodala ran back and managed to tap the ball out from underneath Carroll’s dribble.
Then Bogut made a weak pass to Klay Thompson in the mid-post, who committed a foul to stop the Raptors’ break.
Even more free throws by Joseph on Bogut’s 5th personal and DeRozan on a touch foul by Thompson while fading away on the left baseline, evened the score at 96-apiece with 5:54 remaining.
Lowry got to the line once more, marking the Warriors’ 25th team foul with Toronto going 23-for-29 from the line, compared to Golden State at just 8-for-13.
Off of the made free throw, Draymond Green took it the length of the court and fed Bogut for a monster dunk.
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Curry checked back in and, not surprisingly, made an immediate impact as he sold a bad screen up top by Scola, dropping to the floor as the referee blew the whistle perhaps a half-second later than expected.
Steph then made a triple and the Warriors had a small bit of separation at 103-98 with 4:13 left.
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After a turnover by DeRozan, Raptors head coach Dwane Casey moved his chess pieces by employing Hack-A-Bogut and it worked, as Bogut missed two out of four tries.
After the last missed free throw, Lowry came down and drained a triple and Walton immediately called timeout, conferenced with his assistants, and pulled Bogut for Barnes. Casey knew what was happening and pulled Valanciunas, leaving Scola at the 5.
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With Golden State up, 106-103, Curry drove, drew Raptors, dished to Iguodala in the left corner, who made an errant pass to Barnes inside.
On the other way back, Toronto had their chance, but Scola missed a corner triple and Joseph fouled Thompson on the rebound. Klay, however, missed the second free throw, which trickled on the rim and out, but DeRozan missed a pivot fade on the right side.
Steph took the next possession down his right lane, stopped, did a pirouette back towards the left sideline, swished the jumper through, and held the pose.
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As Casey called timeout, now down 108-103 with 1:28 remaining, Iguodala discussed the play with Curry, smiling and mimicking his spin.
To close out the game, the Warriors relied on their elite defense, with Green leading the way.
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DeRozan drove in yet again into the lane, hung in the air, but Green rejected his shot on the way down. The Raptors fouled Curry immediately. Steph missed the first and made the second.
DeRozan drove hard right again and got another layup for his 28th point on the night, closing the gap to 109-108 with 38.7 seconds to go.
Then a call that put away Toronto for good: a bad screen by Lowry on Iguodala as DeRozan initiated on the bounce at the top of the arc. Iguodala seemed to get his arm entangled with Lowry, causing Lowry to go ballistic with the official who made the call. There was no technical foul on Lowry, however, as he screamed his case on the walk down the other end of the court for free throws.
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Steph was sent to the line again with just 12.6 seconds to play, canned both, and then Lowry drove past Iguodala nicely, but got snuffed at the rim by the two hands of none other than Draymond Green.
Green even managed to snag the rebound on his retreat nearly out of bounds, and Lowry fouled him.
The Warriors finished the game on the line with Curry notching his 36th and 37th points after Joseph drove 94 feet for a desperation layup with 1.4 seconds remaining, and Golden State (12-0) escaped with another win at Oracle.
(Photo: @letsgowarriors Instagram account via @reginapetinaud)
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