ORACLE ARENA, OAKLAND, CA — This is a continuation of the halftime recap of the Houston Rockets at the Golden State Warriors.
The Warriors took a 69-66 lead into the second half.
3rd Quarter – Superstar Stalemate
Dwight Howard got an and-one post-up against Andrew Bogut on the first play on the second half, Stephen Curry missed a three, and Corey Brewer followed that up with a three-pointer from the left corner as the Rockets took their first lead of the game, 71-69, inside the first minute.
Bogut then flipped a pass to Klay Thompson on the high post, but it fell way short, and Patrick Beverley easily stole the ball and found Trevor Ariza on the right arc for a triple.
Warriors head coach Steve Kerr called timeout and the Rockets had a 74-69 lead with 10:42 to play.
Golden State still struggled with their jumpers, as Klay’s dribble-and-pop fell short and Curry’s contested three-pointer from the left corner rimmed off.
But the Warriors’ fortunes at the rim fared much better as Steph made a cut and got a reverse layup assisted by Bogut. Curry missed another triple, Klay missed another jumper short, and James Harden’s step-back over Draymond Green from the top rolled out.
Curry finished the string of misses by both teams with a nice turn of the left corner past Corey Brewer, then Beverley, then using the rim as a shield, just getting by Howard for a reverse layup with nice English off the board.
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That brought the Warriors back to a one-point deficit, 74-73, with 7:58 remaining.
Bogut atoned for the miscue as he got a feed inside from Curry and made a baby hook, then took a charge on Howard, but Thompson missed again and Howard this time scored over the shorter Green easily.
But Bogut again faltered, seeing an open Draymond under the hoop and getting stuck between pulling the trigger and not, and lost the ball to Beverley, who found Harden, who found Ariza for another triple from the left corner to make it 81-77, Houston.
Curry made a side-step to find Bogut inside again, then later stripped Clint Capela after Capela got an offensive rebound, raced down court, only to find Harden ready to stop the break.
Steph made a behind-the-back dribble that turned into a quarter-court flip pass to Andre Iguodala, who lobbed an alley-oop to a streaking Leandro Barbosa, who finished with an acrobatic layup:
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Houston head coach J.B. Bickerstaff called timeout as Golden State took an 83-81 lead with 4:08 to go.
As if on cue, Harden came out of the timeout with a triple, Ariza hit another three from his favorite left corner, and Harden danced past Curry to score an “and-one”.
Steph came back with a deep triple to tie the game at 90-90 with 2:01 left…
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…but Harden answered right back with an “and-one” against Marreese Speights, Speights’ fourth personal.
Curry counter-punched with a feed to Iguodala from the deep left side for three with 49 seconds to go and Ty Lawson missed from deep at the buzzer.
Steph amassed 35 points and Harden had 27 in an epic superstar duel after three periods.
4th Quarter – Harrison Barnes Scores 17 In The Quarter
The Warriors got out of the gates hot in the fourth, with Iguodala and Barnes hitting triples, and Bickerstaff taking an early timeout as Golden State took a 99-93 lead.
The lead stretched to eight points as Shaun Livingston made a nice pass to a cutting Barbosa for another layup.
After Bogut got his fifth block of the night rejecting a Howard post-up off Dwight…
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…Barnes pushed the lead to nine late in the shotclock on a turnaround baseline jumper over Harden from the right block.
Barnes used that as fuel for an “and-one” left side drive to make it 108-96 with 7:59 remaining.
Clint Capela then got a driving finger roll to drop over Bogut but then Harrison Barnes then got a nice post move spin shot to fall over Beverley that just beat the shotclock buzzer. The Warriors’ lead was 12 with with 7:21 to go.
Beverley turned the ball over, Klay missed a 3, then Livingston fouled Harden who converted 1/2 from the line. Steph Curry then checked back into the game with 6:40 to go and an 11 point lead.
Curry then side stepped to the left but missed the three too long, Thornton turned the ball over with a bad pass and Livingston after getting the steal, then lost it back to Marcus Thornton and a timeout was called.
After the timeout, Livingston secured the Beverley miss and he found Harrison Barnes who miss caught the ball but then got a dribble pop move to go. The score was 112-99 with 5:16 to go.
Harden drew a foul on Klay and he hit both free throws. Livingston missed a shot, Curry got the offensive rebound but then he also missed the shot. Harden missed a three but then Howard secured the offensive rebound and Pat Beverley got the floating jump shot to fall to make it a 9 point game with 4:12 left.
Klay and Ariza missed consecutive threes, then Klay and Curry missed back to back threes on the one possession. The Warriors then called timeout with 3:29 to go.
Barnes fouled Dwight Howard however his shooting woes continued as he missed both free throws. Draymond Green secured the rebound then he threw the alley-opp to Andre Iguodala who dunked it home. 113-103 was the score with 2:56 to go.
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Brewer missed a shot, Green got a lay-up to go, his first field goal of the game…
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…then Harden connected on two free throws after being fouled by Green, his 4th of the game.
Curry then found Harrison Barnes for the cutting dunk to give him 14 points in the last quarter.
Harden hit a three, Curry missed one and then Harden got the hoop and harm against Green. Harden missed the free throw then Draymond Green secured the rebound then got another lay-up to go in. The Warriors’ lead 120-110 with 56 seconds to go.
Capela missed a shot then Harrison Barnes hit a three and the dagger.
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Final: 123-110 Warriors (47-4), the best start in NBA history through 51 games.
Curry finished with 35 points & 9 assists, Barnes finished with 19 points.
Mo then had to cool off Curry!
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