ORACLE ARENA, OAKLAND, CA — This is a continuation the halftime recap of the Houston Rockets at the Golden State Warriors, Playoffs Round 1, Game 1.
The Warriors took a 60-33 lead into halftime.
3rd Quarter – As The Ankle Turns
Andrew Bogut got an early putback of a Draymond Green post up, then Klay Thompson missed a layup, fell to the stanchion, was a bit disgusted with himself.
But meanwhile, James Harden missed the resulting layup, Dwight Howard point-blank tip-pin putback went awry, and Green rebounded, outlet to the hobbling Stephen Curry, who sent a touchdown pass the cherry-picking Thompson for a one-handed dunk:
https://platform.vine.co/static/scripts/embed.js
However, Curry’s right ankle just wasn’t feeling right and Warriors head coach Steve Kerr took an early timeout with 9:13 remaining, up 65-39, to get Steph out of the game, subbed out by Shaun Livingston.
Curry spent some time on the bench moving his right ankle like a calf-raise, then stretched it with a strap brought over from a trainer, then got up and went to the locker room to have it checked out more thoroughly:
https://platform.vine.co/static/scripts/embed.js
Later, Leandro Barbosa got swatted by K.J. McDaniels on a chase-down fast break block, but the Warriors went on a mini-run sparked by a Livingston jumper, a Green layup on a cut, served by Livingston, and an in transition layup by Barbosa fed by Green after Harden coughed the ball up.
Jason Terry hit a three from the right side with 1.1 seconds to go and the Warriors held an 82-60 lead over the Rockets, heading into the fourth quarter.
4th Quarter – Mo Buckets & Co
Ian Clark, Barbosa, Harrison Barnes, Iguodala, and Anderson Varejao against Patrick Beverley, Terry, McDaniels, Clint Capela, and Donatas Motiejunas.
Iguodala committed a bad pass, then Capela got a switch against Clark inside, got the entry pass, and finished the bucket at the rim with Clark fouling him too late.
After Iguodala missed a jumper, McDaniels got the rebound and eventually scored on the other end on a drive to the hoop, and Kerr burned another timeout as the Warriors’ lead got trimmed to 84-66 with 9:59 left.
Curry, however, did return to the bench:
https://platform.vine.co/static/scripts/embed.js
Speights and Thompson checked back in, and after Motiejunas turned the ball over, Klay found Mo Speights for the foul line extended jumper. After a Terry miss, Speights then missed the hook shot but he followed it up with a nice tip shot which extended the lead back to 22. Houston had to call timeout with 8:30 left.
Motiejunas got a turn around hook shot to go, Iguodala found Mo Speights for the 18 foot jumper on the left wing then after two Howard missed free throws, Iguodala once again found Speights inside for the bucket!
After two more missed free throws by Howard, Barnes tapped back Speights’ miss which was caught by Andre Iguodala who found Barnes for the dunk – Iguodala’s 7th assist of the night.
.@andre rewards @hbarnes for cleaning up on the glass. (ABC) pic.twitter.com/4rOyOIRtf7
— GoldenStateWarriors (@warriors) April 16, 2016
//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js
Harden turned the ball over and then he and Howard checked out the game with 6:04 left and the lead 26 in the Warriors’ favour. Klay Thompson then splashed home a three and then Draymond Green got called for a foul and a technical foul for pulling down Motiejunas.
https://platform.vine.co/static/scripts/embed.js
With 5:20 to go, Shaun Livingston got a turnaround fadeaway shot to go to extend the lead to 29. Goudelock, McDaniels, Thompson, Green and Barnes all missed shots before Motiejunas got another hook shot to go. Green also stopped a Motiejunas post up in that time span and the emotion on his face said it all…
https://platform.vine.co/static/scripts/embed.js
Draymond Green picked up his 5th foul with 3:21 to go and Steve Kerr called timeout after the first Motiejunas free throw to sub him out of the game.
Barnes missed a bank shot, Goudelock turned the ball over, Livingston and Rush missed shots on the one possession and then Klay got to the free throw line to hit both. The Warriors led by 27 with 2:16 left.
Ian Clark hit a three to give him his first playoff points and the Warriors cruised to the win to give them a 1-0 lead in the first round series.
FINAL: Warriors (1-0) 104-78
Curry had 24 points, Klay had 16 points, Draymond double-doubled with 12-10 and Speights had 12 off of the bench. Harden was held to 17 points and he attempted zero free throws.
Add The Sports Daily to your Google News Feed!
