This is a continuation of the halftime recap of the Golden State Warriors at the Memphis Grizzlies.
The Warriors took a 53-50 lead into the third quarter.
3rd Quarter – Unsung Grizzly Heroes
Vince Carter continued to dip into the Fountain of Youth, getting a dribble-and-pop jumper up top to start the third quarter, but Draymond Green with a lost ball on a dribble and Klay Thompson dribbling off his foot gave away the ball twice, the latter leading to an uncontested run-out dunk by Lance Stephenson.
When the Warriors weren’t turning the ball over, they were taking a long time to get a good shot off, with Klay bailing out the Warrios with 4 on the shotclock with a forced jumper that trickled in somehow, and an airball by Draymond.
Thompson then missed from the right arc and, on the other end, Zach Randolph took an entry pass from the right block and got a sweeping lefty hook in the lane. Warriors head coach Steve Kerr called timeout with the Grizzlies up, 56-55, with 8:30 remaining.
Out of the timeout, Curry dissected the Memphis defense for a left-to-right strong layup, drawing contact from Randolph with no call.
Then after Stephenson and Randolph missed bankers around the rim, with suffocating rim protection from Green, Harrison Barnes, and Festus Ezeli, Curry got the rebound, charged up court, gave a behind-the-back crossover, then stopped and popped from 25 feet straightaway, the net hardly moving as the triple dropped, his first of the game:
And the @StephenCurry30 3ptr streak continues … 150 straight games w/ at least one #SPLASH . pic.twitter.com/RdB0eyGC6J
— GoldenStateWarriors (@warriors) April 10, 2016
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150 straight games with a 3 pic.twitter.com/N0RKyLg3Cp
— KNBR (@KNBR) April 10, 2016
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Memphis head coach Dave Joerger’s Spidey senses went bezerk and he called timeout as Golden State crept ahead, 60-56, with 7:36 to play.
Kerr went with his small-ball lineup, but Matt Barnes hit a triple out of the timeout, and Green answered with a two-hand dunk from the right baseline, assisted by Thompson:
.@Money23Green doing work in the post on @CSNAuthentic. pic.twitter.com/N9hpTDhT1h
— GoldenStateWarriors (@warriors) April 10, 2016
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Backup point guard Xavier Munford started to get rolling, scissoring through the Warriors’ defense for a reverse layup, but Harrison made a nice decision to not shoot after stopping his dribble, and Klay bursted through the lane with a nice cut and got a layup plus the foul.
But the Grizzlies went on an 11-0 run sparked the most unlikely of heroes: P.J. Hairston, Stephenson over Draymond then a jumper, JaMychal Green with a putback and two free throws, and Xavier Munford with a triple.
Meanwhile, Steph missed three threes — two of them rolled out and another back-rimmed — then Curry got hacked twice consecutively on dribble drives…
The Warriors are furious with this no foul call on Steph Curry pic.twitter.com/T4JprE5hFJ
— KNBR (@KNBR) April 10, 2016
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…but the ref refused to call the swipes and ruled Steph out of bounds on his lost dribbles.
Draymond finally ended the drought with a drive down the lane, facilitated by a pick-and-roll with Steph setting the screen:
.@Money23Green throws it down with authority on @CSNAuthentic & ESPN. pic.twitter.com/GyxnUTRndB
— GoldenStateWarriors (@warriors) April 10, 2016
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Curry finally got a three to drop (2-for-11) on a catch off a curl, delivered by Shaun Livingston, but Munford came right back and got a nice right-side banker through Golden State traffic:
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That gave the Grizzlies a 78-70 lead heading into the final frame.
4th Quarter – Nail-Biter
Marreese Speights was a force on the defensive end to start the fourth quarter, getting back on defense to disrupt a Randolph jumper after missing one, then blocking a spin by Randolph, plus an offensive rebound on which he was fouled in the act of shooting, but the referee didn’t give him the benefit of the doubt.
Out of the side out-of-bounds, Thompson got a running left-to-right reverse layup to close the gap to 83-76, Grizzlies, with 9:16 left.
Out of a timeout, Jordan Farmar swished a triple from the deep right wing over the outstretched arm of Speights, but Livingston came back with two straight jumpers out of the right block against Farmar.
Matt Barnes got an incredible putback banker off a brick by JaMychal Green, and after Andre Iguodala missed a catch-and-shoot trey, Green found Barnes for a reverse layup and Kerr called timeout to stop the bleeding as Memphis went back up by ten, 90-80, with 8:20 remaining.
Kerr brought back Steph and Draymond. Livingston started a mini-run with free throws, then Klay hit the side of the board from a corner triple, but got his own rebound, fed Iguodala up top and, with the defense re-keyed on Curry and Thompson, Iguodala scissored his way into a paint for a nice runner that trickled in.
Matt Barnes drew three free throws on a slap by Livingston. The TV replay was inconclusive as it wasn’t clear whether Livingston slapped Barnes’ wrist or hand (hand is part of the ball). Nevertheless, Barnes made all three free throws.
But Steph and Draymond played pick-and-roll up top with Curry setting the screen. Green back-passed to Steph with the Memphis defenders on their heels, and Curry drilled the straightaway three to cut the Grizzlies’ lead to 93-87 with 4:57 to play.
Barnes missed an open three, and on the other end, Thompson found Iguodala off the dribble from the left side and Iguodala drained the triple:
Big 3 from @andre. Watch the end of the game on @CSNAuthentic! pic.twitter.com/GcWXNjjV9I
— GoldenStateWarriors (@warriors) April 10, 2016
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Joerger called timeout as Golden State halved their deficit to 93-90 with 4:23 to go.
Kerr brought in Harrison to go with the small-ball lineup, and Memphis not surprisingly targeted Randolph down low against Draymond. But after a Randolph miss, Curry lost the ball on a dribble drive, but Munford couldn’t capitalize on a runner and Steph set a pick on Randolph which freed Green for a left-side layup with the foul:
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However, Green missed the free throw.
Randolph then scored twice against Draymond, the second with Green trying to draw a charge that wasn’t called, but Green made a nice cut and Curry found him for another and-one. This time, Draymond didn’t miss the free throw and the score was 97-95 Memphis, with 2:12 left.
Matt Barnes missed a pull-up, Iguodala grabbed the rebound, Steph came up and gave Randolph a series of crossovers, but ended up passing to Harrison on the right wing, who coldly drilled the three on the catch:
Harrison Barnes humongous 3 pic.twitter.com/eOKZJUmFCZ
— KNBR (@KNBR) April 10, 2016
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That gave the Warriors a 98-97 lead with 1:40 remaining.
But after Stephenson got fouled on a drive, followed by a Munford miss, Matt Barnes was there for the offensive rebound, getting fouled by Draymond after Green also stopped Munford’s attack. However, replays showed that Barnes pushed Iguodala to get the ball. After a timeout by Kerr, Barnes hit both free throws to make it 99-98, Grizzlies.
After Barnes’ second free throw, Curry got inside the lane and laid it up high off the backboard, missed, and Draymond tipped in the rebound. The refs called a goaltend to review the play and replays confirmed that Green’s tip-in was outside the cylinder, so the Warriors took a 100-99 lead with exactly 1:00 to play:
Winning plays! pic.twitter.com/SaIx49IW7t
— GoldenStateWarriors (@warriors) April 10, 2016
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Randolph got the ball again on the right block against Draymond, was short on the jumper and Curry got the rebound with 47 ticks left, although replays showed that Draymond may have fouled Barnes on the rebound:
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Steph pulled up from the top, but Green managed to tip the board to Harrison, and he reset the ball up top to Draymond. Meanwhile, Curry made a cut down the middle which was covered, but curled around a Klay screen from the right side, caught the ball from Green, and the right-wing triple went in and out with 8.0 seconds remaining.
Joerger called a timeout to setup a final play. Stephenson drove past Thompson on the right side, Klay back-pedaled, deflected Stephenson’s shot, but Lance got the rebound and retreated to the right side for a baseline jumper fading away, and the shot badly missed off the back of the glass with 0.5 seconds to play:
@World_Wide_Wob you're gonna love this one. Lance make 'em dance. pic.twitter.com/TMSlD2RGHZ
— Mike (@Mike_nitraM) April 10, 2016
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Replays showed contact by Klay on the shot, and it appears that Curry may have fouled Stephenson:
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Nevertheless, the refs reviewed the play to put 0.8 on the clock, Warriors ball.
Kerr took a timeout to advance the ball, the inbound went to Thompson, who actually lost the ball a bit, but time had expired by then and the Warriors eeked out a victory, 100-99.
Green finished with 23 points, 11 rebounds, and 4 assists. Klay tallied 20 points but on 2-for-10 from downtown, and Curry ended with 17 points, 9 rebounds, and 8 assists, shooting 7-for-22 overall and 3-for-14 from beyond the arc.
Matt Barnes led the Grizzlies with 24 points, 15 rebounds. Carter added 15.
Golden State shot 10-for-36 (27.8%) on three-pointers and 39-for-47 (44.8%) overall.
The Warriors (71-9) head to San Antonio to face the Spurs in less than 24 hours, to try and tie the ’96 Chicago Bulls‘ win record.
(Photo: @letsgowarriors Instagram account via @lyndsimetzphotography)
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