This is a continuation of the halftime recap of the Golden State Warriors at the Philadelphia 76ers.
The Warriors took a 73-54 lead into the third quarter.
3rd Quarter – Getting Sloppy
The Warriors kept the assist machine rolling, as Andrew Bogut found Klay Thompson on a yet another cut to the hoop for a layup, then after a Klay three fed by Bogut and a thunderous dunk down the lane by Jerami Grant, Thompson made another scoop layup on a catch in the paint, Draymond Green’s seventh assist.
Thompson and Stephen Curry had a momentary lapse with back-to-back turnovers, Bogut came back on a pinch post and, with Klay and Steph running circles around him, eventually found Curry for a finger roll.
Sixers head coach Brett Brown called a timeout with the Warriors up, 82-58, with 7:21 to go.
The next three-plus minutes weren’t pretty, as Green committed his fifth and sixth turnovers on the night and Curry missed a jumper and a three, Overall, the Warriors committed six turnovers in seven minutes, but the young 76ers couldn’t capitalize, as their defense faltered as well.
Klay was smothered in the left corner, but found Bogut on the near baseline and, with absolutely no one guarding the paint, Bogut waltzed in for a dunk:
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Curry added a nice block on a Jakarr Sampson drive down the left side…
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…but with a back-to-back game at New York the next night, Warriors head coach Steve Kerr subbed out all the starters to close out the final 4:25 of the third period, up 84-62.
Jahlil Okafor made a nice guard-like move with a shake-and-bake of Jason Thompson after a step-back dribble on the left baseline, but after the Sixers trimmed the Warriors’ lead to 86-72 with under one minute to go, Ian Clark got an offensive rebound and converted the putback on the left side, then made an “and-one” on a catch in the lane with the body contact, assisted by Thompson.
Leandro Barbosa closed out the quarter with a driving, scooping floater, and the Warriors took a 91-72 lead into final frame.
Klay was up to 28 points on the night. Curry had 15.
4th Quarter – Starters Have To Close Out And Nearly Lose It
The 76ers went on a 9-2 run to cut the lead to 93-81 with 8:53 left, as Marreese Speights missed a bevy of tip-ins of his own miss at the rim, and Isaiah Canaan hit his fourth triple, T.J. McConnell hit a jumper, and Robert Covington made a strong drive into the lane for a layup.
Kerr called timeout and brought Steph, Klay, and Draymond back in to try and close things out.
Klay made another turnover, his fourth and 14 among the Warriors’ Big Three, and an Ish Smith drive cut the Golden State lead to just 93-83, but Curry immediately answered with a triple up top.
But McConnell found Nerlens Noel for a laser alley-oop and Bogut missed an alley-oop fed by Curry.
The Sixers couldn’t do anything with that, turning the ball over, but after Klay got another layup on a cut, Steph committed his fifth turnover on a careless dribble at halfcourt and his sixth on a bad pass that Smith stole on the baseline, leading to a Hollis Thompson three that made it 100-90, Warriors.
Philadelphia got yet another opportunity to make the game a single-digit affair, but after Harrison Barnes got blocked by Hollis Thompson under the hoop, Canaan missed a three from the right side over Klay.
Still, Klay missed a wide-open ten-footer in the lane on a catch from Green, but Smith’s fast break layup was blocked by Draymond, and Steph caught a pass on the left wing from Green and swished it, with Curry showing a mixed look of relief and disgust:
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The Warriors were back up, 103-90, with 3:45 remaining.
But the sloppy play didn’t stop for Golden State, with Green committing his seventh turnover, Klay missing a three, although Canaan couldn’t capitalize with an answer trey.
However, Klay fumbled the dribble up top trying to cross Canaan on the next possession, and Robert Covington finished the fast break with a slam to make it 103-95 with 2:01 to go.
Curry over-dribbled on the next play and the referees were not going to reward that, swallowing the whistle as he went by Covington, Covington reached in with a lot of contact, with the referee pointing towards the Warriors’ possession, however, in that instance the NBA rule is to check the replay under two minutes to see who touched it last (not who committed the foul and why the ref gave it to that team).
The ball was given to the Sixers as Steph lost the ball after the hit from Covington, and on a designed play, Smith found Noel for another alley-oop dunk to make it 103-97, Warriors.
Bogut then missed a wide-open bunny on a catch deep in the paint, and Smith pulled up over Curry for a swish jumper after shedding him a bit on a pick-and-roll.
It was 103-99 with 1:01 remaining, but Steph finally came alive with a left-to-right reverse layup in traffic:
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Sixers head coach Brett Brown called a timeout, now down 105-99.
Out of the timeout, Canaan hit a three from the left corner, whistling Curry for the “and-one” foul. With 38.6 seconds to go, Canaan’s free throw made it just 105-103, Warriors.
Curry then brought the ball up, Klay didn’t give him much space, and the Sixers’ pressure defense forced a turnover, with Canaan feeding Smith on the fastbreak lay-in.
Incredibly, Philadelphia tied the game at 105-105 with 22.3 seconds remaining. Kerr called timeout and brought in Shaun Livingston.
Livingston got the inbound from the baseline, brought it up, handed it to Curry, who found himself one-on-one with five seconds remaining deep on the right wing.
The Sixers doubled, Steph found Draymond in the middle, who found Barnes in the right corner, and Harrison drained the triple with 0.2 seconds left:
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The NBA rule states there must be at least 0.3 seconds to attempt a jump shot, and after a timeout, the 76ers threw the side-out pass in, but the pivot-three was waved off and the Warriors (43-4) escaped with a 108-105 win.
Klay finished with 32 points, Curry added 23 points, and Green tallied 10 points, 13 rebounds, and 9 assists, but the trio committed a horrendous 19 turnovers among themselves. Barnes’ three gave him 11 points and Bogut collected 16 rebounds.
Canaan led the Sixers with 18 points and Smith notched 16 points, 9 assists, and 4 steals in defeat.
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