ORACLE ARENA, OAKLAND, CA — This is a continuation of the halftime recap of the Orlando Magic at the Golden State Warriors.
The Warriors took a 59-46 lead into halftime.
3rd Quarter – Curry Dazzles Bigger Magic From Beyond The Arc
Andrew Bogut lit a spark for the Warriors to start the second half as he got a turnaround hook to drop, then, out of a baseline out-of-bounds play, Draymond Green found Harrison Barnes on a misdirection with Stephen Curry and manufactured an “and-one” banker with the foul on Victor Oladipo.
Later, Curry found himself on the deep left wing against Aaron Gordon, went between the legs with the dribble twice, flung the ball with his left hand to Draymond Green, who immediately gave it back to Steph, who quick-released over Gordon for a swish:
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That put the Warriors up, 67-48, with 9:21 remaining.
But shortly thereafter, Bogut made a bad outlet, Elfrid Payton stole the ball in the Warriors’ backcourt, and drew Bogut’s fourth foul and the big man tried to draw a charge.
Klay Thompson stayed in rhythm with a three from the right corner pocket, Green’s eighth assist, and Curry added a layup plus two free throws to push his point total to 23.
James McAdoo, Bogut’s replacement, then got blocked by Gordon on a slam attempt and Evan Fournier made the Warriors pay with an open trey in transition from the right arc.
Magic head coach Scott Skiles elected to employ “Hack-A-Mac”, fouling McAdoo intentionally, and on two such successive plays, McAdoo went two-for-four from the line.
Meanwhile, Gordon made a jumper then two free throws and the Magic crept back to within just eight, 77-69, with 4:48 to go in the third quarter.
Warriors head coach Steve Kerr subbed in Brandon Rush for McAdoo, but the Warriors still struggled, as Curry committed his fourth turnover, then missed a three, but eventually Rush got a three assisted by Leandro Barbosa and Skiles called another timeout as Golden State took an 84-73 lead with 2:50 left.
But Barbosa came alive with two early offense layups that sandwiched this deep cross three from Curry that victimized Ersan Ilyasova:
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Gordon got a two-hand flush alley-ooped by Brandon Jennings, but Barbosa hit a three, Green’s tenth assist, and the Warriors took a 94-77 lead heading into the fourth quarter. Curry had 30 and Klay 22.
4th Quarter –
The Magic went on an 11-2 run to start the fourth against the Warriors’ bench unit. James McAdoo dunked home a missed three by Thompson and Skiles called timeout with 8:59 to go with Golden State taking a 98-88 lead.
Jennings kept Orlando in the game with a three from the left corner, Harrison Barnes made a strong drive to earn two trips to the line but missed both, and Kerr was forced to bring Curry and Green back in with as much as 8:04 left as Shaun Livingston hit two throws to put the Warriors up, 100-92.
On the ensuing possession the Magic got into the paint but Warriors converged and Livingston got the rare two-hand block from behind.
Steph committed his 5th turnover but Draymond hustled back in transition on Ilyasova to get the block, and Livingston took advantage on the break to hit a quick runner to make it 102-92 Warriors with 7:17 left.
Oladipo answered quickly on the other end with a jumper of the dribble, and Barnes was unable to complete an open 3 from the right corner. Gordon took advantage of mismatch on Barnes and knocked down a hook shot to make it 102-96 with 6:32 to play.
Draymond committed another turnover but Orlando gave it right back after Jennings was called for a travel. Steph finished with touch on the offensive end, taking contact and laying an underhand basket through to make it 104-96 with 5:27 on the 4th quarter clock.
A 6th Green turnover on a cross-court pass to Rush resulted in a Rush euro foul putting the Magic in the bonus. Gordon hit both free throws to make it to cut the lead back to 104-98
Steph made another great move, with an up-fake on the perimeter and a give-and-go with Bogut down the lane, finishing with a finger-tip dunk and putting the Warriors back up 8 at 106-98.
Jennings answered again with a quick lefty runner, but Steph took some air out of Orlando’s momentum with a big pull up 3 over Fournier to extend it back to 109-106 with just under 4 minutes to play.
Still the Magic wouldn’t go away. A long two from Jennings forced another Kerr timeout with the Warriors leading 109-102 with 3:46 left in the game.
A Klay putback was eventually answered with a run-out layup after a loose ball by Fournier and the Warriors lead was still just 7, 111-104 with the clock at 2:44.
Pushing with one final run, Jennings split free throws, and Oladipo put up 4 quick points to make it just a 2-point game at 111-109 with 1:13 to play.
The Warriors came up with the huge play they needed, after a near disaster offensive possession. A Steph drive and dish to Draymond on the baseline became a loose ball, but with 4 seconds left on the shot-clock, Klay scooped the ball up an drilled an off-balance corner 3 to put the Warriors back up 114-109 with 52.5 seconds left.
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Curry followed with a steal and breakaway layup, before the foul game began. Curry and Fournier both drilled a pair before Livingston split two free throws. Gordon’s late lay-in finalized the Warriors NBA-record 45th straight win at Oracle arena, 119-113.
Steph finished with 41 points and 13(!) rebounds, coming back strong from a 1-10 3Pt shooting performance at the Lakers the night before. He shot 7-13 from deep and Klay added 5 makes on 11 threes on his way to 27 points.
For the second time in 2 weeks, Draymond didn’t make a field goal, finishing with just 1 point to go with his 9 rebounds and 10 assists, while also picking up 7 of the Warriors’ season-high 24 turnovers. Rush, Barbosa and Livingston combined for 29 off the bench.
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