This is a continuation of the halftime recap of the Golden State Warriors at the Boston Celtics.
Golden State took a 57-53 lead into the third quarter.
3rd Quarter – Curry Inconsistent
After Ian Clark started the half with a layup on an attack down the right side of the lane, Draymond Green got a piece of Amir Johnson’s three-pointer from the top late in the shotclock, Stephen Curry tracked the ball down on the baseline and made a reverse flip save to the awaiting Andrew Bogut.
Curry then went off action with Bogut, went to the left wing with the ball, delivered a bounce pass to Bogut in the middle, and Bogut finished with a shot put that dropped, with Celtics head coach Brad Stevens immediately calling timeout as the Warriors took an early 61-53 lead with 10:56 to go.
After this finish by Brandon Rush…
Running with friends on @CSNAuthentic. pic.twitter.com/6JOvvjd54B
— Golden St. Warriors (@warriors) December 12, 2015
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…Curry and Jae Crowder traded threes, but Avery Bradley played well with his assignment guarding Curry forcing two misses even as Steph went with an exquisite behind-the-back dribble in the corner to free himself for a shot, then duping Curry into a lost ball on a dribble.
But the Celtics couldn’t capitalize on those mistakes, with Green getting an impressive block on a fastbreak layup attempt by Bradley. It was Draymond’s career-high fifth blocked shot.
After Thomas missed a contested layup, Curry pushed the ball and gave Festus Ezeli a nice behind-the-back feed after faking not only a shot, but also a pass, all in the same motion. Ezeli got fouled and split the free throws.
Later, on a missed three by Kelly Olynyk, Curry mistimed the rebound, Jae Crowder got the board, got contact from Green, but the referee gave the foul to Curry, who was no longer involved in the play:
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That was Steph’s fourth personal, forcing Walton to sub him out with 2:55 to play in the third, up 76-65.
James McAdoo came in and got a couple inside buckets, but Olynyk was effective, draining a couple free throws and getting a layup, as Golden State ended the quarter with the lead, 82-75.
4th Quarter – Elevators > Olynyk
Olynyk continued his good play at the start of the final frame, getting a three and a layup as David Lee joined the fray and finished with three lefty bank shots to help the Celtics take the lead early on, 86-83.
Walton called timeout and brought back Curry with 8:53 remaining.
Curry got a scoop putback as he tracked down a rebound of a three that Green missed badly off board from up top, but Steph dribbled off the back of his leg while trying a behind-the-back dribble and Isaiah Thomas made him pay with a three-pointer from the left wing, giving Boston their largest lead, 89-85.
But Curry found Green after being doubled and Draymond fed Andre Iguodala for a two-handed jam, then Steph a bad pass after Thomas was blitzed by Shaun Livingston and Green finished the fast break with a dunk to tie up the game at 89-89 with 6:32 to go:
Steph Curry gets the steal and feeds Draymond on the break. Watch on CSNBA. #NBAVote #DubTheVote pic.twitter.com/fBfNYsGQMn
— Golden St. Warriors (@warriors) December 12, 2015
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Green got called for his fifth personal foul on an ill-advised reach-in against Olynyk, although Draymond claimed to the referee it was all ball…
Draymond’s fifth foul: pic.twitter.com/fpVcGYD2Cy
— Dieter Kurtenbach (@dkurtenbach) December 12, 2015
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…but Curry was able to bury a triple on a catch-and-shoot while being draped by Bradley.
However, Bradley came right back and nailed a jumper off a similar curl from 17 feet away on the right wing, under duress.
The Warriors hit a wall of adversity as Curry stepped on the baseline after turning the corner on Sullinger, although Sullinger’s arm was all over Steph’s body.
The Celtics couldn’t take advantage, but Curry missed a layup right-handed going down the left lane, Thomas eventually got fouled, made both, Ezeli got blocked by Sullinger, then lost the ball out of bounds, and Sullinger at the top fed Thomas at the right wing for a catch-and-shoot triple, giving Boston a five-point lead, 99-94.
After Curry got an advantageous call on Bradley for having too much contact while trying to get the ball, cutting the Celtics’ lead to three after both free throws, Thomas and Curry traded turnovers, with Steph stepping on the line again, this time on the left sideline.
Curry missed a tough leaning three from the top, the ball caromed back to him, but his reverse banker got blocked by Evan Turner and went out of bounds off Steph.
Boston went back up by five with under two minutes to play, as unsung hero Olynyk made a turnaround jumper over Livingston, but Livingston tapped in a missed fadeaway from Iguodala off the board to trim the Celtics lead back down to three.
Sullinger shot an airball on a swooping hook try, then Curry drew a foul on Turner, hitting Steph’s leg, sending Curry to the line again with a “superstar call”. It was 101-100, Celtics, with 1:47 to play.
After a timeout, Sullinger missed again and Olynyk, the tallest player on the floor, couldn’t handle the offensive rebound, and Curry got the loose ball.
The Warriors ran a delayed “elevators” play for Curry, who squeezed between a double-screen at the top to catch-and-shoot and drain the trey from the top of the arc, giving Golden State a 103-101 lead with 46.8 left:
Elevator. Steph. Lead. pic.twitter.com/GMARlXUI6y
— Dieter Kurtenbach (@dkurtenbach) December 12, 2015
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But Thomas went down the lane after another timeout for a reverse layup to even the score at 103-103.
With 20 seconds remaining, Curry came off a curl on the left side, fired, and the ball went in and out with Olynyk rebounding
Boston had the ball for the last shot.
Instead of driving the ball, Thomas opted for a step-back three against Livingston and Livingston got a piece of it:
Oh, you wanted to hit a game-winner. Shaun Livingston says no: pic.twitter.com/Gp6U02SVb6
— Dieter Kurtenbach (@dkurtenbach) December 12, 2015
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The Warriors got the ball back with 0.8 seconds remaining, but Iguodala’s lob to Ezeli from the sideline out-of-bounds got deflected by Ezeli with a side out to the Celtics.
However, Olynyk missed the catch-and-turn at the buzzer and the game went into overtime tied, 103-103.
Overtime – Stalemate
Olynyk started off on the right foot again, his 22nd and 23rd points, drawing first blood with a layup on a cut, delivered by Thomas’ tenth assist.
Curry then drew Bradley’s sixth foul with the game tied, 105-105, with 3:38 remaining.
Both teams traded empty possessions until Curry went with a step-back over Turner to take a 108-105 advantage with 1:40 to go, but Olynyk answered again with a catch-and-shoot downtown from the left side.
Steph went down the lane, shedding his man off a Green pick at the top, but Olynyk came back again with a layup with 42 seconds remaining to tie the game at 110-110.
Curry and Thomas traded missed threes again, Andrew Bogut got the rebound with 1.3 seconds left, but Iguodala once again couldn’t connect on a sideline inbound to an alley-oop, this time to Green.
The game went into a second overtime.
2nd Overtime – Hustle Plays
The Celtics won the tip again in the second overtime, but the Warriors drew first blood as Iguodala blocked Johnson, then finished the break as Leandro Barbosa fed Curry on the break, who left the lead pass for Andre.
Turner answered with a driving “and-one” layup against Bogut, giving the Celtics a 113-112 lead.
After some hard-fought defense including Bogut blocking a Turner drive and Olynyk blocking an Iguodala attack, Andre stuck with it on the boards and eventually got a putback to drop to give the Warriors a 114-113 lead with 2:54 left.
Thomas missed a three, but Curry gave it right back with his seventh turnover of the night, stepping on the right sideline, but Turner coughed the ball up to Green, Iguodala rifled the ball up to Steph, who got met by good non-fouling defense by James Young.
The ball got deflected out of bounds and, on the next sequence for the Warriors who retained possession, Curry found Green on a behind-the-back pass and Draymond fed Livingston as he cut, giving the Warriors a 116-113 lead with 1:50 to go:
Winning plays! #DubNation pic.twitter.com/3wslotHpJw
— Golden St. Warriors (@warriors) December 12, 2015
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Golden State relied on their vintage championship defense on the next Boston possession, as Sullinger got the ball in the deep right post, Curry came all the way over from the left side of the court to double with Livingston, and as the shotclock burned away, eventually Crowder had to heave a desperation three at the buzzer, hitting the top of the backboard for a violation.
But Curry got another pass deflected, Turner getting a piece of it and finishing on the other end to make it 116-115 with 1:13 left.
Green rose to the challenge, taking Johnson off the dribble down the right side of the lane as the shotclock hit under 5 seconds. The Warriors were back up three, 118-115, with 51.5 ticks remaining.
Turner squeaked past Iguodala for a reverse lefty with 44 seconds to go, but Livingston managed to corral a miss by Ezeli and was fouled in front of the Celtics bench.
Livingston made both with 17.8 seconds remaining, Crowder got a layup in response, and with 13.4 seconds left with the Warriors up one, Curry was fouled.
Steph made both, Crowder missed an open jumper, which turned out to be a long two from the corner when they needed three, Iguodala got the rebound, and Sullinger had no choice but to foul him.
Time was running out for Boston and, with just 5.4 seconds remaining, Iguodala made both free throws to give the Warriors a 124-119 lead. Crowder lost the ball to Iguodala and the Warriors had survived to win their 24th straight game to start the 2015-16 season.
Curry collected 38 points on a subpar 9-for-27 shooting, 6-for-13 downtown, with 11 rebounds, and 8 assists, but also 8 turnovers.
Green had another near-triple-double, tallying 24 points, 11 rebounds, and 8 assists. Iguodala added 13 points, 10 rebounds, and 5 assists, 9 of those 13 points coming in the overtime periods.
Olynyk had 28 points for the Celtics in defeat, off the bench.
The Warriors will head to Milwaukee to face the Bucks in under 24 hours after an extremely draining game:
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(Photo: @letsgowarriors Instagram account via @bretclancy)
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