This is a continuation of the halftime recap of the Golden State Warriors at the New Orleans Pelicans.
The Warriors took a 59-50 lead into halftime. Patrick McCaw was deemed out due to the sprained left ankle suffered on a rebound attempt of the last play of the first half.
3rd Quarter – Looney To The Rescue
Draymond Green hit an in-transition three after Zaza Pachulia pulled down his 10th rebound of the game, but Anthony Davis continued his trend of answering back and got a jumper to fall and hit another over Kevin Durant.
After a “hesi” layup past Stephen Curry, a timeout and another jumper by Davis to give him 27 points, then a three assisted by E’Twaun Moore, Tim Frazier came alive, hitting a triple over Green, getting a reverse past Curry on the baseline, and yet another scoop on a quick step past Steph again on a blown pick-and-roll defense combined with Draymond.
Meanwhile, the Warriors countered with a Durant steal that led to a fast break foul and free throws, an Andre Iguodala trey from the left corner after a tic-tac-toe pass from Curry to Durant, and another fade-away from Iguodala after surveying the cutters.
Golden State head coach Steve Kerr inserted Kevon Looney to help with the subpar defense. The Warriors’ lead was down to 73-72 with 5:20 remaining.
Curry missed a three and Frazier got another layup, spinning past Steph then Looney. Kerr called timeout as the Pelicans took their first lead since early in the first quarter, 74-73, with 4:37 to play.
Out of the timeout, Klay Thompson missed a triple, but Green tracked down the rebound, Klay reloaded, missed again, and this time Looney got the board and dished to Steph from the left corner for the three that finally went in.
Shortly thereafter, Frazier held Curry on a dribble from the top and Steph pulled up for three, got the foul call for three free throws, drew words from Frazier, and the Pelicans point guard sat down after getting slightly injured on the play.
Curry made the first two but missed the third from the charity stripe, Lance Stephenson held Iguodala on a cut for a turnover on the offensive foul, and Steph came back with a curl, and-one, to give the Warriors an 81-74 lead with 3:12 to go.
New Orleans head coach Alvin Gentry called a timeout as Curry went on a personal 8-0 run.
Looney remained active, getting free throws, then making an impressive catch of a lead pass from Steph.
Approaching one minute remaining, Curry hit a deep triple from 31 feet away on the left wing off the dribble on a switch versus Terrence Jones…
Steph bombs. Unclear how to defend this pic.twitter.com/VEe2mnQCn9
— BBALLBREAKDOWN (@bballbreakdown) October 29, 2016
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…but his next heat-check was short from the top, again from thirty or more feet.
Nevertheless, the three made Curry the fastest in NBA history to hit 1,600 career triples, doing so in his 497th career game. The previous fastest player to that many treys was Ray Allen, who took 693 games to get there.
After Jones found Stephenson for a layup, Steph lost the ball near halfcourt, but Looney came back to help, picked up the loose ball, and fired an assist to Iguodala for a smash with 2.2 seconds to go in the quarter.
Golden State took a 92-81 lead into the final frame.
4th Quarter – Durant/Davis Show Continues
Kerr started Shaun Livingston, Thompson, Durant, Iguodala, and Looney in the fourth period.
Iguodala got another jam past Jones…
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Klay drilled a triple on a catch cross-court from Durant…
Motion Weak gets really loose for W's. Klay didn't screen for KD, but got the pin down. Frazier can't shoot the gap on this one. pic.twitter.com/oFhTU59M26
— BBALLBREAKDOWN (@bballbreakdown) October 29, 2016
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…and KD made two more free throws after stepping into and past traffic, iso’ed on the right side.
But after Durant missed a fade-away and then drew contact on another step-in layup, missing again, Davis found Dante Cunningham for a layup and Kerr called timeout to stop the Pelicans’ newfound momentum, up 99-87 with 8:02 left.
Out of the timeout, Thompson hit a layup, then after Davis was short on a jumper and Durant pulled down his 15th rebound, and Klay came around a curl and zipped a pass down low to Livingston for a two-handed dunk.
Shaun with both hands 🙌 pic.twitter.com/jjE1VJRyss
— GoldenStateWarriors (@warriors) October 29, 2016
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After an impressive crossover layup by Frazier past KD, Draymond bounced a pass to Livingston on a cut, and “Sdot” finished with a reverse layup on the up-fake.
Stephenson came back with an and-one versus Draymond, but later Curry got iso’ed with Davis at the top, crossed him over, and pulled up for a long two, giving the Warriors a seemingly comfortable 107-92 lead with 5:47 remaining, heading into a TV timeout.
Out of the timeout, New Orleans made a mini-push, as Cunningham hit a catch-and-shoot three after Curry airballed a hanging reverse layup.
Frazier then capitalized on a missed Steph trey from the right arc, scoring a finger roll in transition plus the harm, although he missed the free throw.
Green was not happy with the “matador” defense from Livingston and Thompson slow back running to the paint.
Curry missed again, then Stephenson found Davis for a dunk on a roll.
The Pelicans cut the lead to 107-99 with 4:26 to go.
Stephenson held Durant as he was trying to setup in the pinch post, and KD shoved Lance away, drawing a technical…
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…but Davis surprisingly missed the crucial free throw, and Klay made the Pelicans pay:
Buddy was guarding Klay very well, up until the moment he stops. For just a half second. But that's all the W's need. pic.twitter.com/aj2vohdR8l
— BBALLBREAKDOWN (@bballbreakdown) October 29, 2016
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Later, Green got doubled in the post by Frazier and threw the ball away and with a timeout on a baseline inbound for New Orleans, Golden State held a 110-99 lead with 3:19 left.
Out of the timeout, Curry played good “safety” defense, closing out on Davis for a miss at the shotclock buzzer, but Iguodala missed a three, and then got called for a phantom foul against Davis on what seemed like a fundamental box-out against Davis.
But after Durant made a bad pass out of a double-team, Frazier gave it right back, bouncing the ball off Green in the paint. Steph corralled the loose ball and threw a touchdown pass to KD for the dunk:
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Gentry called timeout as it appeared the Pelicans were fading away, down 112-101 with 2:21 remaining.
But Davis got a spinning jump hook over Draymond, answered by Steph’s impressive driving reverse righty off the board with English.
Still, the Pelicans wouldn’t go away as Davis hit another bucket, dribbling and stopping and fading over Green for an and-one, Draymond’s fifth personal.
Even after a lane violation on Steph on the first miss, Davis missed another try, but Curry inexplicably took an early triple from the top, back-rimming it, and Davis putback a block at the rim by Durant, and-one (again!) and suddenly New Orleans was within two possessions, 114-108, with 1:12 to play.
Closing out, it was a free throw contest, and Durant drew contact from Cunningham on a tic-tac-toe with Green and Curry, Davis came back with a layup with 52 ticks to go, and Steph made another mistake, whistled for carrying the ball as he was double-teamed on the inbound.
But KD came to the rescue as Davis tried to upfake him from beyond the left arc. Durant tapped the ball away and raced upcourt for a difficult finish just past The Brow’s retreat, with 30 seconds left:
Dagger pic.twitter.com/jOWQtnMGzk
— KNBR (@KNBR) October 29, 2016
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Solomon Hill hit a jumper, but Klay hit free throws immediately being fouled on two inbound plays.
Davis got his 44th and 45th points on the night on a putback of his own miss, but Thompson didn’t miss from the line and Frazier threw a bad pass off Klay with time running out, and Curry ran out the clock, holding the ball till the buzzer sounded, just past halfcourt.
The Warriors won, 122-114, as Durant led them with 30 points, 17 rebounds, and 6 assists, including 12-for-12 from the charity stripe. Green and Pachulia tied for second on the team with 11 rebounds apiece, as Klay scored 28 points and Steph 23 points, to go along with 7 assists. The Splash Brothers, however, shot just 6-for-19 combined from beyond the arc.
Davis finished with an impressive 45 points, 17-for-31 from the field, 2 blocks, and 10-for-14 from the line. The diminutive Frazier chipped in 21 points on 10-for-18 shooting, 6 rebounds, and 10 assists opposite Curry.
Golden State (1-1) now heads to Phoenix for a game in two nights.
(Photo: @letsgowarriors Instagram account via @dominican.york)
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