Golden State Warriors recap: That was epic!
Note how Klay Thompson seemed to get lost in the euphoria!
The lead-in from Rusty Simmons of the San Francisco Chronicle:
A tired and seemingly distracted Golden State Warriors squad outscored the Atlanta Hawks 25-9 during the closing 6 1/2 minutes and got a buzzer-beating three-pointer from Andre Iguodala to steal a 101-100 victory.
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Stephen Curry sneaked inside for a layup that trimmed the deficit back to two points with 29.3 seconds left, and after Paul Millsap missed a forced turnaround jumper with 3.9 seconds remaining, the Warriors had one more chance.
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The Hawks doubled Curry’s catch of the inbounds pass from halfcourt, so he got the ball back to the inbounding Iguodala, who spun and drilled the game-winning three-pointer.
Jimmy Durkin of the Bay Area News Group:
The Warriors actually had to rally twice. Atlanta led 91-76 with 6:48 to play, and Golden State had missed 18 straight 3-pointers on what had the look of just being an off night.
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But at long last, the Warriors came alive. They began getting defensive stops and rattled off eight straight points. The Hawks hit a couple free throws and then Stephen Curry finally broke the 3-point drought with his first of the game. That made it a six-point deficit with 5:05 left.
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Harrison Barnes hit a 3 with 2:42 to play to make it a one-point game, and moments later, Iguodala recorded a steal that led to a Curry layup for a 96-95 lead with 2:12 left.
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But Atlanta answered with five straight to regain the lead. Curry hit a shot to cut the deficit to 100-98, and the Warriors got a defensive stop with 3.2 seconds to play.
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Golden State called timeout and set up the play. Iguodala had options, including Barnes streaking toward the rim, but he inbounded to Curry. He was draped and tossed back to Iguodala, who calmly knocked down the 3 to win it.
Here’s another angle:
Just about as epic as this one by Latrell Sprewell in the ’93-94 season, also in Atlanta. Don Nelson called a play that had Chris Webber and Chris Mullin set a double-pick for the game-winning, buzzer-beating three-pointer:
[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jWElVlvKh4Q&w=420&h=315]
Here’s something rather eerie about the two three-point buzzer-beating wins in Atlanta for this #GSW franchise:
Crazy thing is, the #Warriors record after that '93-94 Latrell Sprewell buzzer-beating three-pointer was 22-14. This year's record? 22-13.
— LetsGoWarriors (@LetsGoWarriors) January 4, 2014
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It was Iguodala’s fifth buzzer-beater since 2005-06, one behind Joe Johnson, who had his last a few days ago the same night the Warriors beat the Miami Heat:
A Warriors fan also caught a Hawks fan’s horrific look of despair:
Prior to Iguodala’s heroics, this was just about the only Warrior highlight, a Kent Bazemore trackdown block:
Monte Poole of CSN Bay Area had more on the Warriors’ defense:
The lockdown began after a Pero Antic 3-pointer gave the Hawks a 91-76 lead with 6:48 left. The Warriors held Atlanta to 1-of-8 shooting the rest of the way, forcing two turnovers and blocking one shot. The Warriors outrebounded the Hawks 12-2 during that stretch, limiting them to one shot on every possession.
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Granted, the Hawks are no juggernaut. They don’t have a multitude of legitimate offensive threats. No matter. Any time one NBA team limits another to one field goal over the final 6:48, it’s a tremendous accomplishment.
Iguodala spawned these graphic edits:
More:
- Graphic of the Warriors’ eight straight wins
- Another graphic of the “8 Straight”
- The Warriors actually trailed 100-96 with just 31.3 seconds to go
- Post-game summary graphic: Curry vs Jeff Teague
- Pre-game, courtside
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