ORACLE ARENA, OAKLAND, CA — Here are some pre-game, game, and post-game sights, sounds, and links from last night’s Golden State Warriors win against the Houston Rockets.
[CLICK ON THE LEFT AND RIGHT ARROWS ABOVE FOR THE PHOTO GALLERY/SLIDESHOW]Pre-Game
Stephen Curry hit the tunnel shot:
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Interim head coach Luke Walton said that the team wasn’t thinking about the fact that the Rockets had four starters missing.
“It’s not about who we’re playing. It’s about what we do,” he said, then announced that Brandon Rush would start in place of injured Harrison Barnes
Rush told reporters after the game he didn’t know he’d be starting until right before tipoff.
There’s more pregame festivities, including Curry hitting the tunnel shot from a different angle in our preview.
Here’s the squad after pregame layup lines:
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Game
Here are some great highlights from #DubNation…
Curry using the upfake on Patrick Beverley:
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Terrence Jones at the mercy of Curry after Draymond Green sets a nasty pick on Beverley:
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Curry finding Klay Thompson for a three-pointer with 0.1 seconds remaining in the first half, to give the Warriors 82 points after two periods:
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Curry giving the shoulder-fake and dishing to Green for the dunk, early in the second half:
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Post-Game
After a championship season assisting and four preseason games at the helm, Walton told reporters that he loves coaching:
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“If I were in a different city and couldn’t win, maybe it’d be different,” said Walton, also stating how fortunate he was to be part of a 67-win team last season, “but from my experience, I love coaching.”
Diamond Leung of the Bay Area News Group had this update on Steve Kerr:
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“He wouldn’t be coming down with us at all if he was still as bad as he was, so I think it shows signs of improvement,” Walton said. “I don’t think it means he’ll be back within the next two days, but all you can ask for is that he keeps getting better.”
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Klay Holding His Head High
Klay Thompson was asked by TNT reporter David Aldridge once more about the talking back and forth, and he said that the Warriors are the champs and “until that changes, we should hold our heads high and be proud of what we did”:
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Here’s the full video of Thompson’s interview:
[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B3ho2YPOqL8&w=560&h=315]Bogut’s Been Through This Broken Nose Thing Before
Inside the locker room, Andrew Bogut, who suffered a broken nose on an attack of the rim by KJ McDaniels, said that it was the fourth time he had broken it and that he expects to miss two more preseason games before donning a mask and coming back.
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“I was more pissed off I got called for the foul. I didn’t touch him,” said Bogut, metaphorically. “My nose hit his fist, and I was called for a foul.”
Bogut said it was the second time he had gotten called for a foul while breaking his nose.
Here’s the full video of Bogut’s interview:
[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TwncUVoGlrE&w=560&h=315]Per Monte Poole of CSN Bay Area:
“This is the fourth time I’ve broken it, so I’ll probably have surgery (Friday) afternoon, I hope, if not Saturday morning,” Bogut said.
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It is expected that Bogut will miss the preseason matchup with the Lakers on Saturday in San Diego and, probably, the game against the Clippers next Tuesday in Los Angeles. He projected he’ll have a fitted mask and be able to play Oct. 22 against the Lakers in Anaheim.
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Bogut, his nose bright red and clearly swollen, said he expects to undergo a procedure to clear his right nostril.
“They’ll reset it, put me out of it for a day or two and get the anesthesia out of my system and start working out again and get back at it,” Bogut said.
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The Return Of “Old” Rush
Rush, who played a solid game, confirmed the obvious: he was back to being confident, two years after tearing his ACL. However, he doesn’t feel comfortable wearing a knee brace:
https://platform.vine.co/static/scripts/embed.js
Here’s the full video of Rush’s interview:
[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XGPnlFAtBKU&w=560&h=315]Curry said, “He didn’t get that many reps to show that he was back. I’m sure it’s a confidence-builder.”
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More on Rush from Poole:
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“I told Harrison that he may have lost his starting spot to Brandon,” interim coach Luke Walton joked after the 124-101 thrashing.
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“We played 3-on-3 with Brandon all the time last year,” Walton said. “We gave the guys who were playing that (previous) night the day off and tried to keep the other guys fresh. Brandon was phenomenal in those games. He would never miss. He would go to the basket and he was going all sorts of things.
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“When an athlete loses their confidence, it can be tough. He didn’t have it. He came back this offseason and has been going hard every day in training camp. He played well tonight, which is what you guys all see. But we’ve seen him doing that every day in practice.”
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Here’s the full video of Curry’s interview, where he also talks about how this year will be a different path.
[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=icq1CM-JwvQ&w=560&h=315]“We already know that two years are never the same,” said Curry. “It’s gonna be a different path…When it comes to what happens on the court, ups and downs, injuries, we’re ready for anything. We know it’s not gonna be the same story, the same recipe as last year.”
[CLICK ON THE LEFT AND RIGHT ARROWS ABOVE FOR THE PHOTO GALLERY/SLIDESHOW]Video credits:
@misschellechan, @alexxandrakitty, @thiendinh
Photo credits:
@danielbru, @DavidSwoosh, @OracleArena, @de_de_luv, @abritinthebay, @californiagirlinsuburbia, @ashtonwall, @stuffbrentposts, @stuffbrentposts
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