ORACLE ARENA, OAKLAND, CA — Two nights after winning Game 1, the Golden State Warriors (1-0) played host again in Game 2 in the opening round of the 2016 NBA Playoffs to the Houston Rockets (0-1).
The Warriors were without Stephen Curry, who injured his ankle late in the second quarter of Game 1, as well as Kevon Looney (hip).
Golden State head coach Steve Kerr announced that he would start Shaun Livingston in Curry’s place.
The Rockets were without Sam Dekker (back) and Andrew Goudelock (inactive). Head coach J.B. Bickerstaff started with a big lineup with Donatas Motiejunas at power forward.
1st Quarter – Iguodala Dials In
Motiejunas got off to a nice start for the Rockets, connecting on two consecutive hooks shots, the first on the right baseline over Andrew Bogut and the second over a switched Klay Thompson.
But after a Thompson trey to open the game off of a sweeping hand-off from Bogut…
Opening #SPLASH courtesy of @klaythompson on @csnauthentic and @nbaontnt pic.twitter.com/vIF2EGcc7a
— GoldenStateWarriors (@warriors) April 19, 2016
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…and a Draymond Green putback of a miss from Harrison Barnes, the Warriors shifted into a higher gear as James Harden lost the ball on a drive to Klay, then Barnes stepped right by Harden for a #BlackFalcon two-handed flush…
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…and after a Barnes steal, Thompson sent a lob to Bogut for the tip-in.
Bickerstaff called timeout with 7:14 remaining and the Warriors had an 11-6 lead.
Trevor Ariza then lost the ball, which resulted in a layup for Klay, assisted by Livingston, Livingston added a jumper, and Green a rare right-side dribble-and-pop jumper.
Meanwhile, Harden countered with two-of-three free throws after drawing a ticky-tack foul on Barnes from the top, beyond the arc and Josh Smith added a triple, then Thompson picked up his second personal on a cut from Patrick Beverley:
Here's Klay's 2nd foul:
Questionable call pic.twitter.com/MZLA8AZGWR— CSN Warriors News (@CSNWarriors) April 19, 2016
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But Andre Iguodala provided the fireworks as he used an off-ball pick from Bogut to free himself in the left corner for a catch-and-shoot trey delivered by Livingston, then used Bogut again on a pick-and-roll, taking one dribble from the left arc and launching for a swish from downtown:
2012 All-Star Andre Iguodala pic.twitter.com/ucvmQvmHdn
— Drew Shiller (@DrewShiller) April 19, 2016
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Harden lobbed an alley-oop to Dwight Howard that ended up going in the bucket without Howard touching it, and Kerr took a timeout with 3:27 to go and the Warriors up, 23-15.
To close out the quarter, Leandro Barbosa got a layup after a steal, Iguodala drilled his third triple in as many tries on a high mid-post up from Green on the opposite side, but Smith hit another three as well.
Corey Brewer hacked Festus Ezeli to send him to the line with just 20.1 seconds to go, but after missing his first two throws earlier, this time Ezeli stepped up and drained both.
But Trevor Ariza ended the opening frame with a right-corner catch-and-shoot trey after Ezeli got switched on Harden up top and Green shaded over to help him.
2nd Quarter – Heady Plays By Iguodala And Bogut
Iguodala hit another three near the start of the second stanza…
Andre Iguodala is unconscious right now pic.twitter.com/mQz0IgVZaN
— KNBR (@KNBR) April 19, 2016
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…then Marreese Speights put back a right-side bank from Barnes that went too hard.
Livingston found Thompson on a backdoor past Michael Beasley, plus the harm…
Livingston to Thompson for the AND 1 on TNT! #NBARapidReplay #WARRIORSvROCKETS https://t.co/YtI45JJYbf
— NBA (@NBA) April 19, 2016
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…and Klay hit a triple up top with the pick supplied by Speights to free him up for the pass from Livingston.
Speights beckoned the crowd on, but Beverley hit a runner, then a three over the close-out of Iguodala from the left arc, and the Warriors held a slim 46-42 lead at the next TV timeout with 8:22 remaining.
Beasley got revenge with a layup, Thompson bricked a catch-and-shoot, but Speights ended a long sequence without any buckets by spinning past the switched Beverley at the high post, then getting his shot goaltended by Howard.
After Beverley and Ariza made wild drives to the hoop, with Ariza losing the ball out of bounds eventually, Klay went with a quick upfake and slammed home the slashing drive:
Klay with the flush on TNT! #NBARapidReplay #WARRIORSvROCKETS https://t.co/5qk9rhwel6
— NBA (@NBA) April 19, 2016
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Harden got three free throws from up top again, this time duping Ian Clark into the touch foul, and with 5:51 to play, Golden State held a slim 51-47 lead.
Howard got a lefty spinning hook over Bogut, but Draymond slipped a pick-and-roll with Thompson, missed the heavily contested layup, and Bogut tapped the rebound in.
Bogut came through again, as Barnes missed from the right corner and the Aussie big man this time tapped the ball back out towards the top. Klay happened to be there, caught the ball, and immediately launched and nailed the triple to put the Warriors up, 58-49:
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Bickerstaff took another timeout with 3:51 left.
Out of the timeout, Iguodala continued his hot shooting, swishing a dribble-and-pop on the left wing, then after staying in front of Smith as Smith got iso’ed on him and spun but traveled, Iguodala drove on the left side to find Bogut for the flush.
Harden lost the ball to Thompson and Smith fouled Klay in transition, leading to penalty free throws, but Bickerstaff employed Jason Terry to do a “Hack-A-Bogut” and Bogut missed both free throws.
After Iguodala got called for a questionable reach-in on Harden 25 feet from the rim, Kerr took Bogut out in favor of Barnes, but Harden drew another three fouls from the top, beyond the arc, as Draymond was called for the shooting foul with just 7.3 seconds to play in the half.
But Green raced past Beasley down the court on the free throw inbound and gave a mini-lob to Livingston, who dunked so hard, the rim made a snapping sound at #Roaracle.
The Warriors took a 66-58 lead into halftime as Klay led the way with 20 points on 6-for-13 field, while Iguodala added 14 points on 5-for-7 shooting, 4-for-6 downtown, and Livingston dished out 5 assists.
Harden led the Rockets with 16 points, 12 of them on 13 free throws, plus 5 assists
(Photo: @letsgowarriors Instagram account via @radekolbas)
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