ORACLE ARENA, OAKLAND, CA — The Golden State Warriors (25-1) were back home in Oakland to face the Milwaukee Bucks (10-17).
Harrison Barnes was still out for the Warriors with a sprained left ankle. Jerryd Bayless and Greivis Vasquez were out injured for the Bucks. Greg Monroe, who was listed as doubtful yesterday, got the green light from head coach Jason Kidd before tipoff.
1st Quarter – Hard Fouls Kill Momentum
Klay Thompson still had a chip on his shoulder from last Friday’s game in Milwaukee, telling us that the Warriors were “gonna kill ‘em”, and he came out firing.
Thompson missed his first three from the right wing, but after Stephen Curry made his first and Jabari Parker answered with a floater, Thompson leaked out early and got a dunk early in transition.
Klay then went backdoor and got fouled on another dunk attempt, but he missed the first of two free throws.
Curry danced past the Bucks’ defense for a righty scoop on the left side of the board, but the Warriors’ momentum died immediately after Andrew Bogut got called for a Flagrant One, with Michael Carter-Williams hitting the floor hard.
Steph got a jumper blocked from behind by Carter-Williams, who then went down the lane on the next sequence and dunked the ball on a feed from Monroe:
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Curry then turned the ball over advancing the ball from the backcourt, his pass stolen by Krhis Middleton, who then converted a floater, but with #Roaracle’s encouragement, Golden State got back on its feet as Brandon Rush got the ball in the left corner on a swing pass, up-faked, and went baseline for a strong reverse layup.
That cut the Bucks’ lead to 13-12 early.
The Warriors got its groove back as Draymond Green found Thompson on a cut, Klay missed a three but Rush got the rebound and found Curry for a floater, and Green found Rush in the right corner for a triple.
Thompson added a beautiful lefty in-and-out dribble on the left baseline, finishing with a reverse layup, but Carter-Williams scored his 9th and 10th points on an uncontested putback in the lane, and Warriors interim head coach Luke Walton called timeout to cool him down, with the Bucks retaking the lead, 22-21, with 5:28 to go in the first quarter.
Out of the timeout, Curry got this difficult catch-and-pivot-and-shoot to fall…
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…Green added an “and-one”…
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,,,plus Festus Ezeli got a putback of a missed running layup down the left side by Green.
But Curry was called for a traveling violation…
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…and Draymond committed a turnover and Middleton scored down the lane with a foul from Curry as Steph tried to take a charge but was inside the restricted area.
After a strong move against Ezeli, which was Festus’ second personal…
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…Miles Plumlee scored another inside bucket and, with the quarter winding down and Golden State having committed 7 personal fouls in the period, the Warriors’ only answer was a Shaun Livingston right baseline dunk after Curry drew all the anttention on the right wing:
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Steph tallied a quiet 12 points and Thompson added , but Carter-Williams poured in 13 and Middleton 10 as the Warriors committed five turnovers.
The Bucks held a 36-33 lead after one quarter of play.
2nd Quarter – No Torches Lit
The Warriors’ bench unit started off well, with a finger roll layup by Leandro Barbosa and a charge drawn on Giannis Antetokounmpo by Marreese Speights.
After Thompson checked back in, Barbosa lost the ball on a dribble drive penetration, surrounded by three Bucks, but Klay hustled back on defense to tap the ball out and fed Barbosa, who had stayed in the backcourt, for an easy layup to make it 49-45 Bucks, as Kidd called timeout with 6:25 remaining in the half.
Curry checked back in, but the Warriors went on a slide as Jabari Parker made a jumper, Antetokounmpo made a driving layup, and so did Monroe, as Milwaukee jumped out to a 55-45 lead.
Thompson stopped the bleeding with a dribble-and-pivot jumper from the right wing to make it 55-47, Bucks, with 4:52 to play.
But Milwaukee fought on, with Antetokuonmpo spinning past Rush for a layup, Middleton calmly draining a three over Curry on a catch.
That put the Bucks up by 13, but Klay swished a three-pointer on a catch from Curry, but Monroe got another layup, this time going past Jason Thompson (“JT”), who got the call from Walton instead of Ezeli (3 fouls) or Bogut (2 fouls) after Speights sat down.
Klay got a dunk down the lane fed by Green, but once again the Bucks answered with Parker getting just enough space down the left lane against Green to make another bucket.
After Steph found JT on a drive and drop pass, Monroe made a bad pass, the Warriors were off to the races, but Klay missed a three from a dump pass by Green in the post, and the Golden State torch was never lit.
Instead, Milwaukee took an improbable 70-58 lead into halftime as Curry missed a deep triple off the board from the left side as the quarter was about to expire. Parker had a running three at the buzzer that narrowly missed.
Steph was stuck on 12 points, with Klay up to 18, but five Bucks were in double-figures already, shooting 59.5% percent as a unit, and outrebounding the Warriors, 23-17.
(Photo: @letsgowarriors Instagram account via @willsiskey)
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