Less than 24 hours after a thrilling victory in Memphis, the Golden State Warriors (71-9) traveled to AT&T Center to face the San Antonio Spurs (65-14), where they haven’t won since 1997. At the same time, the Spurs were undefeated at home this season.
The Warriors were without Leandro Barbosa (rest) and Kevon Looney (hip). The Spurs were without Boris Diaw (abductor) and Tim Duncan. San Antonio head coach Gregg Popovich announced he would start David West.
1st Quarter – Slugfest Again, Steph And Draymond Sit Early
Both teams came out of the gate and shot just 4-for-14 in the first six minutes of the opening quarter. Kawhi Leonard started out with a jump hook past Harrison Barnes, then an “and-one” in the lane against Klay Thompson.
Stephen Curry picked up an early foul on a questionable call where he tapped out a dribble of Tony Parker’s in the low right block, but he also had this beautiful sequence, showing off the full repertoire of basketball skills:
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Draymond Green was a force for the Warriors, getting two “and-ones”…
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…sandwiched around a strong right-to-left drive into the lane. Green converted the first bonus free throw and missed the other one, and the Spurs held a 9-8 lead with 6:00 remaining as Popovich took the first timeout.
Out of the timeout, Curry picked up his second personal foul, but stayed in the game because, as it turned out, Warriors head coach Steve Kerr was going to take him and Green out soon anyways, on the second night of a back-to-back.
After Steph swished a right-arc trey, LaMarcus Aldridge</strong. made his patented turnaround…
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…and Shaun Livingston and Harrison Barnes checked back in with 3:48 to play.
With a slugfest pace, Manu Ginobili eventually hit a dribble-and-pop from the right elbow and Kerr took a timeout with 2:52 to go, the Spurs up, 15-13.
Out of the timeout, Curry picked up his second personal foul, but stayed in the game because, as it turned out, Warriors head coach Steve Kerr was going to take him and Green out soon anyways, on the second night of a back-to-back.
After Steph swished a right-arc trey…
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…Shaun Livingston and Harrison Barnes checked back in with 3:48 to play.
With a slugfest pace, Manu Ginobili eventually hit a dribble-and-pop from the right elbow and Kerr took a timeout with 2:52 to go, the Spurs up, 15-13.
Klay miss 2x, lma over fe 13-17 1:37
Klay backdoor blk by manu, fe right hook base ino, kyle via lma dunk 13-19 1:00
Fe fouled 14-19
Danny jump pass sdot, sdot saile over ai , dray in, lma back over dg, brush running 3 air 14-19
Out of the timeout, Klay missed three times, the last two on layups, and the last layup on a block by Ginobili. The poor shooting continued as Festus Ezeli couldn’t hit a deep right baseline jump hook, and Kyle Anderson got a dunk wide open underneath on a laser from Aldridge.
The Warriors had their chances, as Danny Green threw a jump pass straight to Livingston, but Livingston threw it away on the fast break, the ball sailing past a cutting Andre Iguodala.
The Spurs took a 19-14 lead after the opening period, with Golden State shooting just 21.9% (4-for-19) from the field.
2nd Quarter – Still Slogging Along
The Warriors still had trouble pushing the pace, but Iguodala fed Curry with a pretty line drive:
Moving without the ball on @CSNAuthentic and @NBATV. pic.twitter.com/9V1pPM5F01
— GoldenStateWarriors (@warriors) April 10, 2016
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Steph then dissected the defense, had Spurs dominoes crashing into each other, then found Livingston underneath…
Drive and dish on @CSNAuthentic and @NBATV. pic.twitter.com/j5dCymL5dT
— GoldenStateWarriors (@warriors) April 10, 2016
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…and Popovich took a timeout clamoring for a bad screen on Brandon Rush, something he wasn’t going to get in a slugfest:
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The Spurs held a 25-18 lead with 9:26 left.
Golden State chipped away at the lead, as Marreese Speights took Danny Green down low, Thompson hit a three finally, then got a jumper over Leonard, but Draymond picked up a technical after being on the floor in the paint, getting called for grabbing Leonard’s ankle, then reacting a bit too much with one of the referees:
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But after another timeout, Kawhi came back with a swish from up top inside the arc, Barnes took Parker inside for strong move, Klay hit another jumper, and the Warriors got back to within 31-30 with 2:38 remaining.
Ginobili was fouled, hit both free throws, then Draymond got a three after giving up an open look from the same spot, getting the ball rotated to Iguodala who got it back for the eventual triple by Green, which tied the game at 33-33 with 1:36 to play.
Danny Green then threw a baseline inbound that both Klay and Draymond had help in intercepting, and Curry went the length of the floor, stopped on a dime at the left mid-block and rattled in a banker.
The Warriors did well to defend Leonard with his long-armed hook shot, but couldn’t box out the Spurs’ length as Danny Green got a rebound of Ginobili’s missed three, then Aldridge put back Ginobili’s missed right baseline attack against smothering rim protection.
Kerr took a timeout with 26.1 seconds to play and drew up a play for Thompson, but Klay airballed the open left-wing three, then Leonard missed a pull-up jumper over Rush at the buzzer, and the anemic 35-35 contest went into halftime.
Curry led all scorers with 11 points, 3 assists, while Draymond added 9 points. Kawhi tallied 9 points, 9 rebounds, and Aldridge had 8 points, 8 rebounds. The Spurs were outrebounding the Warriors 32-25. The Warriors shot just 4-for-12 from beyond the arc.
San Antonio was 8-0 on second-chance points.
(Photo: @letsgowarriors Instagram account via @realandreslopez)
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