The Golden State Warriors (62-6) were at AT&T Center to face the San Antonio Spurs (58-10), where the Warriors had lost 32 consecutive regular season games. The game, featured nationally ABC, also had a combined winning percentage of .882, the highest matchup in NBA history.
Golden State was without Andrew Bogut, who suffered a strained left big toe in the win the previous night at Dallas, as well as Andre Iguodala (left ankle sprain), Kevon Looney (right hip inflammation), and Festus Ezeli (left knee surgery rehab).
The Spurs had a full squad, including the recent addition of shooting guard Kevin Martin. Tim Duncan had been out with an injury in the earlier 30-point loss this season at Oracle.
1st Quarter – Bench Unit Comes Through Early
With Bogut sidelined, Warriors head coach Steve Kerr opted for Brandon Rush to start, effectively moving Harrison Barnes to power forward and Draymond Green to center.
Spurs head coach Gregg Popovich countered with benching Tim Duncan on his chess board and starting Boris Diaw to avoid the mismatch and speed on defense.
Rush paid immediate dividends, scoring the first Warriors bucket on an opening missed jumper by Tony Parker that was corralled by Barnes and outlet to Stephen Curry, who slung the ball to the leaking Rush for a reverse layup:
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Rush later added a left corner triple assisted by Green after Kawhi Leonard gave a nice upfake from beyond the arc, but missed the layup attempt:
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Klay Thompson started with a few misses from beyond the arc and inside of it, but after Diaw made a sweeping layup past Draymond in the paint, Thompson made a reverse layup as Barnes posted up on the deep right block and got double-teamed, zinging a pass along the baseline to a cutting Klay:
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Popovich didn’t like what he saw with LaMarcus Aldridge letting Thompson sneak by and called timeout, although the Spurs led 8-7 with 7:01 remaining. Kerr lobbied for a traveling violation:
Steve Kerr wants officials to watch the travel pic.twitter.com/XZ95Xbp0Nc
— The Cauldron (@TheCauldron) March 20, 2016
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Out of the timeout, Aldridge missed over Green, but Danny Green got the tip-in, then Curry missed from long range again, as did Rush, to whom Steph’s miss bounced right to in the right corner. The Spurs eventually got a dunk, a nice lob from the left baseline post from Diaw to Aldridge.
Thompson answered with a turnaround swish on the right midpost over the smaller Parker.
Aldridge lost a post dribble stolen by Curry, who got a layup out of it…
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…but Steph missed again from downtown, up top wide open, his third miss of the game with no makes.
On the second night of a back-to-back, Kerr inserted Shaun Livingston and Leandro Barbosa for Curry and Rush, respectively. Also in was Marreese Speights for Barnes. Popovich brought in Tim Duncan.
On the first play, Speights got called for a bad screen on a curling Thompson, past Leonard, and although it appeared Leonard held Thompson…
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…the ball went the other way. Kerr screamed at the referee, picked up a technical foul, and Barbosa rushed over to shield him away from the officials:
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It may have been a ploy to not only get the refs’ attention on Leonard, defending Speights in the process, but also to spark the bench unit which he was suddenly relying on to carry the game into the second quarter sans Curry. Kerr flashed a quick smile towards Popovich’s direction in between angry faces with the officials.
Draymond seemingly got a three to drop plus an “and-one” whistle on Mills with the contact on Thompson, but even though the review seemed to confirm it, the refs saw something else and waved away the bucket:
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Sure enough, the Warriors ended the opening period with a 6-0 run as Green got a floater down the lane…
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…then got an “and-one” putback of a Livingston attack, fouled by Duncan, and Livingston closed things off as he stole the ball from Manu Ginobili then went up the court with Ginobili on him and got the ball into his favorite position about 15 feet from the basket on the left baseline, and drilled the turnaround jumper with 0.1 seconds to go:
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Golden State took an 18-17 lead into the second frame.
2nd Quarter –
Speights started the second quarter with a turnaround rattler in the mid-right-post over Danny Green, but Ginobili drained a triple from the top, Patty Mills hit another trey after James McAdoo got a nice slam on a slip to the hoop with Livingston…
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…and Aldridge made a layup then a jumper.
Meanwhile, Curry missed another three, blocked by Danny Green…
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…then missed again from the right arc. Ian Clark got this bucket off the bench:
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Kerr called timeout as the Spurs took a 30-24 lead with 7:10 to play.
Curry finally got a layup after missing one…
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…but Barnes picked up his third personal on a drive by Danny Green, but Leonard lasered a pass into Aldridge, who got Rush to jump and miss, then made a layup by Draymond.
After a Kerr timeout, Kawhi up-faked Klay for a right-side banker and got an “and-one” whistle on the contact, Curry missed a finger roll, and Leonard got a dunk in transition, pushing the Spurs to a 38-28 lead with 3:49 left.
But the Warriors clawed back, as Draymond got a two-handed jam down the lane as the focus went to Steph up top, Curry’s third assist of the night…
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…then after Ginobili made a three, letting Livingston fly by, Curry earned three free throws as Parker pushed his screener, Livingston, into Steph on the shot.
Kawhi tried a sweeping layup, but Klay did well to disrupt with moving feet and a swipe down with the hand, and Draymond ran the last play with a pick-and-roll with Livingston.
Green easily got past the helping Parker and dished to a cutting Rush for a dunk with 15 seconds remaining.
Aldridge back-rimmed a right baseline jumper at the buzzer and the Spurs held a slim 43-37 lead at halftime.
Aldridge and Leonard led all scorers with 12 points apiece, Curry shot just 2-for-10 from the field, but led the Warriors alongside Rush with 7 points, while Draymond tallied 6 points, 7 rebounds, and 5 assists.
(Photo: @letsgowarriors Instagram account via @pabloradiorules)
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