ORACLE ARENA, OAKLAND, CA — Two nights after getting blown out again and facing the brink of elimination from the 2016 Western Conference Finals, the Golden State Warriors (1-3) were back at #Roaracle in an attempt to right the ship against the Oklahoma City Thunder.
The Warriors were without James McAdoo (inactive) and Kevon Looney (left hip surgery).
1st Quarter – Solid Start With Ball MOvement
The Warriors got off to a strong, focused start as all five players touched the ball on the first possession, with Draymond Green flicking a touch pass via Klay Thompson’s drive to Harrison Barnes for three from the corner.
On the other end, Barnes did well to close out on Kevin Durant, who launched a brick from the left arc.
But after a few empty possessions on both ends, Durant finally hit a dribble-and-pop at the free throw line, going around a pick from Steven Adams.
After Stephen Curry up-faked Andre Roberson for a shooting foul, as well as a Roberson three after Durant airballed on help from Green against Bogut in the paint, Adams got called for his second personal foul defending the pick-and-roll up top, and OKC head coach Bill Donovan inserted Dion Waiters to go small.
Curry took advantage of the height advantage and lofted an alley-oop to Bogut, with Bogut finishing one-handed lefty:
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That put the Warriors up, 7-5.
Serge Ibaka then scored on a feed from Russell Westbrook’s drive, but Thompson answered with a catch-and-shoot on a handoff from Bogut, then after Green swatted a Westbrook attack…
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…Steph went upcourt with the ball, made an upfake, then scored a high-degree-of-difficulty shot as he went under the defender for a long two.
Donovan called timeout with 8:14 remaining as the Warriors took an 11-7 lead.
Golden State continued to play good help defense as Durant missed again, this time short on a drive, but OKC continued to get offensive rebounds, although the Warriors defense would, more often than not, hold up a second time.
Westbrook made a catch-and-shoot over Klay to close the gap to 13-10, Warriors, but Bogut scored a bucket on a catch near the rim, Andre Iguodala came in for Barnes and hit a jumper, Durant and Westbrook both missed driving lefties over the backboard, and Draymond hit a right banker on an offensive rebound after Steph and Klay bricked a three and a layup, respectively.
That made it 19-10, Golden State, but Durant hit a turnaround over Iguodala from the right block and Warriors head coach Steve Kerr took a timeout with 3:29 to play, up 19-12.
The Warriors ended the quarter spending a lot of time on the free throw line, with Thompson drawing two fouls on fakes to Waiters, with Waiters complaining on each one.
Iguodala also fed Klay a nice bucket on a cut to make it 25-17 with 1:02 to go, but Randy Foye hit a jumper over Shaun Livingston and, after a Livingston miss, Durant went coast-to-coast with an impressive big step past Livingston, and with a Thompson miss before the buzzer, Golden State held a slim 25-21 lead after the first frame.
2nd Quarter – MoBuckets
Leandro Barbosa got off to a good start with steals on consecutive defensive stops, and Marreese Speights cashed in with an “and-one” assisted by Iguodala:
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But Durant hit a three, Anthony Morrow hit a bucket with Speights fouling Enes Kanter for an “and-one” on the play, and Morrow hit another one as he got stuck on the right pinch over Livingston.
Speights also got a rebound “and-one” on Barnes’ left baseline miss…
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…but Morrow hit a three to make it 33-32, Warriors, and Kerr called a timeout with 9:03 left to bring back Curry, as Donovan had brought back Westbrook and Adams.
Speights hit a three up top over Adams on the catch from Iguodala…
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…but Adams came back with an upfake dunk.
Bogut came back in after Speights drew a charge on Durant, then Bogut slammed a catch with two hands, but Adams answered again with an “and-one” versus Bogut, and the score was 38-36, Warriors, with 7:19 remaining.
Klay returned and made an impressive dribble-upfake-fading swish over Durant, nearly slipping on a wet spot, but Westbrook came back with a three.
Steph then drove and upfaked Roberson for a finesse bucket…
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…Durant missed a layup that was grabbed by Draymond, and Green brought the ball up and found Curry on the trail for a triple:
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Bogut then swatted a drive by Roberson, Waiters got the rebound in the left corner and, with Curry nicely closing, dished back out to Westbrook, who missed an attack, and Steph rebounded and went the other way for a lefty layup:
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Donovan called timeout as #Roaracle finally hit a fever pitch, and Golden State had a 49-39 lead with 5:23 to play.
As he often does, Durant hit a jumper out of the timeout, but Bogut got into the action again, as he made a lefty reverse playing hot potato with Iguodala…
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…but Durant hit a long two once again.
Green still couldn’t hit anything, missing a three, but eventually Thompson made a catch-and-shoot from Iguodala up top, then Durant got swiped by Iguodala and Iguodala found Draymond on the break for a layup, to go up 53-45 with 3:09 to go.
Westbrook then lost the ball on nice converging defense by Klay and Bogut, with Westbrook fouling Thompson after losing the ball as it was still loose.
But Curry turned it right back after a timeout, and after a Thompson bricked three near the shotclock buzzer, plus a lob from Klay to Bogut that went too high, Kerr called a twenty-second timeout with 1:33 left and Golden State up, 53-47.
Out of the timeout, Klay hit a triple from the right side, then tapped out an entry pass from Westbrook to Ibaka, but Draymond missed again, trying a runner past Adams that trickled out, and Westbrook turned the corner for a layup down the right side past Green at the other basket.
Steph went lefty past Durant, missed, but Bogut got the tap-in with 18 seconds remaining, and Durant missed a pull-up three over Iguodala, giving the Warriors a 58-50 lead at halftime.
(Photo: @letsgowarriors Instagram account via @greg.w.lyon)
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