ORACLE ARENA, OAKLAND, CA — The Chicago Bulls were in town to face the Golden State Warriors. The Bulls were without Derrick Rose.
1st Quarter – Warriors’ Flair Gets Them Back In The Game
The Bulls jumped out to a 21-12 lead after the first six minutes, capped by a 7-1 run, as Kirk Hinrich led the Chicago attack with 9 points, including a jumper, a three-pointer, and a steal of a Stephen Curry bad pass for a layup assisted by Jimmy Butler.
Pau Gasol also got three buckets on an assortment of jumpers and drives to the hoop.
The Warriors’ highlights were few, with Curry hitting his first triple…
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…and Klay Thompson the recipient of an in-transition alley-oop lob from Draymond Green:
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Golden State interim head coach Luke Walton took a timeout after Gasol waltzed through the lane for a layup, with 5:33 remaining.
Out of the timeout, Green made a poor pass to Andre Iguodala in the corner out of bounds, Jimmy Butler got a backdoor alley-oop from Nikola Mirotic before Andrew Bogut could react:
RT @dkurtenbach Jimmy Butler just landed. pic.twitter.com/KtcuXxzXPK
— LetsGoWarriors (@LetsGoWarriors) November 21, 2015
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Iguodala couldn’t get any offense initiated on the next possession with the shotclock winding down, so he shot a late triple, missed, but Bogut got the offensive rebound and found Thompson waiting for a three on the right wing. Klay delivered and got the Warriors out of their first major hole, getting things back on track, 23-15.
Festus Ezeli then came in for Bogut and got an alley-oop from Thompson after playing catch with him in the corner and off a screen hand-off.
Ezeli then got the ball inside and went back outside to Curry, who gave an up-fake before crossing over for a splash beyond the arc.
Bulls head coach Fred Hoiberg called timeout and Golden State was back in business, 25-20, with 3:12 to go.
Shaun Livingston, who had been out with a strained hip, returned after a two-game absence and got his first shot from the left baseline to fall, a dribble-and-pop over Joakim Noah.
The Warriors gained momentum as Green powered a runner over the smaller Doug McDermott, then another turn of events ended in Golden State’s favor.
Noah deflected an errant entry pass by Curry, but Steph zeroed back in on Noah like a bird of prey and stripped the ball from him, then, seemingly with eyes behind his head, found Iguodala for an over-the-shoulder alley-oop slam:
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That brought Golden State back within one point, 27-26, with 1:14 left.
After Butler swished a floater, Iguodala surveyed the Bulls’ defense, found nothing, and took Butler off the dribble, spinning in the lane for a turnaround fade.
That left Chicago with a 29-28 lead after one period.
2nd Quarter – Jumpers
Barnes started the second frame with this nice jumper:
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Leandro Barbosa hit a three, Iguodala got a nice little jumper in the lane…
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…but Mirotic and Gasol combined to go on a 9-1 run, with Nikola going with a step-back jumper with the shotclock expiring, to take a 42-40 lead with 3:52 left in the half.
This Curry feed for a Bogut trip to the line was the only point the Warriors got in that Bulls run:
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But the Warriors counter-punched with an Iguodala three-pointer assisted by Curry, and took a 48-44 lead as Green went down the lane and found Barnes for a swish from the deep right corner.
Butler answered with a triple, but Curry answered back, crossing over Hinrich twice on the perimeter and getting past Noah just enough for a last-millisecond flick of a bank layup.
Hinrich airballed at the buzzer and the Warriors took a 50-47 lead into halftime.
(Photo: @letsgowarriors Instagram account via @elnina06)
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