The Golden State Warriors (31-6) were at the Toyota Center tonight to face the Houston Rockets (28-10). After getting the night off in OKC last night, Andrew Bogut and Andre Iguodala returned to action for Golden State. Festus Ezeli did not make the trip and was out with a sprained ankle.
1ST QUARTER: Punch, Counter-Punch, But The Turnovers!
Klay Thompson got out to a strong start on both ends, stealing a near-backcourt pass and getting an uncontested run-out two-handed dunk, and slapping the ball out of MVP candidate James Harden‘s hands.
The Warriors played well out of the gate. Harrison Barnes got another corner trey on some early offense thanks to Draymond Green pushing the ball up after a defensive rebound, Stephen Curry got his own rebound and banked it in after first missing a jumper short, then got a pretty bounce pass from Andrew Bogut after Curry went backdoor on Patrick Beverley and got fouled.
Houston head coach Kevin McHale took an early timeout with 9:39 remaining and the Warriors up, 8-2, with Curry going to the line.
Golden State also played well on the defensive end. Bogut helped and blocked a Beverley attack of the rim and Thompson slapped the ball out of the dangerous Harden’s hands as Harden was dribbling from the right baseline. Then Bogut drew a charge on Dwight Howard, who compounded the issue by rolling the ball towards Bogut on the ground while walking away, prompting the officials to call a technical on Howard.
Yet the Warriors still made enough mistakes to keep from gaining momentum in the game. Thompson did well to keep Harden in front of him, even as Harden displayed a variety of crossover dribbles, but on the same play, Donatas Motiejunas (“D-Mo”) received the laser pass and was fouled by Green on the three-point attempt.
Turnovers were also an issue, although it wasn’t Curry who started them. Barnes traveled as he underestimated the length of D-Mo closing out on another corner triple, rising for the shot but realizing too late that it would be blocked and unsuccessfully trying to pass the ball away before landing. Thompson then stepped on the baseline while making a move on Harden. Bogut also lost the ball twice.
The Rockets went on a 13-1 run as a result, as Bogut got a layup on pick-and-roll action with Thompson.
Marreese Speights, who had subbed in for Bogut at the 5:52 mark and the Warriors trailing 18-12, then delivered this touchdown pass to Green for the smash:
//platform.vine.co/static/scripts/embed.js
That brought the Warriors back to 20-18, as the game went back to a stalemate with Howard getting a dunk in transition, but Thompson answering with an early-offense layup.
Howard and Harden connected for some more points as Speights hit two jumpers and David Lee got a nice left-handed tip-in.
The quarter ended with the score tied, 31-31, and while the Rockets shot just 39%, Golden State also committed 6 turnovers.
2ND QUARTER: Late 9-0 Run Gives Warriors Halftime Lead
Speights started the second frame brilliantly, with two of his #MoBuckets jumpers and anticipating a Howard drop-step to get the block. In 8 minutes of play, he had collected 10 points, 5 rebounds, and 2 assists.
Bogut drew a foul on an offensive rebound against Josh Smith, and on the resultant side out-of-bounds, Justin Holiday was the beneficiary of an Andre Iguodala alley-oop:
//platform.vine.co/static/scripts/embed.js
With 8:09 remaining, Bogut committed his third personal foul and that forced the Warriors to go small. The Rockets took advantage, taking every opportunity to look down low, as Lee was forced to guard Howard.
After Corey Brewer sped by the Warriors defense for a driving layup on the right side, Kerr called timeout with 6:20 remaining in the half, up 45-44, to get Curry and Thompson back in.
But the Rockets got a lefty hook from Howard, giving him 14 points on the night, and a left baseline dunk by Brewer. Kerr was about to call timeout, but stopped short as he saw Curry leading the early offense, driving left baseline and finding Klay on the swing. Thompson faked a trey, let the defense fly by, and reloaded for the three-pointer. The Warriors maintained the lead, 51-50, with 3:58 to play.
Thompson recorded his fourth blocked shot on the night by swatting a Harden left-handed attack, but Trevor Ariza drilled a trey, Smith got a reverse layup to trickle in, and Ariza dunked after the ball slipped out of Green’s hands, trying to lob the ball to the weakside. Kerr called timeout, down 59-55, with 2:02 remaining.
But Golden State had the last word of the half, as Curry splashed from downtown, thanks to a pick on the pass by Speights, Iguodala got an and-one after getting the ball down low against Ariza, getting blocked by Ariza, and delivering a few fakes to draw the contact, plus the bankshot. However, Iguodala once again missed the free throw.
Howard made a bad pass that gifted Iguodala with a steal, Iguodala got the ball to Thompson on the left side, and Klay faked a trey, took his man on the bounce, and converted a beautiful reverse layup.
The Warriors took a 64-59 lead into halftime on a 9-0 run and out-shooting (50% to 43%), out-rebounding (28 to 20) & out-assisting (17 to 13) the Rockets. Thompson led the Dubs with 14 points and a career-high 4 blocks. Speights added 12 points, 4 rebounds, 3 assists, and Curry collected 7 points, 7 assists, and 5 rebounds.
Add The Sports Daily to your Google News Feed!
