The Golden State Warriors were at the AT&T Center, where they have never won an NBA regular season game, to play against the San Antonio Spurs.
The Warriors were without Shaun Livingston, who was suspended one game for his Flagrant One foul on Dirk Nowitzki in last night’s win at Dallas.
The Spurs were without Tiago Splitter due to injury. Matt Bonner was his replacement.
1ST QUARTER: Kawhi And Spurs In Beast Mode From Opening Tip
Both teams came out running their sets, but the Spurs were a little more on-point and focused. Kawhi Leonard showed why he’s been San Antonio’s best player of late, going down the right side of the lane with gargantuan steps for an impressive layup after he had missed a three to open the game and Tim Duncan batted down the offensive board on the rebound to save an extra possession.
Meanwhile, Klay Thompson started off flat. His first shot was a runner down the lane that airballed. The Spurs made him pay as Duncan came back with a flat-footed jumper on the other end after Leonard probed the right side.
Thompson’s second shot was a wide-open miss after Bogut handed the ball to him from near the top of the circle. This time, Leonard made him pay as he posted up Harrison Barnes on the left block and swished a deep spin-and-fade on the baseline.
Kawhi was a beast out of the gate. After Tony Parker got bothered on the dribble by Andrew Bogut, then Stephen Curry, who stole the ball. But Curry gave the ball right back, as Leonard’s long arms picked him clean, and on the ensuing change of action, Parker found Danny Green, who found Kawhi again for an easy one-handed dunk.
The Spurs were up early, 8-1, with 9:14 to play.
Things went downhill for the Warriors as Thompson continued to miss, while San Antonio continued to make. Klay’s misses hit 0-for-6 before he was finally pulled for Leandro Barbosa with 3:59 remaining and the Warriors down, 25-9.
Golden State had a couple of nice offensive plays, such as a nice coast-to-coast driving lefty scoop by Curry, a two-handed jam by Bogut off of a set inbound play and handoff by Steph, a two-handed dunk by Andre Iguodala as Curry threaded the needle, a Steph splash on a back-pass from Iguodala, and a David Lee lefty banker over Boris Diaw, but they were sparse when compared to San Antonio’s onslaught.
Aron Baynes hit a baby hook, Danny Green swished a trey as Parker dribbled around and passed it back to him, and Leonard was just making shots from everywhere.
The Spurs took a 31-17 lead, shooting 57%, into the second frame. Kawhi led all scorers with 11 points, while Danny Green added 6 points. Curry led the Warriors with 6 points: one trey, one layup, and one out of two free throws.
2ND QUARTER: Miscues Widen Warriors’ Deficit
Iguodala got the Warriors off on the right foot, drilling a three from the right elbow, but things went even further downhill after that.
Barbosa played well and got a stop-and-pop dribbling hard into the lane from right to left, then Justin Holiday got a catch-and-shoot on a bounce-and-screen delivery from Lee — who was playing a solid all-around game — and Golden State closed the gap a tiny bit to 36-23 with 8:57 remaining in the half with Spurs head coach Gregg Popovich calling timeout.
Marreese Speights came in but couldn’t change the game much, despite getting a nice drive on Bonner for a finger roll that got answered by Bonner with a floater on the other end as Speights closed out too hard.
After a Corey Joseph high-off-the-backboard layup, Warriors head coach Steve Kerr called timeout with 6:29 to go and Golden State down, 43-25.
The Warriors made a mini-run, with Bogut tapping out another miss from Klay, this time a three-pointer from the right wing, directly to Curry who drilled it from beyond the arc up top. Then after forcing a Diaw airball, Draymond Green played give-and-go with Thompson and Klay finally got a shot to drop, a lefty layup as a result. Finally, Curry scored a layup as Leonard made an uncharacteristic bad pass after re-entering the game. Draymond stole it and fed Steph for an easy bucket.
Golden State cut the lead to 43-30 with 4:55 left, as Popovich called a timeout.
Pinpoint shooting and offensive execution got the Spurs back on track, while the Warriors’ slight miscues made things go awry again.
Barnes missed a wide-open trey from the left corner and, as Danny Green got the ball around midcourt, Curry erroneously bit, leaving too few defenders as Green lobbed it to a soaring Kawhi for the dunk.
Klay answered with a jumper off a curl, but that was negated by another Danny Green trey from the right side via Parker. Bogut answered that with an easy layup thanks to Draymond attacking, recovering his own miss, and delivering a wrap-around lefty pass to the Aussie big man. But that was negated by a Leonard trey, again from the right side and again as a result of Parker dissecting the Warriors’ defense.
Curry tried to counter with an early trey, but that was off, and Parker darted around on the left side to find a cutting Duncan, who shot-put the ball in for a nice runner.
After Bogut missed a teardrop, Danny Green caught Steph napping, going back-door on the left baseline as Duncan found him for an easy layup. Kerr called a twenty-second timeout as the Spurs broke things open, 55-34, with 1:40 remaining.
Then Draymond’s pass to Curry ended with Steph dribbling off his foot. Kawhi recovered the loose ball, his fifth steal of the game, and Danny Green converted the run-out layup, his 15th and 16th points.
Curry made a bad swing pass to Thompson, Steph’s third turnover, but the Warriors did well to force a shotclock violation on the Spurs as Leonard airballed a fade-away at their buzzer, then Klay attacked Danny Green off the dribble and pulled up for a good jumper, to end the Warriors’ abysmal half, down 57-38.
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