ORACLE ARENA, OAKLAND, CA — The Golden State Warriors were back at Oracle Arena to face the Sacramento Kings tonight. David Lee returned to action, while Andrew Bogut was still out with a right knee injury. DeMarcus Cousins, who had been out with a viral infection, was also active for the Kings.
1ST QUARTER: Curry Leads 17-0 Run
The Warriors started out a little sloppy, with Klay Thompson committing a turnover right off the bat, then Harrison Barnes with two bad passes, but Festus Ezeli had a nice “soft hands” play that Warriors fans probably didn’t expect so soon:
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Kings interim head coach Tyrone Corbin called timeout after that and the Dubs were off to a 9-2 fast start with 8:59 to go in the first quarter.
But Sacramento came back with a mini-run of 7-0 as Ben McLemore drained a three from the left elbow with Thompson getting hung up by teammate Ezeli on the screen down on the block, to which Thompson threw his hands up in frustration with Ezeli.
Curry ended the drought with a finger roll that arc’ed so high, Cousins couldn’t resist swatting on the way down. It was an easy goal-tending call for the officials.
Marreese Speights checked in early and immediately got a jumper to fall, then Rudy Gay mishandled his own dribble and Draymond Green picked up the loose ball and delivered a touchdown pass to Andre Iguodala, who took a couple of big strides attacking the rim and putting a beautiful finger roll to make it 17-14, Warriors.
Cousins, who was not shy to start out, attempting deep jumpers, answered with a shot from twenty feet out, but Golden State got an Iguodala three after Thompson drove, dished it to Green, who dished it to Speights, who made the extra swing pass.
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A step-back three-pointer by Klay shortly thereafter gave the Warriors a 23-18 lead.
After Speights drew a foul at the rim, #Roaracle gave Lee a standing ovation as he entered the game with 3:01 to go. Lee guarded Derrick Williams on defense. Shaun Livingston subbed in for Thompson.
Curry would go onto score 10 points in the quarter, getting an and-one against Darren Collison after a nifty hesitation move at the top of the arc, then getting another one of his patented deflections resulting in a run-out reverse layup as two Kings gave chase, and pulling up from downtown with a helpless Ramon Sessions back-pedaling on defense.
Curry keyed a 17-0 run that began with Iguodala’s trey and the Warriors cruised to a 36-20 end-of-first-quarter lead.
Green already had 5 rebounds and Cousins led the Kings with 7 points.
2ND QUARTER: Happy Holiday With A Burst Of Bounce Brothers
In the second frame, Lee got his first bucket since the first game of the season (against the Kings, as well, no less), posting up on the right block and making a toilet-bowl banker with his right hand with 11:17 to go and giving the Warriors a 38-22 lead.
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Iguodala got a dunk after stealing Rudy Gay defensive rebound of a Justin Holiday miss.
Holiday would then make the most of his initial six minutes played, as he got a running bankshot layup to go, to give Golden State a 42-30 lead with 9:30 left in the half, then drilled a jumper from the free throw line on a nice cut, assisted by Speights, then drove in the lane left-to-right with big, long steps to find Thompson wide open at the last moment for a three-pointer splash from the right elbow.
The #SplashBrothers even connected above the rim on a wild sequence. Collison made a bad pass that slipped out to Green, who then cocked for another touchdown throw, but the ball also slipped out and went back to Collison in the lane, who couldn’t convert the layup. Curry found himself bringing the ball up and seeing Thompson behind the Kings defense running back, and lofted a perfect alley-oop to Klay for the slam.
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Oracle erupted, but Gay silenced the crowd with an immediate pull-up trey. After a timeout with the Warriors up, 55-46 with 2:21 to go, Golden State head coach Steve Kerr put Holiday back in and Holiday got a dunk on an assist from Curry. About the only thing Holiday didn’t convert was a wide-open weak-side three-pointer from the corner with the Kings defense heavily shifted towards Curry.
Green got an and-one on pick-and-roll-slip action with Curry on the right elbow, then Curry got a pull-up jumper to go from the left-handed dribble, and he and Green and Lee played “tic-tac-toe” as Lee got a slam dunk to close out the half with 2.1 ticks left with a 64-50 lead.
Curry and Thompson led the Warriors with 12 points apiece, with Steph dishing out 6 assists. Green had 6 rebounds and 4 assists. Cousins led all scorers with 13 and Gay added 11.
The Warriors had 21 assists on 26 made baskets.
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