ORACLE ARENA, OAKLAND, CA — The Toronto Raptors visited the Golden State Warriors tonight, in a matchup of conference-leading teams. The Raptors were without star shooting guard DeMar DeRozan. The Warriors were without centers Andrew Bogut and Festus Ezeli.
1ST QUARTER: Mo, Klay, And Dray Shoot Fireballs
The first quarter got out to a hot start for both teams. Draymond Green hit the first bucket, a three-pointer deep into the shotclock, and Stephen Curry followed that up with another early-offense three-pointer. But the Raptors answered back as Jonas Valanciunas converted an alley-oop and Amir Johnson got an inside jump hook.
Curry had a couple of signature moves, although neither resulted in immediate Warriors points. Both were left-handed dribble drives into the paint.
The first drew a foul as he decided at the last moment in between dribbles that a cutting Marreese Speights wasn’t quite open enough to receive a pass in traffic.
The second had Raptors big men Valanciunas and Amir Johnson giving chase after some switch pick-and-roll action on the perimeter. At Curry drove closer to the basket and the bigs converged, it reminded me of a surfer getting nearly engulfed by a wave at Mavericks. That particular play ended with a kick-out to Harrison Barnes, who missed the open baseline jumper.
The first timeout came after Klay Thompson stole a bad pass from Valanciunas at the perimeter and delivered the ball to a streaking Curry for a reverse layup, putting the Warriors up, 18-13, early with 6:46 to play.
Speights and Green then heated up for Golden State, although Toronto still hit their shots, too. Speights got a fadeaway to go after a crossover dribble at the left elbow against the frozen Valanciunas, Green got a slip layup assisted by Curry, Thompson converted a jumper on a pick-and-roll with Speights, but Terrence Ross got a hanging jumper to fall over solid one-on-one defense by Curry, then hit a trey ball, right corner pocket.
Green hit one from downtown after Ross got a little too eager, bricking an anxious shot from up top deep. Curry recovered the rebound and led the break, leading a risky bounce pass a bit too far for Barnes. But Barnes corralled the loose ball and found a trailing Green for the in-rhythm trey.
Speights then made a double-clutch jumper after Andre Iguodala almost traveled with the shotclock winding down, trying to pass off to an open teammate. The ball went to Curry who immediately was doubled from thirty feet out on the left elbow. Curry flipped it to Speights who converted.
David Lee checked in at the three-minute mark and deflected a pass from Ross then was rewarded on the fastbreak by Iguodala, who delivered this laser:
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Justin Holiday, who had checked in at the 2:13 mark for Thompson, got a high-jumping three-pointer to go. After a Greivis Vasquez three-pointer in transition, Iguodala drew three foul shots on Ross with 1.0 seconds remaining, but missed two of the three from the charity stripe.
The Warriors took a 40-31 lead into the second frame. Kyle Lowry, who did a masterful job drawing contact and lifting up shots that actually almost went in, within milliseconds after whistles from the referees, led all scorers with 11 points to go along with 4 assists.
Speights was 5-for-6 from the field for 10 points and Thompson also added 10 points. Green had 10 points as well, to go along with 3 assists. Curry chipped in 7 points and 6 assists, as Golden State went 16-for-23 from the field and Toronto went 10-for-17.
2ND QUARTER: Lunacy Evaporates Lead
After Shaun Livingston got an inside bucket, Lee got a jumper, then a dunk from the right post assisted by Iguodala after Tyler Hansbrough made a bad gamble for the entry pass, the Warriors held a 46-36 lead with 7:30 to play.
Holiday played great defense on Vasquez and got a defense tip that resulted in two free throws for Barnes…
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…and the Warriors pushed their lead to 50-36 with 6:32 to go in the half.
But then Vasquez got cooking. After Lee dunked a putback of Iguodala’s wiggling post move around the smaller Lowry, Vasquez came down and answered with an immediate trey from the left side, then got a layup. Golden State head coach Steve Kerr had seen enough and called timeout with a 52-43 lead and 4:48 remaining.
Then the opposite of what Kerr expected out of a timeout occurred. Even with Curry back on the floor, Speights made a bad pass out of the timeout, punished with a layup by none other than Vasquez, Green made a bad pass out of a post up on the right side that led to a run-out layup by Lowry, and Thompson followed that up by driving left-handed into the lane with no clear plan of attack, getting smothered by Ross, then paying for it with a three-pointer by Ross as well.
And just like that, the Raptors ran off 12 straight points to cut the Warriors’ lead to 52-50.
Klay got a three out of the timeout, but Vasquez, amazingly, hit yet another three to answer that. Vasquez followed that up with a lead pass to a cutting Amir Johnson to tie the game, 55-55, with 2:39 to play.
Livingston added to the woes with the Warriors’ 4th turnover of the quarter, leading to a Lowry one-handed putback of Vasquez’s ensuing missed layup. Livingston then got pinned under the rim, equivalent to a turnover, missing the shot and drawing heavy iron, but luckily for the Warriors, Green blocked Lou Williams‘ layup and Curry got free throws out of it on the other end.
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Still, a Johnson putback dunk gave the Raptors their first lead at 59-57 with 1:48 remaining, then Lee committed the Dubs’ 5th turnover of the quarter, not catching the pass before looking for the next play.
But Holiday bailed out the Warriors with his defense again, getting a steal that led to a Curry left-handed inside-out dribble that froze Vasquez and forced him to foul the attacking Curry.
Curry then gave a right-handed sling pass to Green for a dunk.
The Warriors ended the half with more lunacy, but this time good lunacy, as Lee challenged Johnson for a missed offensive rebound. Johnson saved the ball from the baseline but his save went right to Holiday, who found Curry for a fall-away deep right-elbow shot from downtown, giving the Warriors a 66-61 lead with 11.8 ticks left.
Williams missed a three from up top at the buzzer and the Dubs took a 66-61 lead into halftime. Green and Curry led Golden State with 14 apiece. Speights and Thompson added 10 apiece. Curry had 8 assists, Iguodala had 4 assists, and Holiday had 2 steals. The Warriors assisted on 19 of their 24 made field goals, but the Raptors were shooting 50% from the field and 7-for-15 from downtown, led by Lowry with 17 points and 6 assists.
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