Three nights after holding off the Suns, the Golden State Warriors (8-2) were at Air Canada Centre to face the Toronto Raptors (7-3) on “Drake Night”, which had the Raptors in their special black OVO uniforms, forcing the Warriors to wear their home whites.
The Warriors were without Damian Jones (pectoral surgery) and James McAdoo (inactive). The Raptors were without Delon Wright (right shoulder surgery) and Jared Sullinger (left foot surgery).
Q1 – Slow Pace To Start
Toronto is 24th in the NBA in pace and it showed at the start, as Golden State couldn’t get any sparks flying on offense, although Kevin Durant did start with a nice jumper, then a two-hand jam baseline backdoor fed by Zaza Pachulia:
— GoldenStateWarriors (@warriors) November 17, 2016
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Draymond Green also made a tremendous retreating defensive block on Kyle Lowry…
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…but Durant missed a runner the other way.
But the Raptors couldn’t miss, as Pascal Siakam swished a jumper, Jonas Valunciunas also hit one, then got active on the offensive boards, and Lowry drew three fouls shots on a ticky-tack beyond the arc on Stephen Curry.
Lowry then answered a Curry finger roll over Valunciunas…
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…with a pull-up trey and Warriors head coach Steve Kerr called timeout with 6:56 remaining, down 15-10.
Toronto stretched things out as Klay Thompson missed two more triple attempts, Lowry hit another three, but Andre Iguodala hit this triple…
Iggy open three #LetsGoWarriorsLive #gswtor pic.twitter.com/zO5JkIHBYS
— Stephen Klay (@suitman111) November 17, 2016
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…and Green responded with a three from the top.
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JaVale McGee had come in for Pachulia and goaltended at the rim on a Patrick Patterson drive, but got a nice two-hand jam on the “tic-tac-toe” from Green to Curry to McGee to make it 25-19 with 4:30 to play:
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However, Andre Iguodala fed him in transition and McGee threw the ball away, leading to a DeMarre Carroll triple, giving the Raptors a double-digit lead at 32-22.
Steph came back and leaned into Lowry with a long two make plus the harm, the replay confirming his foot was on the line. With 3:15 to go, the Raptors maintained a 32-25 lead.
League scoring leader DeMar DeRozan got going and hit too jumpers, but Patrick McCaw came in and hit a nice runner on the cut and catch from Iguodala.
Durant drew free throws against Cory Joseph and, after a bad pass by DeRozan to Joseph that went into the baseline seats with 5.1 seconds left, “KD” came up the floor, pulled up from the left arc, and drilled a three at the buzzer to salvage the quarter with a 38-34 deficit for the Warriors:
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Q2 – Green’s Defense Boosts Warriors
The Warriors took the lead momentarily after Thompson blocked a Terrence Ross runner, although Klay missed a trey the other way, after Durant hit a catch-and-shoot triple from the left wing on a cross-court pass from Iguodala in the right corner.
Durant got a nice spinning fadeaway…
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…but the Raptors starting grabbing offensive boards as Siakam got a putback, Valuncias hit a baseline turnaround over David West, then Valunciunas got another putback on a DeRozan miss.
But after a Kerr timeout, Lowry threw the ball away to McCaw, Steph led the break, and found Pachulia in stride for a layup.
DeRozan couldn’t get a pull-up to drop over the long arms of Shaun Livingston, Curry hit a right-wing triple from Green as Zaza set a monster pick to free him:
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With 4:37 remaining, Raptors head coach Dwane Casey took a timeout as Golden State retook the lead, 50-49.
Out of the timeout, the Warriors hit another gear, as Zaza made another bucket inside on a roll after screening Curry’s man, Green dunked after a back-cut fed by Iguodala, and DeRozan lost the ball from behind to Iguodala.
Livingston tracked down the loose ball and fed Steph for an acrobatic and-one layup with Curry going with the exaggerated scoop:
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After Pachulia picked up his third personal, forcing Kerr to go with the “Death Lineup”, Draymond blocked Lowry again, leading to a catch-and-shoot triple fed by Livingston’s back flip:
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Green got Lowry again, stealing his dribble, but Steph missed a three.
Then DeRozan went in the lane, only to be denied again by Draymond and, adding insult to injury, Green threw the loose ball off DeMar, to gain possession out of bounds:
This defense from Draymond Green is……… just wow pic.twitter.com/UkqyUi0j6E
— Drew Shiller (@DrewShiller) November 17, 2016
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Here’s a close-up of the play:
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Casey called another timeout and Lowry and DeRozan both picked up technical fouls during the break.
Iguodala added a dunk via Draymond on the “ATO” (after-timeout play)…
The Steve Kerr Effect. Some of the best out of time out plays in the NBA pic.twitter.com/ji2LbSYTBL
— BBALLBREAKDOWN (@bballbreakdown) November 17, 2016
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…DeRozan missed again, and Durant grabbed the rebound and threw a touchdown pass to Green on the break.
Just like that, Golden State raced ahead, 66-51 with 55.5 seconds left.
Joseph finally broke the Raptors drought with a bucket, Steph drew a charge on Carroll, and Durant missed a turnaround jumper from the right elbow with three seconds remaining, to give the Warriors a 66-53 lead heading into halftime.
(Photo: @letsgowarriors Instagram account via @jlitvack)
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