Two nights after falling to the Miami Heat in South Beach, the Golden State Warriors (38-7) headed up north to the home of Stephen Curry to face the Charlotte Hornets (23-22).
The Warriors were without David West (non-displaced fracture, left thumb). The Hornets were without Cody Zeller, Jeremy Lamb (foot), and Brian Roberts (illness). Frank Kaminsky (nose) was active.
Q1: Mac-Maul!
Michael Kidd-Gilchrist started with a dunk and-one against Kevin Durant, and Klay Thompson threw a terrible behind-the-back pass back up top to Draymond Green that got easily deflected.
But Zaza Pachulia gave chase, dove, and tapped the ball to Durant. KD sized up the broken Hornets defense, and went down the right side for a righty jam:
[protected-iframe id=”f43308166162101f808bc4f338492ea2-114320562-10106876″ info=”http://twitframe.com/show?url=https%3A%2F%2Ftwitter.com%2FNBA%2Fstatus%2F824425011679158272″ width=”360″ height=”280″ frameborder=”0″]Later, Curry missed a push shot, but came back with a right-to-left dribble-and-pop, then freed up Durant on a back screen for an easy two and, after Kidd-Gilchrist missed a triple, hit a three from the top via pick-and-roll with Pachulia:
[protected-iframe id=”1a475199fec18771d168aa448b00de2f-114320562-10106876″ info=”http://twitframe.com/show?url=https%3A%2F%2Ftwitter.com%2FNBA%2Fstatus%2F824426717892599808″ width=”360″ height=”280″ frameborder=”0″]With 9:08 remaining, Hornets head coach Steve Clifford called timeout as the Warriors drew first blood, 9-3.
A few possessions later, hit a catch-and-shoot from Draymond Green, but KD and Thompson committed two straight unforced turnovers, Durant mis-timing Curry’s out cut and Klay getting whistled for traveling after an up-fake from the right wing.
Green broke the spell with a catch-and-shoot triple on a pass from Steph, and neither team could miss as Kemba Walker drove in and dished to Kidd-Gilchrist for a two-hand smash, Curry came back with a twisting layup down the left side…
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But Steph answered with an early pick-and-roll pull-up for a trey, then Kidd-Gilchrist responded with a spinning righty hook over Draymond.
With 3:59 to play, Walker drew a foul on Curry on a drive and the Warriors held a 22-19 lead with 3:59 to go at the first timeout, just before Walker’s second made free throw.
Out of the timeout, Warriors head coach Steve Kerr brought in James McAdoo, mixing up the rotations in West’s absence, and McAdoo didn’t disappoint.
He immediately drew a charge on Walker, got himself to the free throw line, and disrupted another Walker attack. Meanwhile, Durant made a nifty gargantuan step past Kidd-Gilchrist and Spencer Hawes for a right-handed reverse scoop from the left glass, KD then blocked a fade from “MKG”, and Curry hit an open trey.
But Hawes responded with a three as well, and the Warriors took a 29-28 lead into the second stanza.
Q2: Falling Asleep As Hornets Run Through Back Door
McAdoo started the second quarter and dished to Draymond on the right wing for a catch-and-shoot triple…
[protected-iframe id=”f7a757e6c4cecf7516d194c87bef9014-114320562-10106876″ info=”http://twitframe.com/show?url=https%3A%2F%2Ftwitter.com%2FJaeAzizi%2Fstatus%2F824432221125644288″ width=”360″ height=”280″ frameborder=”0″]…then after Hawes amazingly tracked down a Shaun Livingston scoop from behind, Frank Kaminsky missed twice, and Green posted up Belinelli and found Thompson on a cut to the hole as Clifford called timeout, the Warriors taking a 34-28 lead.
McAdoo continued his great play, as he hooked up with Green and Andre Iguodala for a cutting two-hand slam:
[protected-iframe id=”d1a0291043fd563be5e91cbcea3600d8-114320562-10106876″ info=”http://twitframe.com/show?url=https%3A%2F%2Ftwitter.com%2Fbballbreakdown%2Fstatus%2F824433396189261824″ width=”360″ height=”280″ frameborder=”0″]Later, he blocked a Ramon Sessions attack into the paint, and Klay ended up drilling a three from the right corner on a hand-off from Livingston deep on the right baseline.
Thompson got a lot of shots off with the second unit, but most of his shots went short, although he did hit a dribble-and-pop with Kaminsky trying to retreat on him.
With 5:45 to go, Golden State held a 41-32 lead.
Livingston also couldn’t hit from the field, but the Hornets were making unforced turnovers on bad passes. After a timeout, Durant and Curry came back in, but both KD and Steph missed their first triple attempts since sitting down.
Hawes got backdoor on the Warriors, then Walker airballed a trey attempt, but Nic Batum was there for the easy uncontested putback, and Kerr called timeout to wake up his troops, with the Warriors’ lead cut down to 41-36 with 3:59 left.
Out of the timeout, Patrick McCaw came in and made an impressive up-fake, jump-stop, and layup in traffic, Hawes lost the ball which resulted in a fast break for Curry, who missed, but had Iguodala putback the miss.
However, Walker hit a three to kill the momentum that was building.
Still, McCaw made a nice cut for a bucket assisted by Draymond, Green then stole the ball, which ended up with free throws for KD on a nice dish from McCaw.
Green added a help block as Batum posted up McCaw, but the Warriors fell asleep again on defense as Hawes found a cutting Williams as Durant’s jumping help was a hair too late, and after KD missed a three, Hawes again found someone backdoor, this time Walker, and Kerr had to call timeout to address the problem as the Hornets crept back, 49-43.
Closing out the half, Durant drew free throws, Batum hit a one-legged runner, KD hit a jumper, and Walker used a “hesi” to get past Steph, missed a trickling lay-in, but Hawes again was there to tap the ball in.
At the other end with just seconds remaining, Curry got the step past Walker, but Williams was there for the help and swatted the lefty scoop away, and Golden State headed into the locker room with a slim 53-47 lead at halftime.
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(Photo: @letsgowarriors Instagram account via @sktrgrl87)
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