ORACLE ARENA, OAKLAND, CA — Two nights after defeating the Spurs on the second night of a road back-to-back, the Golden State Warriors (61-14) were back at home to face the Houston Rockets (51-23), their second meeting in four nights.
The Warriors were without Kevon Looney (left hip strain), Kevin Durant (left knee MCL sprain, left tibial bone bruise), and Damian Jones (D-League assignment). Also, Patrick McCaw was a late scratch due to leg cramps, although he participated in pregame shooting routines.
Q1: Bubble Pops
Golden State got off to a strong start as Klay Thompson buried a jumper on the opening possession, Stephen Curry splashed a side-stepping three on a pass from the other side by Draymond Green…
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[protected-iframe id=”38c85b5806c5730663c79c556b6afdac-114320562-10106876″ info=”http://twitframe.com/show?url=https%3A%2F%2Ftwitter.com%2Fbballbreakdown%2Fstatus%2F848003511870787584″ width=”360″ height=”250″ frameborder=”0″]Green added a “bully” post-up move inside against James Harden, but they gave that away quickly as Patrick Beverley hit a three, and Curry made a horrible cross-court pass that got stolen by Trevor Ariza.
Matt Barnes, the intended receiver, raced back and try to disrupt Ariza’s layup, but couldn’t foul him early enough and Ariza scored an and-one.
After that, Steph, Klay and Draymond all shot airballs, Curry and Thompson’s from beyond the arc, and Green’s on a floater, and with 5:51 remaining, the Rockets had taken the lead, 17-14.
Warriors head coach Steve Kerr inserted Andre Iguodala and Shaun Livingston, and Iguodala didn’t take long to get on the board, hitting right-wing jumper at the shot clock buzzer.
Curry got a step-back on Sam Dekker to toilet-bowl in, then Dekker and Iguodala traded triples…
[protected-iframe id=”0b6bea840644e18b4ff6055e659679e1-114320562-10106876″ info=”http://twitframe.com/show?url=https%3A%2F%2Ftwitter.com%2FKNBR%2Fstatus%2F848008158031233024″ width=”360″ height=”250″ frameborder=”0″]…Harden lost the ball to Steph, and Curry found James McAdoo with a back pass for the smash:
[protected-iframe id=”83733e1160151e6e75cbe7688a03f478-114320562-10106876″ info=”http://twitframe.com/show?url=https%3A%2F%2Ftwitter.com%2Fwarriors%2Fstatus%2F848009126147837952″ width=”360″ height=”250″ frameborder=”0″]But Ariza closed out the quarter drawing three foul shots on Livingston, and Houston took the lead after one, 25-23.
Q2: JaVale McSpark
Klay started the second stanza with an airball at the shot clock buzzer, which was a bad omen. Lou Williams drew another three foul shots, this time on Thompson on what appeared on the replay as a rather generous call.
Ian Clark scored…
[protected-iframe id=”3fd622a0c60336a1313f5e359254708b-114320562-10106876″ info=”http://twitframe.com/show?url=https%3A%2F%2Ftwitter.com%2Fwarriors%2Fstatus%2F848014497830772736″ width=”360″ height=”250″ frameborder=”0″]…as did David West from the top, but the Warriors still couldn’t defend the Rockets, and Clint Capela put back a drive from Beverley without much resistance.
West hit another jumper…
[protected-iframe id=”c1cf4bf2d27e1e7177ec124189b66b7a-114320562-10106876″ info=”http://twitframe.com/show?url=https%3A%2F%2Ftwitter.com%2Fwarriors%2Fstatus%2F848012041075834880″ width=”360″ height=”250″ frameborder=”0″]…but Eric Gordon answered with a running banker, Livingston came back with a jump hook on the right baseline, but Beverley drilled a three in his grille, and the Rockets finally had their separation as that gave them a 38-31 lead.
Klay couldn’t hit against the smaller Williams at the other end, on a right-side fade, Capela scored inside, Thompson missed again short over Williams from the deep right post, and Capela got another putback and fired the ball cross-court over to the hot Gordon who drilled another trey, and Kerr called timeout with 5:44 to play as the Rockets moved ahead, 43-31.
JaVale McGee came in an immediately changed the tempo, missing inside but fighting for the tip-in and getting credit for a banker as a Rocket inadvertently scored on the tap for the Warriors.
McGee scored again inside, Clark added a bucket in transition via Livingston, but Curry killed that momentum, getting called for a reach-in on a Harden triple attempt.
The three free throws gave the Rockets another 48-37 cushion with 4:12 to go, and JaVale answered again with an and-one as Gordon made too much contact on a brilliant feed from Draymond…
[protected-iframe id=”f01f7a9bf46da78629ee4db2687fe93c-114320562-10106876″ info=”http://twitframe.com/show?url=https%3A%2F%2Ftwitter.com%2Fwarriors%2Fstatus%2F848014794011455488″ width=”360″ height=”250″ frameborder=”0″]…but Williams missed an airball, got his own rebound, and fed Montrezl Harrell inside the paint for an and-one against McGee.
The Warriors avoided two bombs from Harden, then Gordon on the offensive board, and Draymond went hard into the lane against Harrell, but Harden took the inbound and threw a touchdown pass to Williams, with Green having to rush back to provide any sort of resistance.
Kerr didn’t like what he saw and called another timeout as the Rockets maintained their double-digit cushion, 52-42, with 2:51 left.
Green got a lob to McGee for a dunk, Ariza responded with a three from the left corner, JaVale put back a missed attack by Draymond, but then goal-tended a Williams runner trying to help as Lou got past Iguodala.
Harden then fell down and drew a whistle, drawing the loudest boos at Oracle in recent memory. After Harden hit all three, Klay splashed a catch-and-shoot from the right arc, McGee deflected a Harrell runner, and this time Thompson used an up-fake to shed Beverley, then drove in the paint to leave a bouncer to a JaVale dunk:
[protected-iframe id=”6a4682d214fe934a0869e7322d2eebaa-114320562-10106876″ info=”http://twitframe.com/show?url=https%3A%2F%2Ftwitter.com%2FNBA%2Fstatus%2F848017816301207552″ width=”360″ height=”250″ frameborder=”0″]Ariza missed from distance, but with the Warriors scrambling on the perimeter, Harrell made an impressive two-handed tomahawk putback.
Draymond brought the ball up, got fouled and lifted a perfect lob to McGee for another smash, but referee Eric Dalen called a foul on the ground and Green lit into him, amazingly not drawing a technical.
Iguodala then saved the day with a swish from the left wing at the buzzer, good for three, and the Warriors trailed 61-56 heading into halftime:
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(Photo: @letsgowarriors Instagram account via @jrichell)
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