The Golden State Warriors were in Anaheim, CA, tonight at the Honda Center to take on the Los Angeles Lakers in the Warriors’ seventh and final preseason game.
Interim head coach Luke Walton said he would only go nine or ten players deep in this game, to simulate a regular season game. Andrew Bogut remains out due to a broken nose.
Kobe Bryant was out with a lower left leg injury suffered in a previous preseason game.
1st Quarter
The Warriors got off to a hot start, although Julius Randle made good with his, “You can’t guard me,” quip to Draymond Green last game and held his own, getting a couple layups and Green to bite on an upfake.
Klay Thompson opened the game with a catch-and-shoot jumper off a curl and Stephen Curry followed up with 8 straight points, starting with this catch:
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Two of the three straight Curry field goals were three-point splashes. The first was a pull-up thanks to Festus Ezeli running interference:
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The second involved D’Angelo Russell losing Curry in transition as Steph went 1-on-3 then between-the-legs with the step-back triple from the deep left wing and Roy Hibbert stayed low protecting the rim with no Warrior in sight:
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Thompson continued to show off some improved ball-handling as he took a Randle miss past halfcourt, changed direction against Russell’s pressure, and pulled up for a high-school-three-point-line jumper.
Harrison Barnes joined in on the barrage, draining a left corner trey assisted by Curry and started by Green, then after a timeout by the Lakers, Green hit a three as well:
Beautiful ball movement. Taking advantage of imprecise positional defense by the Lakers. pic.twitter.com/tr8JChidnc
— BBALLBREAKDOWN (@bballbreakdown) October 23, 2015
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The only lowlights were a missed two-handed dunk by Ezeli that he slammed too hard and a sling-pass turnover by Curry.
Klay and Steph added two more threes, the first on a mishandled ball recovered by an alert Curry…
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…and the latter on a baseline out-of-bounds play from Curry to Barnes, back to Curry in the right corner.
Barnes added a spin move leading to a dunk…
Warriors run The Loop, great read by Steph, forcing the switch. Barnes BOOM pic.twitter.com/8iASNzJWxS
— BBALLBREAKDOWN (@bballbreakdown) October 23, 2015
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…then later chased down a missed Andre Iguodala three, passed the ball to Shaun Livingston who found Iguodala open on the wing again.
Iguodala saw the shift in the defense and attacked the paint, dropping off a pass to James McAdoo who slammed it home.
Barnes added another corner three as Leandro Barbosa brought the ball up, juked Marcelo Huertas with a hesitation crossover, and found Barnes open.
The Lakers kept the game within a respectable range as Lou Williams hit a couple of surprising triples, but Barnes was able to get inside on a dribble up-and-under, finding Livingston cutting for another Warriors dunk.
Ryan Kelly made an impressive jam over Iguodala with 1.1 seconds remaining…
Kelly dunks on Iggy.. (? via insomniacstories on IG) pic.twitter.com/7f223labIx
— GSWdelivery (@GSWdelivery) October 23, 2015
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…but the Los Angeles highlights were in the minority compared to the Golden State ones, and the Warriors took a 39-29 lead into the second stanza.
Curry led all scorers with 11 points on 3 threes and the Warriors had 11 assists on 15 field goals made.
Championship-caliber basketball was back!
2nd Quarter
Iguodala continued the pretty offense with a fadeaway after an upfake from the left post, then Barnes gave the Warriors 8 triples on 10 attempts from downtown as he hit another corner three. This after Russell had hit a three, killing another Lakers momentum-builder.
Thompson added another trey after Barnes got fouled on an entry pass and Golden State built a 49-32 lead with 8:53 to go, shooting an incredible 19-for-29 from the field.
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The highlights played on as Iguodala made a one-handed behind-the-back dribble to finish in transition with an and-one layup.
Later, Livingston got into the clinic as he baited Russell into a shooting foul with the shotclock running down, draining from the top of the circle. Sdot’s free throw stretched the Golden State lead to 56-36 with 6:51 to go in the half.
Even Ezeli showed finesse on offense, as he took a Livingston entry pass after the ball made a round on the perimeter, absorbed contact, contorted just ever so slightly, and got a finger roll to trickle in with the harm:
And 1! @festus completes the three point play on TNT. pic.twitter.com/O8Mj6xbJQx
— Golden St. Warriors (@warriors) October 23, 2015
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Here’s another angle from a fan at the arena:
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Brandon Rush got the call with 4 minutes to play, closing out the game alongside Curry, Klay, Green, and McAdoo.
Williams got a nice layup, but Curry launched the inbound for a touchdown to Thompson nearly 94 feet away for a layup, and with 1:50 to go, Steph made a nice move down the right side of the lane to give him 15 points for the half.
The Warriors took a 72-50 lead into halftime, shooting 26-for-43 overall (61%), 9-for-15 (60%) from the arc. Klay led all scorers with 16 points on 6-for-8 field, Curry added 15 on 5-for-8 floor and Barnes added 13 on 5-for-5 field goals, 3-for-3 downtown.
Williams led the Lakers with 15 points and Kelly added 11.
(Photo: @letsgowarriors Instagram account via @aladeentl)
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