This is a continuation of the halftime recap of the Golden State Warriors at the Dallas Mavericks.
Golden State took a 59-48 lead into the third quarter.
3RD QUARTER: Family Jewels Defense!
The third period started off with a technical foul incurred at the end of the first half on Warriors head coach Steve Kerr for arguing about the large foul discrepancy, however, Monta Ellis missed the free throw.
Dallas head coach Rick Carlisle probably would have picked Dirk Nowitzki to shoot the technical, but Nowitzki was not in the game when the technical was assessed.
Klay Thompson got off to a quick start, hitting two treys, but then Andrew Bogut picked up his 4th personal foul. Kerr left Bogut in the game, however, as backup center Festus Ezeli already had 3 personals of his own.
But Bogut made a fading lefty baby hook, then after Richard Jefferson badly missed a left corner triple while trying to draw contact and a foul on the lunging Stephen Curry, Draymond Green ran the floor, missed a layup banker too hard, but Thompson was right there for the easy putback.
Carlisle called timeout as the Warriors took a commanding 69-51 lead with 9:09 to go.
Dirk Nowitzki then got cooking, starting with a left elbow fade-away, and-one, against Green. Then, after Ellis made a nice stop-and-pop allowing Klay to fly by on a little pump fake, Nowitzki swished a fade versus Harrison Barnes.
Green then picked up his third and fourth personal fouls by charging into Ellis on the offensive end, then fouling Dirk for another two free throws. Barnes would later give Nowitzki another two at the charity stripe after being too physical on a baseline out-of-bounds play.
That gave Barnes 4 fouls, to go along with Bogut and Green’s 4, but Kerr took that opportunity to rest Klay, who had traveled with a bunny hop on a drive from up top on the sequence before. Warriors TV announcer Bob Fitzgerald had reported that Kerr was not happy with the lack of ball movement on that play.
Both teams traded buckets, but after Curry made two shooting fouls on a right elbow jumper that drew contact from Devin Harris, Ellis streaked down the court for a layup after the second made free throw and a livid Kerr called timeout with the Warriors’ lead cut to just 8, 77-69, with 3:26 to go in the quarter.
Offensive rebounding started to become a savior for the Warriors as Curry airballed a scoop in the lane, but Ezeli grabbed the rebound and, although Dallas forced a jumpball, won the tip, which led to an Andre Iguodala swish three-pointer after Leandro Barbosa corralled the tip.
Harris then was careless handling the ball and got picked cleanly, leading to a run-out layup by Iguodala and an exasperated Carlisle called a twenty-second timeout.
The Mavericks trimmed the lead back down to ten after Amar’e Stoudemire made a spin on Ezeli and scored the bucket, then Festus compounded the issue by drawing a technical foul for complaining. The score was 82-72 with 2:20 to go and Golden State leading.
Things were going swimmingly for the Warriors as Iguodala received a pass in the lane, decided to dribble out to the left baseline, and turned and swished a fade-away over Al-Farouq Aminu, then after JJ Barea missed a layup, Barbosa curled around an Ezeli weak-side screen and scored a layup with Iguodala delivering the pin-point pass.
But then, Shaun Livingston made himself a potential social-media superstar.
Defending Nowitzki in the low left block, Livingston had his left arm outstretched for defense as usual, but his right arm hit Dirk in the family jewels. Upon the referee review, the foul was ruled a Flagrant One.
Aminu then missed a trey, got his own loose ball inside the paint in the rebound scrum, and a baby right hook made it a ten-point game once again with 1:09 to go, 86-76.
But the hustle and offensive rebounding of Ezeli, and quite possibly the lack of mobility of Stoudemire, once again prevented any sort of collapse. Curry stepped back on a crossover for a three-pointer from the right wing against Aminu. The shot was an airball but Aminu seemed to have hit Curry on either the hand or the wrist, but Ezeli waltzed around Stoudemire and got the putback to make it 88-76, Warriors, with 49.2 seconds to play in the third frame.
Barbosa added two free throws before the buzzer, as the Mavericks defense had to hedge against Curry setting up in the right corner for three as Leandro had the ball and decided to attack from the right side of the paint.
With the Golden State lead at 90-76, Thompson led all scorers with 16 points on 6-for-15 field, 4-for-9 downtown, while Iguodala added 15 off the bench on 6-for-13 shooting, 3-for-7 beyond the arc. Curry had 11 points on 4-for-12 field goals and 1-for-4 treys.
Nowitzki led the Mavs with 14 points, including 8-for-11 on free throws, while Ellis added 14 points, Jefferson 10, and Chandler 10. Tyson also had 14 rebounds.
4TH QUARTER: Slamming The Door On The Mavs
Iguodala continued his hot shooting, starting off the final frame with a three-pointer assisted by Livingston. And Marreese Speights wasn’t done either, getting a one-hand slam dunk, plus a smile running backcourt, as the elder Stoudemire simply couldn’t keep up with him on a drive after Livingston tapped out a miss Barbosa trey and threw it back up top to Iguodala to set the table.
Speights then added a left side banker at the shotclock buzzer.
But Mo’s fouls were accruing as well, as Ellis drew a questionable charge.
Still, Speights managed a three-pointer from up top, assisted by Livingston, and the Warriors blew open the game, 104-87, with 7:39 remaining.
Golden State finished up the game with a few slam dunks.
Harrison Barnes deflected a pass by Nowitzki and led the break to feed Livingston for a two-hander. Barnes himself later got a two-hand dunk at the rim as Livingston dished behind-the-back from the right elbow to Green, who played “tic-tac-toe” and lasered it down to Barnes.
About the only thing that went wrong for the Warriors were the fouls.
Barnes had 5 as he picked up another one defending Dirk down low, Livingston had 5. Green, Bogut, Ezeli and Thompson all had 4. And despite an incredible 18 points in just 9:50 of court time, Speights fouled out with 6!
Golden State accrued a season-high 37 fouls.
The game ended uneventfully with the score 123-110. Thompson led all scorers with 21 points, Speights and Iguodala had 18 points apiece, and Barnes had 13. Curry tallied just 11 points, 4 rebounds, 3 assists, and 1 turnover. Ezeli and Barbosa chipped in 10 points apiece, giving the Warriors seven players in double-figures.
The bench unit contributed 65 of the Warriors’ 123 points. Nowitzki ended up leading the Mavs with 18 points, but Dallas totaled just 3-for-16 from three-point land, 34-for-80 overall (42.5%), and got out-rebounded 55-44.
The Warriors will play the Spurs in San Antonio tomorrow.
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