ORACLE ARENA, OAKLAND, CA — This is a continuation of the halftime recap of the Golden State Warriors versus the Orlando Magic.
3RD QUARTER: Anti-Spark
Both teams traded misses and Magic big man Kyle O’Quinn made a jumper, when Stephen Curry decided he’d had enough and drove the left side and got a banker to go, and-one.
After Andrew Bogut blocked Victor Oladipo, Klay Thompson found a seam to the hoop on a left-handed dribble-drive and slammed it home impressively with two hands.
The Warriors were up, 63-53, with 8:17 to go in the third frame.
But then as easily as the Warriors string together baskets on the offensive end, a few consecutive misses let the Magic back into the game.
It started with a Bogut bad pass and compounded itself when he missed an ensuing lefty hook-put-shot badly short, barely grazing the rim, with no Warriors nearby to rebound. Then Draymond Green got blocked, Thompson missed a step-back jumper, then missed a three-pointer, and Oladipo made the Dubs pay for their misses with a thunderous driving dunk.
All of a sudden, it was just 65-64 in favor the Warriors with 3:41 to play in the quarter.
A Marreese Speights layup broke an 11-0 run by the Magic, but that didn’t turn the tide. Speights couldn’t catch a Curry pass on two occasions in one sequence and ended up airballing the second one, thinking that the shotclock was about the expire.
Tobias Harris scored an and-one on the other end as Speights, a split-second too late, tried unsuccessfully to draw another charge.
The Magic led, 75-73, after three periods. Oladipo was up to 22 points, O’Quinn added 15 points and 7 rebounds, and Harris chipped in 13. Curry led the Dubs with 14, but Harrison Barnes was stuck on 13 points.
4TH QUARTER: Now Playing: Bogut And The Splash Brothers
The pesky Magic continued to apply the pressure in the form of Oladipo. Leandro Barbosa was still trying to hit a three (0-for-3 all night) and the Warriors couldn’t buy a bucket, although Thompson did his best to stem the tide with a right-to-left crossover on Harris and a trey after that, but Oladipo was making runners and his second trey in Curry’s face. Even with Bogut sizing up and volleyball-swatting emphatically an Elfrid Payton layup (after a turnover by Andre Iguodala, however), just like that, the Magic were up, 93-84, with 4:05 to go.
Warriors head coach Steve Kerr called timeout and drew up a play, as he’s done all season, for one of the #SplashBrothers to get a three.
This time, Andre Iguodala inbounded to Thompson who got it to Curry coming around Iguodala’s pick, good!
Iguodala then got a steal and Channing Frye fouled out while stopping Andre from starting the break.
Bogut came back in for Speights at the 3:36 mark.
Harris then took an ill-advised fade from the corner against Draymond Green. Thompson got the rebound, bounded ahead on his own, and pulled up good from three, reducing the lead to 93-90 with 2:52 to go.
Bogut then blocked Kyle O’Quinn after O’Quinn got the step, and Thompson added another splash from downtown, assist by Green, from the corner to tie it up, 93-all, with 2:14 to go.
After O’Quinn answered with a bucket, Curry came back and drew two free throws, selling the call. He made both, to chants of “MVP!” by #Roaracle. It was 95-95 with 1:38 to go.
Then the Splash Brothers incredibly missed three straight attempts from downtown, trying to ignite Oracle. Thompson missed, Green got the offensive rebound, Curry missed, Bogut tapped it back out with two hands, and Curry missed again. But that would not be the death knell, even after Harris got a tough banker to go over Bogut to give the Magic a 97-95 lead.
On the ensuing inbounds, Kerr ran an alley-oop for Bogut that failed miserably. The pass from Curry was too high and the Warriors had to play defense with 34 ticks to go.
The Magic got a shot in the paint, but it bounced off the glass too hard. Green got the rebound, got it to Curry, who dribbled it up, got a crossover on the right elbow and pulled up from about 28 feet, drilling the trey with 2.2 to go and putting the Warriors up, 98-97.
Orlando called timeout and, with Bogut bothering the inbounder, tried to lob the ball over Green, to no avail. Curry got the ball and the buzzer sounded as he dribbled up court.
Curry scored 22 points. Thompson added 20 points and Barnes contributed 14 points. Bogut led the team with 12 rebounds. Green passed off for a team-high 6 assists.
The Magic were led by Oladipo with 27 points. O’Quinn was the second-leading scorer for the Magic at 21 points. O’Quinn grabbed a team-high 11 rebounds. Payton led the losing team with 6 assists. Oladipo turned the ball over a team-high 4 times.
Golden State shot 46.3% from the field while the Orlando shot 44.8%.
After their win, the Warriors are now 15-2 and the Magic fall to 7-13 after their loss.
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