This is a continuation of the halftime recap of the Golden State Warriors at the Memphis Grizzlies.
The Warriors held a slim 47-41 lead heading into halftime.
3rd Quarter – Turnovers Continue, But Curry Heats Up
The Warriors couldn’t shake the turnover bug in the third frame, as Stephen Curry started the quarter with a wayward bouncer to Harrison Barnes in the corner, who had to try and save the ball but launched it into the backcourt.
Still, Golden State had their share of nice passes too, but a zinger bouncer from Curry to a cutting Klay Thompson got disrupted by Tony Allen and ended a lost ball at the baseline by Thompson.
Klay added his own defensive highlight as he knocked the ball out of Marc Gasol’s hands twice in succession in the paint, which led to a break out finger roll by Curry, sensing the defense converging at the bucket and drawing an and-one:
Klay with the steal, Steph with the tremendous finish. pic.twitter.com/UBofalZVqN
— KNBR (@KNBR) November 12, 2015
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But Curry then made two bad passes to up the Warrior turnover total for the quarter to an astounding 7. One was a drive in on the right side, jumping, and passing too late to Thompson on the left wing. Allen easily stole the ball and got a layup out of it.
Draymond Green had a nice defensive play:
The Grizzlies thought they had an easy basket on this 2-on-1. Draymond Green had other ideas: pic.twitter.com/qEf9PP6yb0
#Warriors
— KNBR (@KNBR) November 12, 2015
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Festus Ezeli then sat down after committing his 4th personal, warding off Gasol too much with the arm, then Green threw a pass on the zig, straight into the sideline seats, as Andre Iguodala zagged.
Green got a nice feed from Curry, blew the assist slightly slow on the contested layup attempt, but finished the putback, then Andrew Bogut telegraphed a pass that Matt Barnes picked off.
The Grizzlies had a chance to tie the game, but Curry stole Barnes’ next pass and outlet to Iguodala for an open dunk to put the Warriors up, 57-53, with 3:57 to go:
Steph Curry’s defense is pretty impressive too: pic.twitter.com/gjWbNG7nKj
— KNBR (@KNBR) November 12, 2015
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After Green sat down upon drawing a technical arguing a foul in the post defending Zach Randolph, Draymond’s 4th personal, Courtney Lee picked up a technical on a foul on Curry dribbling outside, and Steph buried three free throws in a row.
Curry made a beautiful right-to-left driving finger roll, then got his hands on a Randolph entry again from the top, made a pirouette as he almost lost the dribble, then went down the court, got a clear bump from backup point guard Russ Smith, launched the ball anticipating a whistle that never came, but the ball banked in for a three-pointer!
Steph Doing Steph Things Volume 4561: pic.twitter.com/6Fg0ZzQ9UH
— KNBR (@KNBR) November 12, 2015
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Here are two other angles (the second in slo-mo):
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Steph was upset at the non-call and yelled out, but in the meantime, Lee shot a three and Randolph manhandled Iguodala on the rebound. There was a timeout and Iguodala made one of two from the charity stripe.
Leandro Barbosa then lasered a pass to Barnes on the baseline. Harrison spun around Randolph and two-handed dunked the ball in, and that capped an 8-0 run to put the Warriors up, 68-58, with 1:49 to go.
But Curry ended the quarter with a personal 6-point run in just 13.9 seconds as he got a monster pick from Harrison to eliminate Smith from the chase and drew a foul at the rim with the lefty, against Matt Barnes.
Then Smith wanted to pass it from the outside into Randolph in the paint, but Steph read him easily, stealing the pass on a timely jump, then, as the buzzer sounded, draining a triple from the deep left wing, perhaps 35 feet away, to give the Warriors a 74-63 lead heading into the final frame.
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Steph Doing Steph Things Volume 4562: pic.twitter.com/iOQu052aCs
— KNBR (@KNBR) November 12, 2015
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That gave Curry 26 points on the night, 17 in the third period alone.
4th Quarter – Others Step Up To Close The Door
Golden State got jumpers from Barnes, Shaun Livingston, and Leandro Barbosa, then consecutive threes from Thompson and Green, and Memphis head coach Dave Joerger had to call timeout with 6:28 remaining as the Warriors’ lead ballooned to 86-71 amidst a 10-0 run.
Green fouled out at the 5:02 mark, but the Grizzlies missed five straight attempts.
Barnes added a #BlackFalcon putback dunk and Golden State kept up their dominating lead, 92-75, with 3:35 left.
Curry added another steal and a fastbreak finger roll that was goal-tended, pushing the Dubs’ lead to 95-75 approaching 2 minutes to go and Iguodala swished his 4th trey of the night as Walton took no chances and kept the starters, with Iguodala in for Green, in until 1:54 remaining.
Curry ended the night with 28 points, 5 rebounds, 5 assists, 5 steals while Iguodala chipped in 20 points on 6-for-8 floor and 4-for-4 downtown, while Barnes added 19 points on 7-for-11 field.
Gasol tallied 23-and-7 and Randolph 19-and-7, but Mike Conley was held to just 4 points on 1-for-12 shooting.
The Warriors (9-0) fly to Minneapolis tonight to face the Timberwolves in less than 24 hours.
(Photo: @letsgowarriors Instagram account via @lyndsimetzphotography)
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