ORACLE ARENA, OAKLAND, CA — This is a continuation of the halftime recap of the Boston Celtics at the Golden State Warriors. The Warriors took a 56-49 lead into halftime.
3RD QUARTER: Curry’s Hops Lifts Warriors
After an early tip-in on a Klay Thompson miss by Andrew Bogut, as well as an early-offense Stephen Curry three-pointer from the right elbow, the Warriors went cold.
A reverse layup by Evan Turner capped a 6-0 mini-run by the Celtics, after Curry, Thompson, and Draymond Green all missed their shots.
But an assist by Curry to a driving Bogut for a lefty layup broke the spell and Green followed that up also with a lefty as he cut to the basket while Curry left the ball for him to catch on the run, after getting through Boston’s perimeter defense.
Avery Bradley answered that with a three-pointer from the right elbow, but as the ball went through the hoop, Green took off and Curry found him on the extra outlet. Green took a big step into the lane, drew the foul, and converted the reverse layup to give the Warriors a 70-60 lead with 7:19 to go in the period.
That gave Green 14 points to tie Curry for the team lead. Thompson had 13. Both teams would head into a drought as neither team scored for nearly a minute-and-a-half, until former Michigan State University star Green gave a Big Ten hard foul to former Ohio State University star Jared Sullinger, who converted both free throws.
Buckets started going in as Thompson, who in the sequence actually turned down a pass from up top and appeared to be the third option on the set, finally drove left-to-right late in the shotclock and faded for a jumper. Bogut made another bucket in the paint, assisted by Curry, and Thompson drove again to the right side and swished from the right elbow.
But Bogut missed a slam dunk and Jae Crowder made him pay with a triple, and Warriors head coach Steve Kerr called timeout with the Warriors up just 77-71 with 3:11 to go in the quarter.
Curry then lit the torch, but from inside the three-point arc. After the timeout, Thompson scored a triple, then Curry stole the ball from Turner and stopped at the free-throw line for a jumper that gave Golden State a 82-71 lead:
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Celtics head coach Brad Stevens called timeout to stop the mini-run, but Curry made a cut backdoor and brought the house down with this two-handed jam, to stretch the lead to 84-74 with just 1:35 left in the third:
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Here’s another angle:
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From courtside (!):
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Justin Holiday followed that up with a steal against Marcus Thornton, and Curry led the break and found Andre Iguodala for the gliding layup.
Celtics backup point guard Phil Pressey then bodied up Curry on defense as Iguodala brought the ball up as the de facto point guard on the last few sequences of the period. With the shotclock winding down and Curry not open, Iguodala fired from up top and drilled the triple to close out the quarter.
The Warriors took an 89-77 lead into the final frame. Thompson led all scorers with 20 points on 7-for-13 field, while Curry upped his totals to 18 points, 10 assists, although he had 3 turnovers. Green added 14 points, 6 rebounds, although he was just 1-for-6 from downtown, and Bogut chipped in 11 points on an efficient 5-for-7 shooting to go along with 9 rebounds.
Sullinger led the Celtics with 16 points, 6 rebounds.
4TH QUARTER: Celtics Take Their Last Gasps
The Warriors maintained the 12-point lead early in the fourth quarter as Holiday and David Lee both converted reverse layups, and Thompson got a dunk going backdoor on the left baseline, with the lead pass from Lee, keeping the Warriors up by 12, 99-87 with 5:50 to play.
Bogut then eventually tipped in two of his misses after Green missed a jumper, out-quicking Sullinger with his hands, then took a charge on Sullinger. Thompson got a runner and Curry went backdoor once again for a strong right-handed layup, Bogut’s 4th assist, to give the Warriors a 107-94 lead with just 2:23 remaining.
But the Celtics wouldn’t go away as Brandon Bass got Iguodala called on a touch foul as Bass dunked it, and Sullinger converted two free throws as Green was called for contact with both hands up under the rim. Green was upset by the call and nearly got a technical foul, taking his transgressions in a vigorous walk all the way up to halfcourt.
Sullinger’s free throws trimmed the Warriors lead to just 8, 107-99, with 1:40 left. Warriors fans clamored for free Jamba Juice, which they would have gotten had Golden State held Boston to less than 100 points, but it was not to be on this sub-par night.
Thompson made a one-handed runner off of a Bogut screen and a pass delivered by Curry, then Green stole the ball from Turner, diving for it at halfcourt, leading to a perhaps ill-advised Thompson trey — resulting in a smile from his coach — from the left elbow that appeared to be a nail in the coffin with Golden State up, 112-102, with just 36.3 seconds to play.
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But a turnover by Green and another by Barnes after Curry tried to dribble out of trouble, with the Celtics needing to foul, but not quite getting to that point, along with a three and a jumper by Turner, plus another three by Bradley, made things interesting as Stevens called a timeout with 9.3 ticks left and the Celtics down, 112-107.
Sullinger put back a three-point miss by Turner that fell way short and the Celtics were within one possession, 112-109, with 4.6 left. After having fouled Thompson, who converted both free throws, Gerald Wallace threw a 94-foot pass to Sullinger, who was fouled and, lucky for Warriors fans, missed the layup.
With just 2.0 ticks remaining, Sullinger canned both from the charity stripe and Boston trailed just 114-111. Kerr called his last timeout to advance the ball to halfcourt. Curry got the inbound without harm and dribbled the remaining time out.
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