ORACLE ARENA, OAKLAND, CA — This is a continuation of the halftime recap of the New York Knicks at the Golden State Warriors.
The Warriors took a 73-52 lead into the third quarter.
3RD QUARTER: You Can’t Splash With Us
After Draymond Green started Golden State off right with a three-pointer assisted by Stephen Curry, Klay Thompson got cooking.
After his first trey fed by Curry for Steph’s 8th assist, Andrew Bogut momentarily mishandled his dribble. Andrea Bargnani lunged for the loose ball, but Bogut recovered, went by him with a right-to-left behind-the-back bounce, and then found Thompson waiting on the right wing, wide open.
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Curry then misdirected the Knicks, keeping the ball instead of the usual Triangle-action hand-off, leaving a right baseline lane open. Steph attacked, New York converged, and Thompson was left wide open again, this time in the left corner.
Green got a two-hand smash after Bogut got blocked down low by Bargnani, but recovered his own miss. Bogut then dribbled back out and Green made a cut to the hole that Bogut timed perfectly with a lead pass for the jam.
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Curry then surgically dismantled the Knicks off the dribble, dribbling anywhere he pleased, then finding Harrison Barnes wide open from the left elbow for another triple.
Knicks head coach Derek Fisher called timeout and it was a clinic, 93-64 Warriors, with 5:25 to go in the third frame.
Golden State — or rather Curry — toyed with New York, as Green nearly had a steal of Bargnani again outside the arc, but Curry stole the ensuing pass by the Knicks big man and went the length of the court, spilling into the baseline seats as he converted the layup. Green would foul the inbound so as to give Curry time to return to action.
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He was unharmed, and that would be evident shortly thereafter.
After the Knicks possession in which Bargnani drew a hack on Bogut, Steph had the ball and pointed for Thompson to clear out, perhaps running a different play. Bogut then set a pick on Curry’s man and Steph stopped, pivoted, and drained another three-pointer.
The Curry Show kept playing, however, as he got the inbound after a Jason Smith swish from the left baseline and went with a gorgeous up-and-under on the Knicks at the hoop, getting past Langston Galloway on the right baseline and the ensuing help by Smith.
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Green then found Thompson and, with his feet barely set, Klay knocked home yet another trey from the right corner.
After Bargnani converted a left elbow flat-footed J, Curry fed Green on a slip on a pick-and-roll that froze Galloway and Bargnani. It was Curry’s 11th assist of the night.
Cleanthony Early missed a reverse layup that was bothered by Bogut’s presence at the rim, and Barnes took the rebound and went coast-to-coast, ending with a right-to-left “EuroStep” for the layup.
After a Bargnani miss, Curry found himself isolated with a switched Smith and toyed with Smith, crossing over a few times before finally attacked the paint, getting slapped, and missing the mini-high-arcing hook shot that delighted the Oracle crowd as it back-rimmed off.
During the free throws, a section of the Oracle crowd behind the backboard sang “Happy Birthday” as Curry notched his 24th and 25th points of the night.
Marreese Speights then took a charge on Tim Hardaway, Jr. and with 53.5 seconds to go in the third quarter, Kerr subbed out Curry and Thompson and brought in Shaun Livingston and Justin Holiday. The Warriors were up, 109-71, and took a 111-73 lead into the final frame.
Steph and Klay left the game both shooting 6-for-10 from beyond the arc. Curry had 25 points, 11 assists plus 3 steals, while Thompson had 27 points. The #SplashBrothers combined to shoot 17-for-32. Green added 12 points, 7 rebounds, 5 assists, and 5 steals.
4TH QUARTER: Bench Unit Mops Up
The bench unit closed things out. On a highlight-filled night, they even added their own, as Andre Iguodala had a between-the-legs reverse drop-off for a layup for David Lee.
Festus Ezeli got some burn at the 7:21 mark with the score 116-82, Golden State, and Leandro Barbosa spelled Livingston, who tallied 8 points, 4 rebounds, and 7 assists in just 18 minutes of play, with 6:43 remaining.
The Warriors ended the game with Barbosa, Justin Holiday, Brandon Rush, Lee and Ezeli on the floor.
The performance by the Warriors was solid throughout, as Holiday tallied 13 points, Speights 9, Lee 10, and Iguodala 7 as Golden State amassed a final score of 125-94.
Oracle chanted, “Defense!” even as the game ended with less than 20 seconds remaining.
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