ORACLE ARENA, OAKLAND, CA — This is a continuation of the halftime recap of the Phoenix Suns at the Golden State Warriors.
The Warriors took a slim 52-51 halftime lead.
3RD QUARTER: Defense Settles In
Golden State’s defense started to wear down Phoenix in the second half, as Klay Thompson started to find a rhythm, as he made a pull-up three, swished a long two, and made a contested jumper over Goran Dragic.
Andrew Bogut had a nifty slap out of the ball on Dragic, who had killed his dribble in the paint and Harrison Barnes closed out nicely on the struggling Suns point guard, as Dragic mistakenly took an extra dribble before launching a three-pointer that Barnes got a piece of. Suns center Alex Len actually got the offensive rebound of Dragic’s miss, but stepped out of bounds as Bogut closed in to defend.
Barnes got a long two to fall at the shotclock buzzer, giving the Warriors a 59-53 lead with 6:48 to go in the third, but Green picked up his 4th personal foul with 5:30 remaining.
Curry fed Bogut for an alley-oop, flushed with Bogut’s left-hand…
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…Len then charged into Bogut, and Leandro Barbosa made waves once again off the bench, as he did in the first half and the previous game, and got a finger roll from the right baseline after a swing pass from Curry, to give the Warriors a 67-59 lead with 3:05 and Phoenix head coach Jeff Hornacek calling timeout.
Barbosa added another layup, Andre Iguodala a trey, and two free throws by David Lee after some nifty moves in the paint, to help the Dubs take a 78-70 lead into the final frame.
Thompson upped his totals to 15 points on 6-for-12 shooting and 3-for-7 downtown. Curry was up to 23 points and 5 assists, both Green and Barnes had 8 boards each.
4TH QUARTER:
Before sitting down, Barbosa contributed one more bucket as he cut and got the layup fed from Green, giving the Dubs an 80-72 lead early in the fourth.
Andre Iguodala then got a steal and somehow finished the layup and-one despite being chopped on the shoulder:
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But then Thompson kicked his own dribble out of bounds, although he felt he was hacked, then got blocked by good anticipation from Isaiah Thomas. Thomas raced down the court and found former Warrior first-round draft pick Brandan Wright for a dunk, and Golden State head coach Steve Kerr called a timeout as the Suns had cut the Warriors’ lead to 84-77 with 7:25 left.
Kerr would bring in Curry and Bogut to close out the game.
With Bogut and Iguodala’s presence, the Warriors displayed great patience on two important sequences. After several passes, Green swung the ball up to the top to Iguodala who, with the shotclock winding down, crossed over his man and pulled up for the jumper good.
On the Warriors’ familiar wheel play around the high Bogut pivot, but with Thomas anticipating, Curry was held and Klay was bodied, so Bogut waited an extra few seconds for things to develop and gave the ball to the flaring Curry on the side, who then found Thompson on the cut for the layup and-one.
That gave the Dubs a comfortable 89-77 lead with 6:12 to play.
Curry added a runner facilitated by Bogut almost being too passive out in the perimeter, but waiting for the overplay on Curry and Steph’s eventual backdoor cut. The Warriors also got an and-one after Thompson swished a jumper and Iguodala was fouled on the rebound. Iguodala finally made a free throw and later made two more.
After Mark Morris missed a three, Curry rebounded and found Barnes for a trey from the right side, giving Golden State an insurmountable 97-79 lead with 3:32 remaining. Hornacek called another timeout, but Green snuffed out a Dragic shot after that and Hornacek waved the white flag during Iguodala’s free throws, emptying his bench.
Kerr followed suit, allowing Curry to finish with 38 minutes, the most for any Warrior. The final score was Warriors 106, Suns 87.
Curry led all scorers with 25 points although he cooled down in the second half, finishing 9-for-23 from the field and 4-for-9 from downtown. He also had 7 assists. Thompson added 22 points on 9-for-17, Barbosa had 14 off the bench, Barnes recorded 13 points and 8 rebounds, and Green tallied 9 points and 11 rebounds.
The Warriors totaled 8 blocked shots.
The Suns were led by Markieff Morris, who disappeared a bit in the second half, with 17 points and 11 rebounds. Eric Bledsoe added 16 and Dragic finished with just 10 points and 4 assists.
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