This a continuation of the halftime recap of the Golden State Warriors at the Phoenix Suns.
The game was tied, 46-46, heading into the third quarter.
3RD QUARTER: Refs Help Ignite Curry
The Warriors apparently fixed their lack of passing at the halftime discussion, as they came out in the third with better ball movement, leading to good shots by Klay Thompson and Stephen Curry after a miss by Eric Bledsoe led to an assist by Curry to a gliding scoop layup by Harrison Barnes, which gave Golden State an early 51-48 lead with 10:05 to go in the period.
Bogut went with the between-the-legs backward pass while screening Thompson’s man, and Klay took a couple dribbles and stopped and popped for a deep two. Later, after good passing, Curry eventually got a trey from up top to rattle in, then stole a pass that Markieff Morris tried to reset from the low block back up top, and streaked in with a lefty layup that started on the right side, to give the Warriors a 58-52 lead with 8:12 to play.
On the next sequence, Bledsoe drew a foul on Curry, who disagreed with the call. It seemed to spark Steph, as he later got a deflection, made a nifty wide-receiver-like catch in traffic of Draymond Green‘s outlet, got fouled, and drilled the three-pointer right where he caught the ball, although it didn’t count because the whistle for the “pass interference” was called well before the shot.
But by now, Curry was in rhythm, and he hit a deep two, then found Andrew Bogut who found Green for a trey. A dribble-then-step-back three-pointer by Steph from the left elbow with the right-handed bounce all of a sudden made it 71-55, Warriors, and Golden State had an 18-3 run with 3:12 to go. Curry had 10 of his 21 points in the third quarter.
Thompson was still scoring as well. After nearly getting chop-blocked by a stumbling Gerald Green, penalized with two free throws made by Klay, he got a catch-and-shoot to fall for his 24th and 25th points as the Warriors stretched their lead to 76-57 with 1:37 left.
But Thompson tried to do too much at the end of the period, dribbling a bit excessively from beyond the arc and air-mailing the three. Brandan Wright made Golden State pay, missing a shot, getting his own rebound, and making it at the buzzer to cut the Warriors lead to 76-61.
The Dubs went on a 23-9 run after Curry’s third personal foul.
4TH QUARTER: Curry Show Continues
The Suns went on an 8-0 run to start the final frame, but Festus Ezeli got a monster swat of Phoenix backup point guard Archie Goodwin. However, Bogut came back in for Ezeli right after that.
Curry then gradually put the game out of reach. First, he somehow retrieved a deflected pass from Andre Iguodala, then pivoted from beyond the arc with Goodwin and CJ Warren next to him and drained a three-pointer as the two Suns looked on in dismay.
Steph stole the Suns’ hearts even more with another broken play. After a missed trey by Green, Curry snuck to the baseline and got the offensive rebound, slowly dribbled out to the far perimeter, when Bogut decided to set a high pick on Bledsoe, who got pummeled cleanly by the Aussie big. Steph stopped and popped from deep and the Warriors were up, 87-71, with 6:41 remaining.
Curry collected 4 steals on the night and, after deflecting a bad pass by Warren, converted the run-out layup, looking behind as Bledsoe pursued and taking the safe option, a left-handed layup off the board.
Even Steph’s missed shots provided extra drama, as a catch-pivot-launch toilet-bowled around twice before squeaking out.
But Curry got the next one to drop, slapping the ball away from Bledsoe on an attack by the Phoenix point guard, meeting him where he wanted to end up, and Curry pulled up from about 28 feet and drained a trey from the top over Suns’ center, Alex Len, giving Golden State a commanding 20-point lead, 93-73, with 3:37 to go.
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Curry would please the #DubNation-dominated crowd with one more, swishing a corner three from the left side as ball movement eventually found Shaun Livingston down low, who flipped a behind-the-back pass.
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As the ball went through the net, PJ Tucker closed out and the body contact sent Curry to the floor. Steph celebrated the make as he usually does, with two fisted bumps to his chest, then pointing to the sky — only this time, it was done while sitting up on the hardwood!
Suns head coach Jeff Hornacek called mercy, a timeout with 2:56 left and the Warriors up, 96-73. Justin Holiday finished off the game with Livingston, Leandro Barbosa, Barnes, and Ezeli. Once again, David Lee did not play.
The final score was 98-80, Warriors.
Curry tallied a 36-6-5 statline, going 14-for-24 shooting, 7-for-13 from beyond the arc, along with 4 steals and 4 turnovers. Thompson added 25 on 8-for-19 shooting, 4-for-8 downtown. Green had a quiet 11 points, 10 rebounds, 3 steals, and 1 block. Off the bench, Livingston had 7 points and 4 assists, while Ezeli collected 8 rebounds.
Bledsoe led the Suns with 18 points and, before the injury, Knight added 13. Len had 10 points, 11 rebounds, and Warren added 11 off the bench.
The win gave 50 on the season for Golden State, one away from last season’s total, with twenty regular season games remaining. The Warriors are back home to face the Pistons in two nights.
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