ORACLE ARENA, OAKLAND, CA — The Golden State Warriors got their home opener at #Roaracle off the ground tonight against the Los Angeles Lakers. David Lee did not start and was inactive due to his hamstring injury. Nemanja Nedovic was also listed as inactive, although the Warriors did not announce the reason behind it. That gave Golden State 14 active players.
Here are some of the highlights from the game…
FIRST QUARTER
True to his nature so far this preseason and during the opener, Andrew Bogut got the Warriors off to a good start yet again, rolling to the basket, getting the pass, and dunking it, then giving the Michael Jordan-like shrug on the way back on defense.
Klay Thompson started off well on the defensive assignment on Kobe Bryant, getting his hand up in his face and hoping Bryant would miss. Sometimes Bryant did, and the Warriors were satisfied with that.
On offense, Thompson continued to reveal his toolshed, getting a a finger roll to go after faking a pass on a dribble penetration.
Finally, Harrison Barnes also got off to a strong start that he would keep consistent, getting a one-handed jam from the baseline.
However, the Warriors’ defense couldn’t stop the Lakers, as Los Angeles came out and shot 15-for-24 or 62.5% in the first quarter.
But Stephen Curry led the comeback by scoring 14 points in a span of 4:41. One of his better plays was when he had the early offense with Bryant trailing him. Bryant had an inkling that Curry would want to pull up for the in-transition three-pointer, so Bryant cut that off. Curry countered by shielding his body from Bryant and then going in for the floater that bounced in. It was a smart play by Kobe, but Steph outsmarted him.
In other news, Festus Ezeli and Andre Iguodala both checked in with 5:00 to go and Ezeli got his first jump hook to go in.
At the end of the first frame, the Lakers held a 35-29 lead.
SECOND QUARTER
The Warriors came out flat in the second quarter. In a series of ugly sequences, Iguodala couldn’t get a side out inbounded to Shaun Livingston, who was being harrassed. That left Marreese Speights as the only other option and by the time Iguodala inbounded it, the angle was bad. Speights had to foul to stop the break.
There was also a sequence in which Iguodala got a steal, but threw the ball too far for Speights to reach it. Then there was Bogut unable to make the pass to Thompson on the wing, after several cuts and moves by Thompson that eventually got himself freed in the corner. That possession ended with Speights missing an elbow jumper with no one underneath to rebound.
The Warriors found themselves down 43-33 with 7:45 to go. Warriors head coach Steve Kerr called a timeout.
Curry was re-inserted into the game and sparked the Warriors to a 24-5 run. Immediately following the timeout, Barnes got a trey with the assist from Curry, then got an and-one with Golden State down 39-43. After that, Curry got fouled on a three-point attempt by Bryant.
“Make that!” Curry said to himself, as could be seen on the jumbotron replay. His free throws cut the Laker lead to 43-42.
The half ended in even more dramatic fashion.
Curry’s wizardry continued as he was hounded by Jeremy Lin, got the pass on a cut and baited Lin into a foul as Curry quickly turned and hit a banker.
Moments later, after Thompson got a layup from an Ezeli defensive rebound, Thompson outletted to Curry ahead of the pack. Curry took a look back at the Laker running back on defense, looked back to the basket and dropped a left-handed bounce pass to a trailing Iguodala for the slam dunk.
With a minute to go, the Splash Brothers subbed out, but that didn’t mean the drama ended.
Bryant made an acrobatic and-one, slicing and dicing the defense, with 8.3 seconds remaining. As Lakers fans chanted, “MVP!” with Bryant at the line, the rest of Oracle rained down the boos. After the free throws, it was 59-53, Warriors, and the Splash Brothers checked back in for the final possession.
Iguodala broke free and got a slam dunk on the missed free throw, but then fouled Lin on the way back.
It was 61-55 at the half. Curry had 20 points, Thompson 13. Bryant led the Los Angeles with 14.
THIRD QUARTER
Thompson got the Warriors off to a good start with a reverse layup then an and-one on a one-handed fake while under the basket.
Bryant then anticipated the Warriors’ motion offense up top, jarring the ball loose from Thompson, then going the length of the court to face a defending Barnes and Bogut, warding off Barnes and drawing a foul with the bucket on Bogut.
It was that kind of back-and-forth in the third for Thompson and Bryant.
Bryant scored 19 points on 9-for-14 from the field in the third, countered by Thompson’s 15 on 6-for-8 shooting. Kobe had 27 points by then, and Klay had 28. Curry also had 25.
Barbosa had a quality quarter, scissoring through the Laker defense for a couple of layups. He would have had a three-pointer if not for Ezeli goaltending as the ball was still in the cylinder, about the bounce in.
The Dubs led, 93-86, heading into the fourth.
FOURTH QUARTER
In the fourth, Klay made a case for the best two-guard in the game, a perfect icing on the cake for his new $70 million contract.
The coup de grace was a sequence in which Green stole the ball on the Lakers baseline, outletted to Iguodala, who saw Curry trailing on the early offense. He lasered it to Curry on the other side of the floor, who faked the three-pointer, only to drop a pass to Thompson in the corner for the three.
That made the Warriors lead insurmountable at 106-94 with 5:52 to go.
Curry later added a one-legged turnaround jumper on the baseline to make it 117-100, Warriors.
After that, Curry found Klay on a deep outlet. Receiving the ball off-balance, Thompson still managed to set his feet and launched and made the three-pointer. That gave him 39 points.
To add even more insult to insult, Bogut blocked Carlos Boozer on the other end and the Lakers were sent home with their tails between their legs.
Thompson scored 13 points in the quarter to end with 41 points on an incredible 14-for-18 shooting, 5-for-7 from downtown, and 8-for-9 from the line. Curry added 31 on 10-for-19, 3-for-8 from beyond the arc, as well as 10 assists. Bogut had 10 rebounds. Kobe led the Lakers with 28 points on 12-for-28 from the field.
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