ORACLE ARENA, OAKLAND, CA — This is a continuation of the halftime report of the Golden State Warriors versus Denver Nuggets preseason game.
THIRD QUARTER
The #Splash Brothers took turns in the limelight in the third quarter:
- Stephen Curry bounce pass to David Lee, easy points.
- Curry behind-the-back on a fastbreak, finishing and-one on the layup, although the referee waved it off.
- Another easy fastbreak layup, Curry to Lee.
- Meanwhile, Klay Thompson was lasering in on mid-range jumpers.
- Andrew Bogut-to-Klay for another easy layup.
- Klay with another lay-up through contact, and-one.
- “No-fear” in transition bringing up the ball and scoring yet another trey for Thompson.
And for a little bit of humor, on one nice steal, Curry had the uncontested layup and botched the dunk. Lee gave him a smile and a slap of the butt, but Curry showed no emotion.
Barnes added a flash-in-the-pan #BlackFalcon layup with the quick first step, and-one, where he actually laid down the layup from about a foot over the rim. Ognjen Kuzmic added a block, doing his best Andrew Bogut impression, and Draymond Green invited himself to the three-point party. Andre Iguodala also found Leandro Barbosa on a nice back-cut for yet another easy layup.
Meanwhile, Thompson hit another three-pointer to give him 30 points on the night.
At the end of three, it was Warriors, 93-80. Golden State had 29 assists on 34 made field goals.
FOURTH QUARTER
In the fourth quarter, Bogut was playing with the bench players.
After Iguodala fouled out, the Nuggets’ second unit got Denver back into the game against the likes of Curry, Justin Holiday, Harrison Barnes, Green, and Bogut. The Warriors were lazy getting back in transition and a three-pointer by Gary Harris all of a sudden pulled the Nuggets to within six points, 104-98.
Warriors coach Steve Kerr then brought the starters back in with 6:18 to play. So did the Nuggets, although as reported earlier, Ty Lawson and Kenneth Faried were given the night off.
The Nuggets got to within as close as two points. In need of a basket, Thompson posted up and spun to the baseline, reversed underneath the hoop and got the layup plus the foul. That seemed to spark the Warriors:
- Two free throws by Curry after getting fouled on a nice drive.
- Thompson dagger three-pointer to make it 111-102 with 3:11 to play.
- Bogut tip-in to make it 113-104 with 2:18 to play.
Randy Foye did his best to will the Nuggets back, but even getting by a harrassing Curry from the perimeter, Foye was met with the rim-protecting Bogut on multiple occasions.
Finally, the Warriors put a nail in the coffin on another beautifully ending broken play. Thompson lost the ball at the perimeter, retrieved it, shoveled it to Curry, who found Barnes wide open in the corner with the Nuggets in disarray.
Barnes bounded on the baseline and soared for a monstrous dunk to put the Nuggets away, giving the Warriors an insurmountable 11-point lead.
Curry added an alley oop to Bogut and Golden State closed out Denver in impressive fashion, 119-112.
Thompson led all scorers with 35 points on 13-for-26 from the fie.d, 4-for-12 from downtown, and 5-for-6 from the line. Curry added 17 points and 11 assists, Bogut 12 points 8 rebounds, and Lee 11 points 7 rebounds. Iguodala tallied 7 assists and Barbosa scored 15 points off the bench.
The team had just 10 turnovers and assisted on 29 of their 34 field goals made.
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