ORACLE ARENA, OAKLAND, CA — This is a continuation of the halftime recap of the Atlanta Hawks at the Golden State Warriors.
The Warriors took a 59-47 lead into halftime.
3RD QUARTER: Splashin’ Without Klay
Draymond Green started the third quarter with an airball against Al Horford from the right block, but from that point on, he would find plenty of net.
After Harrison Barnes got a pull up swish, then slithered in from the left side for a floater, Barnes got his hand on an errant pass from Jeff Teague and sent an outlet to a streaking Stephen Curry for a reverse layup.
The Hawks kept things within striking distance as Paul Millsap and DeMarre Carroll stayed in rhythm, getting jumpers and threes to fall.
Both teams went over two-and-a-half minutes without scoring a bucket, and Green was ticked after he had made a strong drive on Horford, drawn a lot of contact, and missed the layup with no whistle. Draymond complained to the ref and came close to drawing a technical.
But after Green and Barbosa answered two consecutive threes by Carroll with threes of their own, Andre Iguodala got a steal, got it to Leandro Barbosa, who drove deep inside the Hawks interior, finding Curry open on the right wing. Steph toyed with the Atlanta defense, dishing a behind-the-back return pass to Barbosa who had snuck to the same right corner, and Leandro splashed the trey and the Warriors went ahead by 13.
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Draymond then found Festus Ezeli, who had checked in at the 4:44 mark with the Warriors up 70-61, with a two-handed alley-oop slam. Ezeli’s kept combusting with energy, disrupting a Carroll layup attempt, and the roof was about to blow off Oracle Arena as Iguodala missed a three from the left elbow and Curry tapped the offensive rebound to himself, leading himself to the right elbow for a trey attempt that, unfortunately for eager Warriors fans, hit iron.
With 58 seconds to play in the third, Green splashed a three from the right corner, Curry’s 11th assist…
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…then stole an interior pass by Teague meant for Horford. Curry led the break against Kent Bazemore and found Iguodala, who took a dribble into the lane and scooped a layup with 10.4 seconds remaining, plus the foul. Iguodala missed the free throw, however.
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Barbosa continued the theatrics as he knocked away a Dennis Shroder drive while retreating, forcing a turnover, then got the inbound with just 2 seconds left, dribbled past the defense, got to the Warriors’ three-point line and lofted a 25-foot finger roll that hit back iron as the buzzer sounded.
The Warriors took a commanding 83-64 lead into the final frame. Green had 18 points on 6-for-11 field, 5-for-7 downtown, 6 rebounds, and 3 assists, while Curry added 16 points and 12 assists. Bogut had 15 rebounds and Barnes chipped in 15 points on 7-for-8 shooting. Iguodala was up to 13 points on 6-for-9 field and 4 assists.
4TH QUARTER: Iguodala And Barnes Keep Cooking
Ezeli kept the bench unit’s energy going with a splendid block of Shroder off the backboard.
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The Warriors remained in rhythm as Barnes got a pull-up jumper from the left elbow to fall, his 8th make in 9 attempts on the night, then Iguodala drained a trey from the left elbow. All of a sudden the Warriors’ lead eclipsed 20 points with an 88-66 lead with 10:44 to play.
Iguodala continued his defensive mastery of the dribble-prone Bazemore, stealing the ball away and finishing with a right-handed jam, slapping Green, who had ventured out to the baseline from the Warriors bench, a low-five on the jog back to defense.
Not long thereafter, Iguodala picked Bazemore again, getting the ball ahead to Barbosa on the fastbreak, who eventually found Iguodala underneath the hoop. Knowing Barnes was nearby, Andre shoveled the pass over to Barnes for a two-handed lay-in and Hawks coach Mike Budenholzer called a timeout with 9:36 remaining and Golden State now up, 92-68.
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The Warriors were still small, and Barnes added to his plentiful outing with a dribble past Pero Antic for a stop-and-pop, and-one, to make it 101-75 with 6:15 left.
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Barnes added another trey to his resume for the night and finished with a game-high 25 points on 11-for-13 field, 2-for-3 downtown.
Iguodala finished with 21 points on 9-for-12 shooting, 6 assists and 3 steals.
Holiday closed out the game for Iguodala and James Michael McAdoo came in for Barnes afterwards, leaving to a standing ovation. Marreese Speights also closed things out with McAdoo, Holiday, Barbosa, and Shaun Livingston. David Lee did not see any action.
Curry, Green, and Bogut sat out the 4th quarter.
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