This is a continuation of the halftime recap of the Golden State Warriors at the Houston Rockets. The Warriors took a 57-42 lead into the second half.
3rd Quarter
Golden State had a little bump in the road, but then it was all downhill from there.
Festus Ezeli was way short on an inside push shot and James Harden went reverse-between-the-legs on Klay Thompson for a step-back swish on the left elbow.
Then Harden drew Klay’s third personal foul, attacking the lane and drawing contact that Harden is famous for. However, Warriors interim head coach Luke Walton left Thompson in — and it paid dividends.
Thompson drilled a three from the left wing:
5-0 @KlayThompson run (CSN & ESPN) pic.twitter.com/axqRavY3Z7
— Golden St. Warriors (@warriors) October 31, 2015
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Then he leaked on a rebound that Harrison Barnes corralled, then outlet nicely to Stephen Curry for another assist:
Rebound-Pass-Pass-Finish. The @Warriors run the no-dribble fast break to perfection on ESPN! #NBARapidReplay https://t.co/KqPoEt1JeY
— NBA (@NBA) October 31, 2015
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Curry followed that up with a dazzling crossover that seemed to mesmerize a switched Terrence Jones, the Rockets’ power forward. That gave Curry 21 points on the night as he finished with a swish floater.
But Curry picked up his fourth personal trying to poke the ball away from Jones on the next sequence. The Warriors were up, 70-57, with 6:39 to go.
Houston backup center Clint Capela then got an and-one assisted by Ty Lawson as James McAdoo bit on the help on Lawson’s drive against Shaun Livingston, and the Rockets got as close as 70-60 with 5:43 left in the third.
Livingston then got a cutting dunk altered by Capela, but Corey Brewer threw the ball away at the other end.
Draymond Green then found Andre Iguodala on a baseline inbound for a triple in the right corner. Trevor Ariza answered back with a three of his own from the right wing.
Later, Leandro Barbosa got a three to drop wide open after running some split action up top and as the defense collapsed on Ezeli, who got the assist.
That capped an 8-0 run that started with a Green jumper, and an Ezeli alley-oop from Iguodala. It stretched the Warriors’ lead to 81-65 with 1:08 to play, and although last run Ariza stemmed the tide with a trey, he could not this time and missed from deep.
As the quarter came to a close, Ezeli swatted a run at the rim by Brewer off the board:
The Warriors took that 16-point lead into the final frame. Curry had departed the game with Golden State up 13.
4th Quarter
In the final stanza, Dwight Howard finally got back in despite foul trouble, and escaped a charge on Marreese Speights on a spin right baseline in which Howard’s shoulder drove Speights back under the hoop, with Dwight finishing with a dunk and being careful not to step on Speights.
The non-call seemed to elevate Speights’ game, however.
On the next play, Speights got a post up against the smaller Patrick Beverley, drew the foul and emphatically slapped the ball before bouncing it back to the referee.
Speights then drained a jumper on a feed by Curry and followed that up by drawing a push on a rebound attempt by Howard.
After a timeout with 8:20 remaining, Iguodala got Houston to bite on a bad gamble and went down the lane to find none other than Speights for a slam dunk.
Lawson missed a jumper, Speights got the board, threw a touchdown pass then almost went too far to Green and Green found Curry under the hoop for an easy two, saving the ball from the baseline and with Harden lost, although he was one-on-three getting back on defense:
Chase down & dish, @Money23Green! (CSN & ESPN) pic.twitter.com/YgPmpZqOe5
— Golden St. Warriors (@warriors) October 31, 2015
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Iguodala then got a triple after Green offensive rebounded a free throw miss by Montrezl Harrell and the Warriors took a commanding 98-76 lead.
Iguodala got a steal on Ariza and rebounded a miss by Brandon Rush. Then on an out-of-bounds play, Curry scored a layup assisted by Green and Golden State had its largest lead, 101-76, with still 5:12 to go.
Shortly thereafter, the benches were emptied. Harden took a seat with 16 points on just 4-for-18 shooting, 1-for-10 from downtown, 7 rebounds, 5 assists, but 4 turnovers.
Curry also checked out. He tallied 25 points, 7 rebounds, 6 assists. Speights collected 14 points off the bench on 6-for-11 field, while Iguodala and Barnes chipped in 12 points apiece, as Iguodala also had 6 rebounds and 4 assists.
Rush, Ian Clark, Leandro Barbosa, Ian Clark, and Jason Thompson did the mop-up work and the Warriors ended up winning by the final score of 112-92.
(Photo: @letsgowarriors Instagram account via @gigglesssss)
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