FINAL RECAP WITH HIGHLIGHTS: Splash Brothers And McCaw Step Up In Durant’s Absence, Warriors (49-9) Defeat Brooklyn Nets (9-49), 112-95

The Warriors held a 62-51 lead at halftime.

Q3: McGawd’in, And A Chef To Close Things Out Again

Both teams punched and counter-punched at the beginning of the third stanza, and Patrick McCaw got a nice two-hand jam down the lane fed by Zaza Pachulia:

A couple minutes later, Stephen Curry drove down the lane, slung the ball to Draymond Green, who dished back to Klay Thompson for an open splash from the left arc.

Later, Trevor Booker missed at the rim, then Curry found McCaw for another bucket at the rim on a baseline inbound play where the defense was more drawn to Thompson.

Pachulia picked up his fourth personal and subbed out for JaVale McGee, but it was McCaw making plays on defense, blocking a reverse layup by Joe Harris, which led to Green free throws at the other end, and stripping a Sean Kilpatrick attack, back-pedaling.

McCaw ended the sequence by catching a swing pass, up-faking, and going into the lane for an pretty righty scoop, forcing Nets head coach Kenny Atkinson to call timeout as the Warriors took a 78-59 lead with 6:45 remaining.

Out of the timeout, Andre Iguodala showed off some pin-point passing, leading Klay to a dunk…

…and threading the needle once more to Ian Clark, who found McGee for the smash:

Closing out the quarter, Clark banked in a three-point miss by Green with 27 seconds to play, then Isaiah Whitehead tried to drive on the last possession, but threw the ball back into Curry’s hands.

Steph was off to the races and beat the Nets and the buzzer in traffic on the run-out layup, giving the Warriors a 91-76 lead heading into the final frame.

Q4:

Aside from a David West jumper from the right baseline, the Warriors went cold to start the final frame.

Whitehead soared in for a slam, Iguodala found James McAdoo for a jam after West swatted Trevor Booker, the Nets took a timeout, and Golden State was up, 97-83, with 6:54 to go.

But a McAdoo turnover led to a Spencer Dinwiddie dunk, Brook Lopez hit a three, and suddenly Brooklyn was back in business, down just 97-89 with 5:39 left.

But Curry came back in and got a step-back two-pointer against Lopez and, after a couple misses from beyond the arc by Ian Clark, Steph struck again on a mismatch with Lopez, going down the right side for an and-one after shaking and baking the Nets’ center.

That gave the Warriors a 102-91 lead heading into the final two minutes.