ORACLE ARENA, OAKLAND, CA — Two nights after routing the Clippers at home, the Golden State Warriors (48-9) were back at #Roaracle to face the Brooklyn Nets (9-48).
The Warriors were without Kevin Durant, who suffered a left hand contusion early in the game against LA.
Q1: Cheffin’
Stephen Curry started the game with a little wizardry by going with a bounce pass between defender Brook Lopez‘s legs to find Zaza Pachulia for an easy bucket.
Klay Thompson hit a jumper, Pachulia also got another bucket, but Jeremy Lin scored two finger roll layups, one after a bad pass by Curry.
Curry and Thompson then got hot, Steph hitting a triple off a pick from Zaza on Lin, Klay getting a pretty double-clutch layup, and following that up with three more from the left wing after a Curry steal:
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Out of the timeout, Lin found Rondae Hollis-Jefferson on a broken play for a dunk, then got another layup in transition, only to get answered by a Steph three from the left arc.and Draymond Green threw a bad pass that Curry somehow corraled and threw up a prayer, only to get it blocked.
The Nets raced down the court, Lopez missed a three, but Spencer Dinwiddie drilled a catch-and-shoot three after an offensive rebound, and Warriors head coach Steve Kerr didn’t like what he saw and called timeout with 5:42 remaining, Golden State still leading, 17-11.
Brooklyn got as close as 17-14 as Dinwiddie got a reverse layup and-one versus Pachulia, but Andre Iguodala came in and hit a triple, JaVale McGee swatted a Lopez lefty after a spin, and Ian Clark found Steph for a pull-up triple in transition:
[protected-iframe id=”46f872bc13e54551c53bf8ff2a26c33c-114320562-10106876″ info=”http://twitframe.com/show?url=https%3A%2F%2Ftwitter.com%2Fwarriors%2Fstatus%2F835701326747058176″ width=”360″ height=”250″ frameborder=”0″]McGee showed some tenacity and hustle by grabbing two tipped offensive rebounds, but the Warriors still came up empty on the possession, the Nets turned the ball over, and Clark hit a late-shotclock three on a dish from Iguodala.
Sean Kilpatrick missed a trey, and Curry made an up-fake, dribbled in one time, pulled up, swished, and Atkinson called another timeout as the Warriors took a 30-21 lead with 1:40 to play.
The bucket gave Steph 13 points in the opening frame.
Later, Green drove in and found McGee for a smash…
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The Warriors held a 32-28 lead after the first period.
Q2: Late Cookin’
Klay and David West connected on a couple plays, and a Shaun Livingston pull-up jumper gave the Warriors their biggest lead, 39-28.
But Kilpatrick helped the Nets creep back, and after West missed two jumpers, Kilpatrick hit a three in transition over Clark to close the Golden State lead to 41-39 with 6:21 to go as Kerr called timeout.
Later, Clark got a nice run-out layup after stealing the ball up top from an unsuspecting Lopez, who had his back turned, and the Nets actually took the lead momentarily. 46-45, as Joe Harris drilled a triple, but Zaza answered with an and-one scoop, and Livingston found Clark in transition as the Warriors pulled away, 50-46.
James McAdoo came in and Iguodala found him for buckets attacking the rim twice, with Thompson hitting a layup on the catch inside from McAdoo as well.
Klay added a jumper and the second McAdoo score gave the Warriors a 58-51 lead with 57 seconds left, then Lin made a bad pass that was chased down by Harris.
But with the shotclock winding down, Harris made a terrible behind-the-back pass right into Iguodala’s hands, Andre dribbled up with 5 seconds remaining, and found Curry open on the left wing for a splash:
[protected-iframe id=”37869549af071ba0f5ce06b3310754d6-114320562-10106876″ info=”http://twitframe.com/show?url=https%3A%2F%2Ftwitter.com%2FMikeSGallagher%2Fstatus%2F835709114378379264″ width=”360″ height=”360″ frameborder=”0″]Kilpatrick also fouled Steph on the close-out, and with 0.3 seconds to play, Curry’s free throw, which gave him 17 points on the night, suddenly gave the Warriors a comfortable 62-51 lead at halftime.
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(Photo: @letsgowarriors Instagram account via @meleesuhh)
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