Two nights after defeating the Grizzlies at home, the Golden State Warriors (59-14) flew to Texas for the first of a back-to-back against the Houston Rockets (51-22), then the Spurs.
The Warriors were without Kevin Durant (left knee MCL sprain, left tibial bone bruise) and Damian Jones (D-League assignment).
Q1: Locked In
The Warriors came out locked in, as Draymond Green got a steal from Patrick Beverley’s bad pass, which resulted in Stephen Curry lead bounce pass to Klay Thompson for the reverse layup:
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[protected-iframe id=”25fece350b6ee404f34bcf1f46e07922-114320562-10106876″ info=”http://twitframe.com/show?url=https%3A%2F%2Ftwitter.com%2FNBATV%2Fstatus%2F846878323598802944″ width=”360″ height=”250″ frameborder=”0″]James Harden found Capela inside again, but Patrick McCaw came over and knocked the ball off his leg, but Pachulia killed the momentum with a bad screen at the other end, and Harden came back with a lob for a Capela dunk.
But the Warriors got back to work, as Green posted up Beverley down low for a “bully” post-up finish, then stole the ball from Harden, but Steph threw the ball away right back, only to have McCaw pick Eric Gordon on a dribble on the right wing, leading to a Draymond tomahawk at the other end.
Later, Zaza added a waltz down Broadway as the Rockets parted the Red Sea for him down the lane, and Klay hit a left corner triple, prompting this celebration by Andre Iguodala:
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Out of the timeout, Thompson got a basket out of a baseline out-of-bounds play, McCaw and Green played hot potato from opposite ends of the court, resulting in a three on the catch by Draymond from the right arc, but Gordon hit a three from the top over Pachulia on the pick-and-roll.
McCaw continued his great play with a step-back trey on the catch from Curry, Klay hit a right-wing triple on an up-fake by Steph as he saw Thompson coming off a screen at the last moment.
After some empty possessions, Harden went by Draymond, but James McAdoo — first off the bench in the front court on this night due to matchups — was there to help and block the shot. Curry scored on the run-out.
Lou Williams then tried an attack, denied by McAdoo again, and Shaun Livingston found Iguodala on the break for a two-hand jam, prompting Rockets head coach Mike D’Antoni to call timeout with 3:15 to play, the Warriors taking a 31-16 lead:
[protected-iframe id=”1ed40452880453ec682032d2223432d3-114320562-10106876″ info=”http://twitframe.com/show?url=https%3A%2F%2Ftwitter.com%2FNBATV%2Fstatus%2F846881278498525184″ width=”360″ height=”250″ frameborder=”0″]Out of the timeout, Harden missed and Steph went coast-to-coast for a layup, but later, Curry made a bad pass and, with McAdoo on the ground, Trevor Ariza tripped and his body landed on Mac’s head, forcing him to hit the hardwood. His forehead was bleeding and later required stitches, obviously forcing him out of the rest of the game:
[protected-iframe id=”5c044dd3b8d3bdf9e0b243a00b79a275-114320562-10106876″ info=”http://twitframe.com/show?url=https%3A%2F%2Ftwitter.com%2FJaeAzizi%2Fstatus%2F846883659814658048″ width=”360″ height=”360″ frameborder=”0″]Closing out the quarter, Iguodala hit a confident jumper, David West fed Livingston for a two-hand smash down the left baseline…
[protected-iframe id=”06edd47d4dc44ec3f0ee3360dea6c466-114320562-10106876″ info=”http://twitframe.com/show?url=https%3A%2F%2Ftwitter.com%2FNBA%2Fstatus%2F846883481544282112″ width=”360″ height=”250″ frameborder=”0″]…and Harden answered with a rim attack with four seconds left, which left the Warriors with a 37-20 lead, shooting 69% at 16-for-23 while holding the Rockets to just 33% shooting and 2-for-13 from beyond the arc:
[protected-iframe id=”8200f2ea0d1f9bc3f7d12a879c9d87a9-114320562-10106876″ info=”http://twitframe.com/show?url=https%3A%2F%2Ftwitter.com%2FNBATV%2Fstatus%2F846884398817521664″ width=”360″ height=”250″ frameborder=”0″]Q2: Rockets Creep Back
Kerr started the second stanza with Livingston, Ian Clark, Klay, Iguodala and West.
Thompson and West connected on another backdoor play, then Klay hit a right-wing triple off a flare, once again delivered by West at the top, and Golden State had a 44-25 lead:
[protected-iframe id=”72f447a5155c48dbf0c0b906f3c0b4b0-114320562-10106876″ info=”http://twitframe.com/show?url=https%3A%2F%2Ftwitter.com%2FNBA%2Fstatus%2F846886216859561984″ width=”360″ height=”250″ frameborder=”0″]Out of the timeout, Thompson hit for three again from the left corner, giving him 20 points on 8-for-11 from the field, and he added an assist after a Sam Dekker miss, finding Clark on the break.
But the Rockets hung tough, as Beverley hit a layup, Williams drew three free throws on Matt Barnes, and Capela drew free throws on Klay, then went down the lane for a dunk fed by Harden on the slip.
Steph got two buckets, one assisted by Draymond after a steal of a Harden lost ball and the other by Livingston on a long two…
[protected-iframe id=”fc022835ca0ed2e37be3a26d8d4abfb9-114320562-10106876″ info=”http://twitframe.com/show?url=https%3A%2F%2Ftwitter.com%2FNBATV%2Fstatus%2F846888847141089280″ width=”360″ height=”250″ frameborder=”0″]…but Livingston made a bad foul on the backcourt inbound to Harden, which was basically a gift of two points as the Warriors were in the penalty, then Green took his eye off a post-up and threw the ball to Ariza, who led Harden for an easy dunk, forcing Kerr to call timeout as Houston regained momentum, down 53-40 with 4:09 to go.
Out of the timeout, Steph got block by Gordon, but recovered and went down the right side for a layup, but Capela dunked again on a feed by Harden, Nene Hilario got a put-back on a drive by Harden that went too hard, and Curry missed two threes, while Harden got to the line for three himself.
His free throws pulled the Rockets to within 56-47, before Draymond dunked while Harden bit on a curl by Barnes and left Green open:
[protected-iframe id=”71137a088431d501396150663c9b666a-114320562-10106876″ info=”http://twitframe.com/show?url=https%3A%2F%2Ftwitter.com%2FJaeAzizi%2Fstatus%2F846890736532410368″ width=”360″ height=”360″ frameborder=”0″]Klay couldn’t handle a backdoor catch as Ariza may have grabbed him in the process, leading to yet another turnover, and Harden drew free throws against Curry.
But Draymond got two tip-ins on Steph’s missed three from the top…
[protected-iframe id=”ea377ee310cc528f9cc3e95de56c4229-114320562-10106876″ info=”http://twitframe.com/show?url=https%3A%2F%2Ftwitter.com%2FCSNWarriors%2Fstatus%2F846891624575619072″ width=”360″ height=”250″ frameborder=”0″]…Beverley came back with another foul drawn on Curry…
[protected-iframe id=”29610e9d1761a04cf19a0c8540016f20-114320562-10106876″ info=”http://twitframe.com/show?url=https%3A%2F%2Ftwitter.com%2FJaeAzizi%2Fstatus%2F846891996836880384″ width=”360″ height=”250″ frameborder=”0″]…which was his third personal, forcing him to the bench, and Iguodala terminated his dribble too soon after a Kerr twenty-second timeout to close out the half.
Draymond ended up firing a brick from the logo area, the ball went out of bounds, and the Rockets inbounded and let the buzzer sound.
The Warriors took a slim 60-52 lead on a relieved Rockets squad, with ten turnovers and without the services of McAdoo for the rest of the game. Steph also shot just 1-for-8 from downtown. Houston also shot 18-for-20 from the free throw line, Golden State getting called for 13 fouls compared to 5 for the Rockets.
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(Photo: @letsgowarriors Instagram account via @pastoradron)
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