HALFTIME RECAP WITH HIGHLIGHTS: Warriors Bottom Falls Out Late With Draymond Ejection, Sacramento Kings Lead 50-47

ORACLE ARENA, OAKLAND, CA — Two nights after succumbing to the Nuggets in Denver, the Golden State Warriors (46-9) were back at home to face the Sacramento Kings (24-32) on their second night of a back-to-back, the final game before the All-Star Break.

The Warriors were once again without Zaza Pachulia (right shoulder strain) and David West (non-displaced fracture, left thumb), but welcomed back Klay Thompson (sore left arch) to the starting lineup.

The Kings were without Omri Casspi (right plantaris tendon), Rudy Gay (left Achilles), Ty Lawson (left adductor magnus), and Garrett Temple (left hamstring).

Prior to tipoff, Golden State general manager Bob Myers presented the four Warriors All-Stars with their jerseys:

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Q1: Up And Down

JaVale McGee got Golden State on the scoreboard with two straight makes inside on consecutive feeds from Kevin Durant…

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…then Stephen Curry got a layup on a cut into the lane, plus a righty scoop after that.

It wasn’t until Draymond Green led the break and converted two free throws off a Kings miss and got fouled when the Warriors created some separation.

Green stole a bad pass from Arron Afflalo, but Curry missed a pull up, only to have DeMarcus Cousins throw the ball away on the next possession.

Klay Thompson made the Kings pay with a three, then Steph got a piece of a Darren Collison dribble and Thompson fed Durant for the slam, prompting Sacramento head coach Dave Joerger to call timeout as the Warriors took a 17-9 lead with 6:51 remaining:

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After the timeout, Durant got cooking as he scored on a tap-out by McGee…

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…then hit a right-wing triple assisted by Andre Iguodala, which put the Warriors up, 24-15:

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But Curry lost the ball against tight pressure at halfcourt from Collison, and Cousins ended up hitting from beyond the arc.

Kevon Looney came in and scored a layup fed by Iguodala…

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…but Steph missed a three then smoked a banking layup after a steal by Looney which led to a break by Ian Clark.

Machali Richardson hit a “no-no-no-yes” three off the dribble at the other end, and Warriors head coach Steve Kerr called timeout with 1:43 to play, their lead dwindled down to just 26-22.

Out of the timeout, Matt Barnes answered Curry free throws with a triple off the bounce, then Steph threw the ball away on a swing pass to Patrick McCaw, but atoned for the mistake with an impressive swat from behind on a pick-and-roll pass to Willie Cauley-Stein:

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Stein got the feed on a nice baseline inbound play from Joerger, but hit back-iron on the layup, and at the buzzer, the Warriors held a 28-25 lead after one.

Q2: Draymond Loses Temper, Bottom Falls Out

Klay got the second stanza started with a triple…

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…but Iguodala made a nice steal then on the break, smoked the Rajon Rondo-like layup on the fake pass.

Despite a nice defensive sequence with Thompson knocking a dribble off Barnes, the Warriors still couldn’t move the needle and Richardson and Cauley-Stein scored inside to trim the lead to 33-32 with 7:57 to go.

Cousins and James McAdoo traded buckets inside…

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…Clark made a nifty jump-stop banker in the lane, but Cauley-Stein scored an “and-one” driving down the right side against “KD”:

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After a timeout by Kerr, Durant scored a layup, Steph hit a trey…

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…but KD got hit on the arm by Cauley-Stein on a three and didn’t get the call. Durant did race back to deflect a touchdown pass attempt from Cousins, but was mad at the ref.

Anthony Tolliver eventually scored on an offensive rebound against JaVale on a missed three.

Later, Cousins got blocked brilliantly by Durant inside, but the sequence ended with an empty possession and Draymond picking up a technical as he got called for a foul on a one-on-one drive by Cousins, which DeMarcus amazingly made.

Green didn’t stop and got whistled for a second technical, leading to an ejection:

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Collison hit both free throws, Steph threw the ball away, and Collison hit from distance to give the Kings an improbable 50-47 lead at halftime.

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(Photo: @letsgowarriors Instagram account via @therealnaks)