Warriors Game Day: Sights & Sounds From #WarriorsGround – Golden State, #SplashBrothers, Evens Series 2-2 In Dramatic Fashion (Photo: )
ORACLE ARENA, OAKLAND, CA — #DubNation didn’t go into Game 4 with the same pre-game fervor as Game 3. The mood could be described as optimistic with a mild fear of not responding. After all, the frontline juggernauts of the Los Angeles Clippers, Blake Griffin and DeAndre Jordan had thoroughly dominated the Golden State Warriors on Friday.
PRE-GAME
Klay Thompson finishes his pregame shootaround and signs some autographs. Meanwhile, Marreese Speights takes his turn.
It was discussed ever since the practice after the Game 3 loss, that Draymond Green would get the start. Even though in the pregame press conference, Mark Jackson said he hadn’t decided, we got the official word from Warriors PR shortly thereafter.
On the court, nine-year-old Nayah Damasen gave a stirring rendition of the national anthem, as she’s done at least through last season.
The Clippers unzipped their warmup jackets to reveal their shooting shirts were inside-out, a message of solidarity and condemnation for owner Donald Sterling‘s racist comments leaked to TMZ.com yesterday.
IN-GAME
A focused Warriors team got out to a strong start with the smaller, but more mobile, starting lineup. Thanks to 17 points on 5-for-6 from beyond the arc — the lone miss being an in-and-out “toilet-bowl”, the Warriors found themselves up 35-17 with 2:35 to go in the first frame.
The racist remarks from Sterling were met with two clever #DubNation fans.
With ten minutes to go in the 2nd quarter, the Warriors maintained their healthy double-digit lead, 42-24.
Thompson and David Lee, who on Friday had promised to play better today, got into the thick of it, adding 10 points apiece to Curry’s 17, as the Warriors cruised into the break, up 48-34 with 5:55 to go in the half.
Curry was in #HumanTorch mode and @nick_pants on Twitter made Curry look, literally, on fire.
At halftime, it was the Warriors 66, Clippers 48. Curry was up to 21 points, 6 assists, and 5 rebounds. Thompson and Lee had 13 apiece. The only Clipper doing any damage was Griffin, although he was being contained. However, there was still 24 minutes left to play.
Out of the gate, the Clippers made a charge, but the Warriors stabilized things and with 7:11 to go in the third quarter, the Warriors still held a 17-point lead at 73-56.
Thompson, who had collected four personal fouls in the first half, was still playing with those four.
Not too far later in the quarter, Thompson picked up his fifth foul on a charge into the lane. With the Warriors up 80-64 and 2:56 to go in the period, Thompson sat down. However, Chris Paul also picked up his 4th personal.
At the end of the third quarter, the Warriors still led by a comfortable margin, 89-71. Baron Davis was spotted in the crowd and #Roaracle gave him a huge ovation, although it wasn’t a huge as Jarrett Jack‘s from Thursday night.
The Clippers made one last push, but Harrison Barnes ended a mini-drought for the Warriors by posting up and hitting a tough, leaning jumper to stop the bleeding. Golden State managed to keep the lead in double-digits. Thompson fouled out before the 6:13 mark, but the Warriors were up 100-87 by then and in hopes that Lawler’s Law (first team to 100 points) would hold true.
The Warriors did a great job of shutting down the Clippers and the final tally was Warriors 118, Clippers 97, FINAL.
Curry led all scorers with 33 points to go along with 7 rebounds and 7 assists.
Golden State tied the series 2-2 and will not only head back to Los Angeles for Game 5 on Tuesday, but also guaranteed another home game for the #Roaracle crowd: Game 6 on Thursday.
If there is a Game 7, it will be held on Saturday, May 3rd at Staples Center.
Stay tuned for the post game report…
POST-GAME
#MarkJackson talks about #JermaineONeal 2 days ago suggesting that #DraymondGreen start for him, as well as tonight, subbing for #HarrisonBarnes so HB can get an applause.
You can barely hear this interview with#KlayThompson because, according to #AndrewBogutin the background noise, that’s @andre’s phone alarm or ring tone going off. LOL… “Is that a phone?” “#AndreIguodala”
Ask about going small, #DavidLee said: “…for us, it let us play at a faster pace, let us come down — the more we push the ball like we did — you saw the number of open looks that Steph got, the first quarter especially.
Asked about the block on Redick, #StephCurry: “I don’t get too many blocks [#AndreIguodala grins], so I was definitely happy and I had to realize that there was still time on the shotclock and get back into the play.”
#DraymondGreen on Blake Griffin: “…my teammates gave me great help. Tonight he saw a crowd. He couldn’t just back down, back down, back down, and do whatever he wanted.”
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