Category: Golden State Warriors

Warriors Reserves Fall to Nuggets with Curry, Thompson, Bogut Benched

Published on by Matthew HarringtonLeave a comment

By Matthew T.F. Harrington

Given the circumstances, Golden State Warriors fans couldn’t have been faulted if they chose other ways to spend their Friday nights than watching the Dubs face the Denver Nuggets in the Mile High City. After all, Warriors head coach Steve Kerr decided to give a handful of his regulars the night off.

Absent from the line-up were Most Valuable Player candidate Stephen Curry, his All-star running mate Klay Thompson as well as starting center Andrew Bogut and reserves Andre Iguodala and Marreese Speights, the latter of which was serving a one-game suspension for reckless driving. Still, lacking 67 percent of their offensive output, Golden State (51-13) managed to keep things interesting, ultimately falling to the Nuggets 114-103.

Justin Holiday, averaging 3.6 points per game this season, topped the Warriors with 23 points while Denver’s Kenneth Faried and Danilo Gallinari each put up 24 points on the punchless Dubs. Faried also pulled down game-high 17 rebounds to complete the eye-popping double-double.

Denver (25-41) took the early lead, outscoring the Warriors 34-26 but a 28-28 second quarter kept Denver from adding to the lead. Golden State outscored the Nuggets in only one quarter, the third, with a 29-20 run to pull ahead 83-82. The reserve brigade couldn’t close out the game though, allowing 32 Denver points to 20 in the final quarter to give Denver its fourth win in its last ten games.

The Warriors head home to Oracle Arena for a Saturday night showdown with the New York Knicks. More likely than not, Thompson and Curry will be on the court for the inter-conference tilt.

Warriors run winning streak to 5, defeat Pistons

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By Robert Steward

OAKLAND–

The Golden State Warriors extended their winning streak to five games, defeating a feisty Detroit Pistons squad, 105-98. With the win, the Warriors maintained their league-best record, improving to 51-12. The 51 wins matches their win total from last season, with 19 games remaining in the regular season. Barring a total collapse, Golden State should be a lock to set the team record for most wins in a season. The 1975-76 team finished 59-23 in the regular season, losing to the Phoenix Suns in the Conference Finals, one year after defeating the Washington Bullets in a four-game sweep in the NBA Finals, the last year the franchise won the NBA Championship.

This year’s team has shown no signs of letting up. Tonight was no different. The Warriors took their first lead, 9-8, on a jumper by Draymond Green with 8:15 left in the first quarter. They eventually built the lead to 10, at 26-16 with two minutes left in the quarter before the Pistons made a 9-2 run to trim the lead to 28-25. Andre Iguodala grabbed an offensive rebound following a Harrison Barnes miss and made a 13-foot jumper as the horn sounded and the Warriors led 30-25 after one quarter.

In the second quarter Golden State once again built a double-digit lead, going up as much as 44-31 following a shot by Marreese Speights with 7:43 left in the half. But, as they did in the first, the scrappy Pistons fought back, cutting the lead to five, 56-51, at halftime.

As the third quarter unfolded Detroit continued chipping away at the Warriors’ lead, eventually tying it at 65, then going ahead, 67-65, on a Tayshaun Prince jumper at the 5:26 mark. Both teams then took turns holding the lead until Golden State scored 7 unanswered points to go up 79-73 before Detroit’s Spencer Dinwiddie hit a three pointer as the quarter ended to draw back to within three, at 79-76, entering the 4th.

The Warriors opened the 4th by missing their first 5 shots, allowing Detroit to regain the lead, 81-79, before Shaun Livington’s jumper at 9:07 broke the scoring drought and tied the game at 81. It was at this point in the game that Golden State finally put the pesky Pistons away, going on an 18-2 run to take their biggest lead of the night, 97-83. During the scoring run Klay Thompson scored 9 of the 18 points. For the game Thompson finished with a game-high 27 points, leading the way for Golden State, who had 6 players reach double figures in scoring. Green and Iguodala both had 13 points each. Speights and Andrew Bogut each scored 12 points, while Leandro Barbosa chipped in 10. Detroit’s Andre Drummond was an absolute beast on the boards, hauling down a career-best 27 rebounds, 17 on the offensive side, to go with a team-high 22 points. Greg Monroe scored 20 points, Reggie Jackson added 14, and Kentavious Caldwell-Pope finished with 13.

Golden State improved to 28-2 at home. Detroit fell to 23-41, overall, on the season. The Warriors will travel to Denver to take on the Nuggets on Friday at 6pm.

Green’s 23 points leads Warriors past Clippers

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By Joe Hawkes-Beamon

OAKLAND —  Draymond Green scored a game-high 23 points on 8-for-15 shooting from the field in  28 minutes helping the Golden State Warriors extend their lead in the Pacific Division to 10 games with a 106-98 victory over the Los Angeles Clippers Sunday at Oracle Arena. It was the 111th straight sellout for the Warriors, and their sixth straight at Oracle Arena where their an NBA-best 27-2 this season.

“We were aggressive today, which was huge for us,” said Green, who added six assists. “I thought guys were active and ready to play.”

Klay Thompson finished with 21 points on 9-for-13 shooting, while Shaun Livngston provided a lift off the bench scoring a season-high 21 points and grabbing eight rebounds. Livingston shot 9-for-14 from the floor in 28 minutes.

Stephen Curry, who didn’t score his first points until 5:16 left before halftime, finished with 12 points on 3-for-9 shoot to go along with four assists, but did have three steals which extended his consecutive games streak with at least one steal to 25 games.

Golden State (49-12) shot 50 percent (40-for-80) from the floor, and 45 percent (10-for-22) from three-point range. Green and Thompson each drained three from behind the arc.

Thompson’s three 3s moved him past his head coach, Steve Kerr (726), on the all-time list.

The Clippers (40-22), who were playing without Blake Griffin and Jamal Crawford, dropped their fifth straight game in Oakland.

Backup point guard Austin Rivers led all Clippers players with 22 points off the bench in 31 minutes. J.J. Redick scored 18 points in 27 minutes on 8-for-12 shooting.

Chris Paul scored 14 points and dropped 11 assists, while DeAndre Jordan grabbed 11 of the Clippers 39 rebounds.

Los Angeles outscored Golden State 42-30 in the paint, but the Warriors forced 18 Clippers’ turnovers that led to 22 points.

“I don’t think they like us. I don’t know why,” Los Angeles coach Doc Rivers said after the loss. “Steve (Kerr) told me he didn’t like me. We’re the last team to knock them out, and they know that. So I think that adds to it.”

Golden State avenged a 100-86 loss to the Clippers in Los Angeles on Christmas night; after Golden State pummeled Los Angeles 121-104 back in November in Oakland.

The home team has won each of the last 10 regular-season games. Golden State and Los Angeles play one more time in Los Angeles on March 31.

Golden State, who averaged a win-margin of 15.3 points per game in home wins, play the Suns in Phoenix on Monday.

 

 

 

 

Golden State Warriors podcast: Warriors very likely could face the Mavericks in best case scenario playoffs

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by David Zizmor

OAKLAND–The Golden State Warriors had the Dallas Mavericks number all season and for that matter several seasons going back to the playoffs. The “We Believe” team that beat them although the Warriors were an eighth seeded team and the Mavericks were number one that season. The W’s have been doing well this season against the Mavs and have had a traditional great game.

The Mavs are kind of a centralist team with center Tyson Chandler this season but they don’t play the half court game, they don’t run a half court offense. The Mavs are kind of a moving target just like the Warriors are and the Warriors excel at that. The W’s really have taken it to the Mavs and if you look at the standings there’s a shot that the Warriors could end up playing the Mavs in the first round of the playoffs.

It could take a little bit of shuffling at the back end of that playoff rotation in the west and the Mavs are a team that the Warriors could face. If Golden State played Dallas in the opening round of the playoffs it would be heaven for the W’s because they match up really well against them.

Dallas got out to a very quick six point lead but after that it was all W’s they were up as much as some 20 points. They were up by double digits at the half and it wasn’t even close in the fourth quarter. The Warriors really had that really rough February where they have two home games spaced out by two weeks with the All-Star break in the middle.

The W’s spent almost the entire month of February on the road and it was one of the worst stretches for any team in the NBA, what that means the Warriors through those crazy road games in February the rest of the season between now and the end of April it’s almost all home games. They have a few road games here and there and a legitimate road trip with a three game set with all the Texas teams.

Aside from the three game trip to Houston, San Antonio and Dallas your talking about a road trip to Portland, L.A., Utah, your talking about road trips and one long flight maybe two games at most. The Warriors are looking mostly at home games as we all know the Warriors are really tough to beat at home. The Warriors have only lost two games all season and their 27-2 at Oracle Arena that’s huge.

David Zizmor does commentary on Warriors basketball each week for http://www.sportsradioservice.com listen to the podcast below

Warriors Improve to 3-0 Against Dallas This Season

Published on by Matthew HarringtonLeave a comment

By Matthew Harrington

The Golden State Warriors put a Texas-sized beatdown on the Dallas Mavericks Friday night, topping Dirk Nowitzki and company 104-89. Golden State (48-12) produced one of its best recent defensive performances to best the Mavs for a third-straight contest this season.

The Warriors, led by Andrew Bogut’s game-high 13 boards, out-rebounded the Mavs 51-34. Golden State’s defensive identity returned in spades at home Friday, with the Warriors holding the Dallas (40-24) to 36.8 percent shooting. Nowitzki, Rajon Rondo and Monte Ellis went a combined 13 for 45 from the field.
Stephen Curry again dropped a night’s-best 22 points on a 6-for-11 shooting night, including 5 of 8 on three-pointers while Draymond Green came a rebound shy of the double-double (18 pts, 9 rebounds). Reserve Shaun Livingston put up 10 points and pulled down 10 boards to accomplish the feat.
The Warriors took a 29-24 lead after the first quarter, then held Dallas to 16 points while adding 23 of their own for a 52-40 halftime edge. Golden State outscored the Mavericks 52-49 to close out the win.

The defensive showcase comes at a perfect time for the Warriors. They host the rival Los Angeles Clippers Sunday in a high-profile match-up.

Green, Warriors Pull Ahead Late to Beat Bucks

Published on by bentleonard181 Comment

By: Ben Leonard

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Wednesday was Draymond Green’s birthday, and in typical fashion, he was all smiles as he lead the Warriors to a 102-93 victory over the Milwaukee Bucks. Green scored 28 points for the Warriors in their 46th victory of the season, and was deadly from long range, making 4 of his 9 three-point attempts. Even after being a little weary coming home from their long six-game road trip, the Warriors showed no signs of weakness in a solid win.

This is not to say Jason Kidd’s up-and-coming Bucks rolled over; they fought well against Golden State, using their length to win the battle on the glass. Like most teams against the small Warriors, the Bucks held the rebound advantage 47-34, buoyed by Zaza Pachulia’s game-high 11 boards. For Golden State, win moved them to 28-7 against the deep Western Conference, and started off the homestand on a high note.

The game was certainly well-fought and close throughout, with the “Splash Brothers” having trouble in the early going. Stephen Curry and Klay Thompson were held to 11-32 shooting from the floor, largely due to the fact that Kidd’s Bucks sold out to stop the dynamic duo.Curry had struggled mightily early, scoring just 7 points in the first three quarters. This game-plan left Green open to do his thing from long distance in place Curry and Thompson.For this reason, the Warriors found themselves up just 72-71 at the end of the third quarter.

The momentum swung in the fourth quarter, after the struggling Curry was benched after not getting back on defense with 4:18 left in the third, giving him a much needed physical and mental break. After his return at the start of the fourth, Curry and the Warriors were simply lights out. Curry made three straight three pointers with just over nine minutes to play on a poor shooting night, proving to be the difference in the game. Curry may have *only* scored 19, but his presence was certainly felt in his 12-point fourth.

In a post-game interview on CSNBayArea, Coach Steve Kerr credited Draymond Green as the key player in their small ball set in the fourth “because he can play the five.” It certainly worked for Golden State, who executed their small set to perfection, forcing 16 turnovers in the second half. As Kerr put it, it seems like “the whole league has shifted every game” to try to counter their successful unit.

Despite its success, the Warriors may look to break up this small unit, in that the club is rumored to be looking at embattled center JaVale McGee to provide depth, with Dallas and Miami also in the mix. Center Andrew Bogut, who scored just 7 points Wednesday, is injury-prone and McGee’s potential, if harnessed, could prove to lethal off the bench. The squad will take on one of his potential suitors, Dallas, on Friday night. Common sense might suggest that change could be more lethal to the Warriors’ clubhouse than McGee’s potential. If they continue to play like they did Wednesday in the fourth, the Warriors could be title-contenders with or without Bogut or McGee.

Cover Image: By Kent_Bazemore_speaks_at_Warriors_open_practice_with_Green,_Barnes,_and_Ezeli_in_background.jpg: Rose White derivative work: Lpdrew [CC BY-SA 2.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0)%5D, via Wikimedia Commons

The Warriors lose a heartbreaker.

Published on by Sports Radio ServiceLeave a comment

by Jerry Feitelberg

The Golden State warriors suffered a tough loss Monday night in Brooklyn as they lost to the Nets 110-108. The Dubs were playing their fourth game in five days and were finishing a six game road trip. In fact, the Dubs have played ten of their last eleven games away from the Oracle Arena and finish the trip with a win over the Nets.

The Warriors beat Boston in Boston Sunday afternoon and were hoping to get to New York to get a good night’s sleep as they were playing back to back games for the second time on the trip. Unfortunately, they were delayed for five hours due to weather or a mechanical problem and didn’t get to the hotel until 4 am Monday morning. They still, nonetheless, had to face the Nets later and somehow find a way to beat them. Steph Curry and Klay Thompson were not on their game at all in the first half of play. Andrew Bogut and Festus Ezeli played well as did the bench. The Nets were hot. They shot 73% from the floor in the first period and had a ten-point lead 33-23. Brook Lopez, coming off the bench, played extremely well for the Nets. The Warriors played a little better in the second period, but the Nets enjoyed a six-point lead 57-51 at the half. Neither team scored in the last 2 minutes and 30 seconds of play.

Bogut had 16 points, 6 rebounds, and 2 blocks while Steph and Klay had just 5 points between the two of them. Ezeli had 8 points off the bench. The starters were just 2 fo 17 from the floor. Brooklyn shot 56% opposed to Golden State’s 45%. The Warriors had 18 second chance points while holding Brooklyn to just six.

The third period saw the Warriors attempting to mount a comeback, but Brooklyn rebuffed them every time. The Dubs trailed by 3 with 9:41 left, but Brooklyn extended the lead to nine after Steph and Bogut had to leave the game as they were both charged with 4 fouls. The third period ended with Brooklyn leading by six points 86-80.

The Warriors closed the gap to just one, trailing 91-90 with over 9 minutes left to play but Brooklyn went on a 8-0 run to lead by nine. Steph got his game going and the W’s were making a run trying desperately to find a way to win. Curry made two huge 3-point shots to make it a 108-105 game with 3:27 left. Harrison Barnes made a free throw and Steph scored a deuce to tie it at 108 with a minute five left. The W’s defense kept Brooklyn from scoring. They rebounded and block shots and it looked like Golden State was going to get the win but the Dubs turned the ball over and the former Warrior, Jarrett Jack scored the game-winning shot with just 1.1 seconds left on the clock. Final 11-108 Brooklyn.

With the loss, the Warriors fall to 46-12 while Brooklyn improves to 25-33. Steph Curry led the W’s in scoring with 26 points, 18 coming in the fourth period. Bogut had 16, Ezeli 14, Iguodala 12 and Thompson just 7. Brook Lopez had 26 and teammate Deron Williams added 22 for Brooklyn.

After the game, Warriors’ head coach, Steve Kerr, had this to say ‘ I’m proud of our guys, great effort particularly with all the travel.’ "Festus was fantastic, Boges first half was the most aggressive in a long time. Kerr said he told the players to "keep it close, give them plenty of rest during the game and take our shot in the fourth quarter.’ They did just that but sadly, they came up just a few points short

The Warriors return home to play three at home facing the Milwaukee Bucks Wednesday night then the Dallas Mavericks on Friday and then the Los Angeles Clippers on Sunday afternoon.

Warriors overpower Celtics after erasing 26-point deficit in Boston

Published on by jhawkes51Leave a comment

BOSTON — The Golden State Warriors continue to be the class of the NBA.

Stephen Curry poured in 37 points, while fellow Splash Brother Klay Thompson added 20 points as the Warriors erased a 26-point lead to defeat the Boston Celtics 106-101 Sunday night in Beantown. With the win, Golden State continue hold the NBA’s best record at 46-11 and giving the Warriors their seventh win in their last nine games.

Harrison Barnes chipped in with 17 points and eight rebounds and Draymond Green scored 14 points (11 in the fourth quarter).

“This was a fun challenge for us,” said Warriors head coach Steve Kerr. “If we lost, it wouldn’t have been the end of the world. But we were down and we came back. I was happy that we showed good poise.”

“We didn’t want to be down 26,” Curry said after the Warriors played their fifth game on a six-game road trip, and the middle of a string of three games in four nights. “It seemed like it was sluggish there in the first quarter. We had to be mentally tough to make it an interesting game and close out the half.”

Golden State has won four straight versus Boston for the first time since the team moved west from Philadelphia in 1962, according to Elias Sports Bureau.

Isaiah Thomas led Boston with 20 points off the bench, and Tyler Zeller finished with 17 points for the Celtics, who saw their three-game winning streak snapped.

Jae Crowder recorded 17 of Boston’s game-high 60 rebounds, compared to Golden State’s 55 total rebounds. Brandon Bass added 15 points and 12 rebounds for Boston.

Boston dominated Golden State 22-10 on fast break points, while Golden State shoot better from the floor than Boston, 42 percent (40-for-95) for Golden State, 36 percent (40-for-109) for Boston.

Golden State continued to shoot lights out on 3s, knocking down 12-of-34 (35 percent). Boston shot just 26 percent (8-for-31) from behind the arc.

Golden State wraps up it’s six-game road swing Monday night in Brooklyn.

 

 

Golden State Warriors commentary & podcast: Cleveland was a tough hump but W’s are over it and ready for Boston

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by David Zizmor

OAKLAND–This is one of the Golden State Warriors last big road trips of the entire season and they’ve been on the road for the entire month of February they’ve only had two home games in all of February and that’s going to change as they head into March they will have a lot more home games. This has been a long month and especially for guys like Steph Curry and Klay Thompson who both are playing at a high level and they didn’t get an All-Star break to recuperate.

Thompson and Curry went to the all star game and activities in New York and right after that had to fly all the way cross country to get back to California to play the first Warriors first game out of the break was at home which they won in very convincing fashion which was one of the best games of the season for the W’s. They had to immediately jump on the plane and go on this rough six game road trip against the eastern conference.

It’s not like your going against the Western Conference this road trip featured three of the best teams in the east Cleveland, Washington and Toronto. The W’s beat Toronto pretty easily 113-89 that game was done by the end of the third quarter and all because the Warriors had all the starters resting in the entire fourth quarter when they led Toronto by 20 points and the W’s had a 30 point lead in the third quarter.

The Warriors just destroyed Toronto and that was in the second game back to back, the previous night against Cleveland. There are a lot people who want to read into that game against Cleveland which the Warriors lost. The fact of the matter is LeBron James brought his A+ game on Thursday night. When LeBron brings his A+ game Cleveland or whatever team has LeBron almost always wins.

When LeBron is playing like that there is almost no way he will lose and that’s what the Warriors ran into on Thursday night. The Warriors beat Cleveland last time the two teams met at the end of January but LeBron was playing in that game. It was during the eight game break he took eight games off to rest up from an injury.

The Warriors looked good I that one, in this game they had a tough time and LeBron was great and the Warriors shots weren’t falling quite as well. That may not predict anything as far as the Warriors they will have their hands full if they face the Cavaliers again at any point this season which means the NBA Finals.

David Zizmor does Warriors commentary each week listen to his podcast below on http://www.sportsradioservice.com

Warriors bounce back with win in Toronto

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By. Joe Hawkes-Beamon

TORONTO — After falling to 110-99 Thursday night in Cleveland in which the Warriors looked out of sync, Golden State needed to get back on track in a big way.

Klay Thompson had 25 points and five assists and Stephen Curry finished with 22 points, six rebounds, and five assists as the Golden State Warriors held a 41-point lead after three quarters before pulling away from the Raptors 113-89 Friday night in Toronto.

Golden State (45-11), improved to 10-2 in back-to-back games this season, and sweeps the season series against the Raptors.

The Warriors held the Raptors to just 1-for-19 shooting (5 percent) in the first quarter, but it was Golden State outscoring Toronto 44-26 in the third quarter that really proved to be the difference in the game.

Defensively, Golden State out-rebounded Toronto (47-42), and forced the Raptors to commit 19 turnovers that led to 24 points for the Warriors. The Warriors held the edge in fast break points, outscoring Toronto 22-7.

“We wanted to get stops and force turnovers,” said Curry, who shot 8-of-13 from the floor. “We’re pretty confident that we could come out and play defense and it showed tonight.”

“We just tightened down tonight,” said Warriors forward Draymond Green. “Everybody made a consistent effort to stay in front of their man.”

Green finished with 17 points and nine rebounds. Leandro Barbosa and Shaun Livingston each scored 11 points off the bench for Golden State.

“Draymond made some great plays, forced some turnovers,” said Warriors head coach Steve Kerr. “He got us started.”

Golden State shot a blistering 13-for-29 from three-point range (46 percent).

“Our team knows how to respond following a loss, and I think we responded pretty well. It was satisfying for us to come out and play like we did after last night’s loss.”

Terrence Ross finished with 18 points and DeMar DeRozan finished with 14 points on 4-of-16 from the floor for Toronto (37-21), who’ve dropped their fourth straight game.

Kyle Lowry scored just four points on 1-of-7 shooting for Toronto. The Raptors couldn’t find the bottom of the net, shooting just 31-of-77 (40 percent) from floor, but a dismal 4-of-22 (18 percent) on 3s.

After an off day on Saturday, the Warriors continue their six-game road trip (1-2) through the Eastern Conference in Boston on Sunday.