Category: Golden State Warriors

The Warriors lose a heartbreaker.

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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

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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.

 

 

Red-Hot Cleveland torches the Warriors

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by Jerry Feitelberg

The Golden State Warriors had a tough fight on their hands Thursday night as they tipped off against the red-hot Cleveland Cavaliers. The Cavs had were 17-2 before the start of play and had won 10 straight at home. They also had won 9 straight against Western Conference foes and they made it 10 in a row by defeating the Warriors 110-99.

The Warriors were going to have to find a way to shut down the big frontline of the Cavs if they were to win.

LeBron James, four-time MVP of the NBA, was a force to contend with all night. James was superb as he bullied his way through traffic to score. James ended up with forty-two points, his 55th 40 point or more game in his career. He was helped out by Kyrie Irving, Kevin Love, Timofey Mozgov and Tristan Thompson.

The first period was very close as the Warriors and Cavs played a very fast uptempo game that ended with the score at 33-32. The Cavs pulled away late in the second period to have a 61-56 lead at the half. The Cavs’ frontline was plus 6
in points scored and plus 10 in rebounds but the Dubs backcourt was plus 1 in points and plus 3 in assists.There were 8 ties and 12 lead changes in the first half.
Lebron James led the Cavs scoring with 24 points while Steph Curry had 14 and David Lee added 13 coming off the bench.

It was still a close game after the first four minutes of play in the third period.
Cleveland then went on a 16-3 run to put them up by 14 and they kept the pressure on the Warriors as the W’s never were able to make a comeback in either the third or fourth periods.

LeBron James did it all.He scored 42 points, rebounded, made two key steals late in the game and was just a force that was unstoppable. Kyrie Irving added 24 points and Kevin Love pitched in with 16. Timofey Mozgov had 10 and Tristan Thompson had 12 for Cleveland. David Lee led the W’s with 19. Steph Curry had 18, Klay Thompson,13 and Draymond Green ended the night with 16.

The W’s shot just 42.6% from the field opposed to the Cavs 46.8%. One huge difference was at the free throw line. Cleveland was 29 for 35 while the Dubs were just 10 for 19. The nineteen-point differential in made free throws won the game for Cleveland. The Cavs also outrebounded Golden State 51-44 and had a 43-30 advantage on the defensive boards

The Warriors are now 44-11 for the season and the Cavs record improves to 37-22 and they have now won10 straight against Western Conference teams.

The Warriors travel to Toronto to play the Raptors Friday night

—
Jerry Feitelberg
jyf1938

That’s Amaury’s News and Commentary: NBA Warrior Glory days

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by Amaury Pi Gonzalez

OAKLAND–The Golden State Warriors are enjoying their best season ever. The Warriors best regular season was in 1975-76 when they finished 59-23, beat Detroit in the playoffs and lost to Phoenix in seven games. Their most successful season however, was the 1974-75, when they ended 48-34, but went on to win their first and only NBA championship surprising the world and taking care of the Washington Bullets, on a 4-0 sweep, with Rick Barry winning the MVP.

As I have written previously, I remember covering the Warriors as a writer for the bilingual El Mundo News of Oakland, in those years Spanish was not as prevalent as it is today, as the Golden State is as bilingual as any other state in the country. I even remember the days the Warriors played at the Cow Palace in Daly City,they were the San Francisco Warriors, prior to moving to their current arena at Oakland, and soon another page in the history of this franchise will be written, when they eventually move west to San Francisco. They will probably change their name to San Francisco Warriors again when they move to Mission Bay.

The Warriors have their best shot this season to win their first NBA title in 40 years, and their second in history. Today there is not really a dominant team in the NBA, unlike those sensational Chicago Bulls teams of the 1990’s. I had the privilege of calling Warriors games on Spanish radio during the Bulls dynasty. And that was a real dynasty, as they won six NBA titles in an eight season stretch.

Michael Jordan was the best player in the world, and he showed his talent and leadership winning the MVP with ease during the regular season and also during the finals multiple times. Michael Jordan internationalized basketball all over the world, like Pelé did for Fútbol. I Covered the great MJ as well as Edson Arantes Do Nacimento(Pelé)when he came to the Bay Area as ambassador of FIFA and representing Brazil, I interviewed the Babe Ruth of Soccer for Spanish television during the 1994 US World Cup, Pelé is truly a great person. But the winter of 2014-15 belongs to the Golden State Warriors, Giants had a parade to celebrate their third title, the A’s look World Series bound until a team by the name of Kansas City showed up, the 49ers were out of it early, so the Warriors are the biggest shinning sport star in the Bay Area firmament.

Hard to argue that the 1995-96 Chicago Bulls were not the best team ever. They did finished with the best record ever in an NBA season with 72-10, the Warriors current coach, Steve Kerr was part of those Jordan-Pippen-Rodman-Salley-Harper and company teams. I was fortunate to have work in the NBA during the “peak”years, with the commanding court presence
of:Jordan,Magic,Harper,Malone,Stockton,Mullin,Bird,Barkley and other great Hall of Fame players, many who formed the famous “Dream Team”that represented the US in the Olympic games of Barcelona, in 1992, when Michael Jordan was king and nobody was better. That is when the NBA really went ‘international’when marketing of the NBA super star jerseys were sold like hot cakes in Europe,Asia,Latinamerica, and of course here in the United States.

How fast do we forget? The current season has been so spectacular for the Warriors that many forget that last season(2013-14) the team finished with 51-31 record, but lost in the first round of the playoffs to the LA Clippers, and that was an exciting and very entertaining season, the last one by coach Mark Jackson, a very good coach.

The rest of the season will be very important for this team that is on his way to the postseason. Their biggest enemy will be themselves, free of injuries, they could go very deep into the playoffs, but like in baseball, in the NBA there are teams that get hot at the end of the season,at the right time, and those(not necessarily with the best win-lost record)are the ones that can upset everybody.

Recently Warriors point guard Stephen Curry was received by President Obama as the two posed for pictures in the Oval Office. Curry was not there on a basketball mission, although he would love to return to 1600 Pennsylavania Avenue in a few months to be welcome as champions of the NBA. Curry has a long life fight and campaign to prevent malaria.

As a super star, Stephen Curry is one Warrior that is living his dream, for these are the Glory Days for the Golden State Warriors. I know that every team in every sport league say they have the best fans ever. But here in the Bay Area, it is my experience, from covering all sports, that among the major sports, the most loyal and consistent fans have been the Warriors fans. From Al Attles days, to the Steve Kerr team today, Warriors fans have been there always supporting their team, they haven’t built a new facility, but Warrior’s fans generation after generation have lived and died with their W’S.

Amaury Pi Gonzalez is the Spanish radio voice for the Oakland A’s and the Spanish TV voice for the Los Angeles Angels and does Sportstalk each week on http://www.sportsradioservice.com

Curry’s Health Not In Question After 32-Point Night Against Wizards

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By Matthew T.F. Harrington

All it took was one game for Stephen Curry to alleviate Warriors fan’s concerns about a foot injury. After missing Golden State’s previous contest, the All-Star guard returned with authority Tuesday night against the Washington Wizards. On the road at the Verizon Center Curry collected a game-high 32 points over 33 minutes of play, leading the Warriors (44-10) to a 114-197 win over their Eastern Conference foe.

The dark horse candidate for Most Valuable Player hit 11 of 18 field goals, including 5 of 9 from three-point land to lead the Dubs. Curry also came a pair of assists shy of a double-double. Washington’s Marcin Gortat (16 points, 11 rebounds) and John Wall (16 points, 11 assists) each earned double-doubles, while Paul Pierce scored a team-high 25 points.

For the Warriors, David Lee pulled down a team-high 10 rebounds but Golden State lost the board battle 45-29. The Dubs hit exactly half the shots they took, connecting on 45 attempts, while the Wizards shot 53.2 percent from the field. The biggest difference came in turnovers, with the Warriors defense forcing 26 turnovers out of their opponent while coughing up the rock on a miscue just 9 times.

Washington scored the first nine consecutive points of the contest but Golden State outscored them 30-19 to close out the first half up 30-28. The Warriors wouldn’t trail for the rest of the first half, heading to the locker room up 54-51.

The Wizards scored 22 of the first 40 points of the second half to take their first 2nd half lead 73-72 with just over five minutes left in the third, but Golden State wound up back on top 86-83 heading into the final 12 minutes. From there, the Warriors outscored the Wizards 28-24 to hand Washington (33-24) its fourth straight loss.

Curry’s next test of the foot comes in a prime match-up against the league’s best super star. LeBron James’ Cleveland Cavaliers host the Warriors Thursday night on national television, with the game being broadcast on TNT.

Curry-Less Warriors Fall to Lowly Pacers

Published on by bentleonard181 Comment

By: Ben Leonard

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The Splash Brothers, Stephen Curry and Klay Thompson, have led the Warriors in their ascent from mediocrity to NBA supremacy. However, without Curry, who missed his first game of the season Sunday with right ankle soreness, this sense of brotherhood fell apart, as the Warriors fell 104-98 to the Indiana Pacers in Indianapolis.

Rodney Stuckey came off of the bench to pace his team with 30 points in just 28 minutes of action, showing no signs of weakness after suffering an ankle spain on Friday. His layup gave the Pacers a 91-90 lead with just under four minutes left to play, and his team never looked back.

Stuckey was not alone in his success off the bench, as the reserves scored a combined 61 points in the contest. The Warriors, known as a very deep team, simply could not overcome this surge with Curry out, scoring only 35 off the bench as a team. Only two players were in double figures for Golden State, Thompson and Andre Iguodala, who added 14.

The Pacers did not start out well, falling behind 38-26 at the end of the first quarter. Thompson led the early charge for Golden State, scoring 15 of his 39 points in the game in the first. His performance marked the seventh time that he scored at least 30 points in the 2014-15 season. However, without a second scorer in Curry, the Warriors’ efforts proved to be futile in the end. The Warriors did not have quite the same spice from the field, making just 38.2% of their attempts from the field.

Even though Thompson may have won the Three-Point Competition, Sunday’s poor showing underscored Curry’s value to the team in a difficult way. The Warriors failed to maintain a steady lead against a far-less talented Indiana team. To be fair, the game was still up for grabs until C.J. Miles’ trey gave the Pacers a 101-97 lead with 26.5 seconds left. Regardless, the Warriors will need Curry back if they want to avoid another early exit from the playoffs.

Stats and info courtesy of ESPN

 

 

 

Golden State Warriors commentary & podcast: Warriors had game under control despite technical calls on Friday

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by David Zizmor

OAKLAND–The game on Friday was a big test for the Golden State Warriors where they defeated the San Antonio Spurs at the Coliseum Arena 110-99. They looked a little sluggish leading up to the All-Star break and of course their two best players Stef Curry and Klay Thompson both played in the All-Star game and participated in the All-Star activities.

So Curry and Thompson didn’t get a full weekend off during the break, they did get about a week off to rest. Some fans were concerned that the Warriors were hitting a wall however they came out against a great Spurs team on Friday night and played one of their best games of the season. That kind of relaxed everybody, the Warriors don’t want to start the second half of the season with a dud.

The Warriors didn’t start this second half with a dud, it was competitive in the first quarter as the Spurs led by two and things looked a little shaky there in the second quarter. Part of that is that in the second quarter Curry rested for the first five minutes of the second quarter and the Spurs weren’t pulling away.

The Spurs were leading and there was kind of threat that they might put a little distance between them and the Warriors then Curry got called for a phantom foul that led to a technical. Then there was another technical on head coach Steve Kerr and that just fired up the Warriors and from that point all the way until the third quarter the Warriors just dominated the game.

By the end of the third quarter the Warriors turned it up led by Curry who went off as a scorer but as a facilitator, as the Warriors were up as much as 20 points. In the fourth quarter they didn’t need the starters in there that much and the Warriors won it by 11, it was never a close game in the fourth quarter. The Warriors were 2-24 in their last 26 games against the Spurs during the regular season.

The Warriors had their struggles over the past seasons against San Antonio but in a couple of wins they’ve had in the last few years it’s typically been really close games. They’ve never had a game like this against a Spurs team that they’ve pulled away and they had a chance to sit back and relax and relish the game. They’ve had these competitive tight ones that have gone down to the wire but it wasn’t the case in this game.

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

Curry, well-rested Warriors outrun dragging Spurs

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By Joe Hawkes-Beamon

OAKLAND  — Stephen Curry finished with a game-high 25 points and 11 assists, and fellow Splash Bros. Klay Thompson added 20 points as Golden State picked up right where they left off pre-All-Star Break with a 110-99 victory over the San Antonio Spurs Friday night to improve to 24-2 at Oracle Arena this year and 43-9, both NBA-bests.

Curry’s second quarter technical foul ignited the Warriors, who finished the second quarter on a 21-11 run to take a 62-55 lead at halftime and never looked back.

Golden State avenged their 113-100 home loss to the Spurs back on Nov. 11 with a full team effort, including shooting a blistering 51 percent (17-for-33) from behind the three-point arc.

Harrison Barnes scored 16 points and five rebounds, while Andre Iguodala finished with 14 points including knocking down 4-for-6 from downtown.

“The ball movement was tremendous tonight,” Iguodala said of the Warriors, who outscored San Antonio 23-10 on fast break points.

Draymond Green and David Lee each finished with 11 points. Green finished tied with Iguodala and Andrew Bogut for a team-high six rebounds.

Kawhi Leonard and Aron Baynes each scored a team-high 12 points for San Antonio (34-21), who dropped their second straight road game post-All-Star break. San Antonio lost 119-115 to the Clippers in Los Angeles Thursday night where Leonard shot 1-for-11 from the floor.

Baynes finished with a game-high 11 rebounds.

Boris Diaw had 11 points, while Marco Belinelli had nine points for the Spurs, who shot 60 percent in the first half, but cooled off in the second half finishing with 48 percent from floor.

San Antonio controlled the points in the paints, 44-40, and shot a better free throw percentage than Golden State (15-for-20 75 percent for Spurs to 11-for-18 61 percent for Golden State) but the Spurs couldn’t buy a bucket from three-point range, shooting 6-for-19 (31 percent).

Tony Parker, who was harassed by Curry’s defense the entire night, finished with just two points and six assists.

Tim Duncan scored just eight points after a 30-point effort in Los Angeles.

The Warriors hit the road for a six-game stretch through the Eastern Conference, starting Sunday in Indiana.