Raptors hold off Warriors behind DeRozan’s 32 points

By Joe Hawkes

TORONTO, ONT — With Golden State clinging to a 86-81 lead with eight minutes left in the fourth quarter, the Toronto Raptors forced five turnovers (three in the final two minutes) to hand Golden State their second loss on their current six-game road trip, with a 104-98 victory Sunday at the Air Canada Centre.

Raptors All-Star forward DeMar DeRozan had 32 points, six assists and four rebounds. It was DeRozan’s third straight game with at least 30 points and six assists.

Kyle Lowery scored 13 points and dished out eight assists, and Jonas Valanciunas had 10 points and five rebounds on 5 of 6 shooting.

Patrick Patterson and Greivis Vasquez each added 12 points off the bench for Toronto (33-26), who rebounded from a 134-129 triple overtime loss Thursday night against the Washington Wizards at home.

Golden State seemed to run out of gas in the fourth quarter.

Stephen Curry scored a game-high 34 points to go along with seven assists, but he committed six of the Warriors’ 13 turnovers. Curry shot 13 of 27 from the floor, including 4 for 11 from 3 leading to his fifteenth 30-point game of the season (a career-single high). The Warriors All-Star guard had fourteen all of last year.

After halftime, Curry played the whole second half going off for 14 points in the third quarter to finish with 43 minutes.

David Lee finished with 20 points and a game-high 11 rebounds in 43 minutes as well, while Klay Thompson scored 12 points, but was 4 of 15 from the floor. Thompson was struggling to guard DeRozan and picked up five fouls for his troubles.

Harrison Barnes chipped in 11 points off the bench, and Draymond Green dished out a career-high five assists, but Golden State’s bench played short-handed from the beginning. Backup center Jermaine O’Neal didn’t make the trip to Toronto due to passport issues.

With the loss, Golden State (36-24) falls into a tie with the Dallas Mavericks for sixth in the Western Conference. Dallas plays San Antonio Sunday night and with a win, can drop Golden State to seventh with 22 games to go before the playoffs.

Golden State shot 42.0 percent from the field (37 for 88), and 34.8 percent from behind the arc (8 for 23).

This was the game that the Warriors needed to win heading into Indianapolis Tuesday for a matchup with the Eastern Conference-leading Indiana Pacers. The Pacers are tough to matchup especially at home where they are 28-3 on the season.

Indiana defeated Golden State 102-94 on Jan. 20 at Oracle Arena. The Warriors have loss their last six straight games at Bankers Life Fieldhouse.

Curry Composes Triple-Double Masterpiece in 126-103 Upstaging of Knicks

By Matthew Harrington

On the biggest stage of the basketball world in the city the boasts the bright lights of Broadway Stephen Curry hogged the spotlight in another part of Manhattan. The Golden State Warriors point guard pieced together a virtuoso performance in a 126-103 blowout over the New York Knicks Friday night on the hallowed court of Madison Square Garden. Curry’s command performance included 27 points, 11 assists and 11 rebounds, a triple-double for the maestro out of mid-major Davidson College.

A year and a day removed from Curry’s opening act, a 54-point explosion at MSG in another Warriors victory, the Warriors All-Star composed his Friday Evening encore on 9 of 19 from the field. Klay Thompson played the perfect accompanist to Curry, falling a basket shy of matching Curry’s 27 points with 25 of his own.

Forward David Lee made his first start, and second appearance, since missing time due to the flu. He pitched in 10 points in 24 minutes of play. Jermaine O’Neal continued his superb support of Lee and the banged-up Bogut, posting 15 points in 20 reliable minutes of play of the bench.

Carmelo Anthony hogged the spotlight for the Knicks (21-38), collecting 23 points on 7-of-26 shooting. He converted the double-double on 16 rebounds, a game-high. Tim Hardaway Jr. had 22 points while J.R. Smith added 17 of his own. The Knicks shooters were held in check by the Warriors defense, with the New Yorkers connecting on a 37.9 shooting percentage.

The Warriors (36-23) spent only a minute of game time trailing the Knicks in total, trading leads six times over the first two minutes. The Warriors would go on a 10-0 lead to stake themselves to a 15-6 lead 4:30 into the first. From there, the Warriors were able to maintain the pace, finishing the quarter with 23 points to 21 Knicks tallies. The second quarter was a repeat performance of the first, with the Warriors outpacing New York 35-25 for a 73-52 edge at the half. The hosts would outscore their visitors 28-26 in the third, but the road team closed out the game with 27 fourth quarter points to 23 from the home squad for the final 126-103 mark.

On tap for the Dubs, winners of five of their last six, is a trip north of the border for a Sunday showdown with the Toronto Raptors before stops in Indiana and Boston. A win for the Warriors at any of the three stops would guarantee a .500 winning percentage on their current six-game road trip, the second longest stint away from home this season.

Warriors bullrushed in Chicago

By Joe Hawkes

CHICAGO — The Golden State Warriors saw their four-game winning streak come to screeching halt with a 103-83 loss to the Bulls in Chicago Wednesday night.

Taj Gibson led all scorers with 21 points off the bench for Chicago (31-26), who won for the seventh time in eight games.

Carlos Boozer had 15 points and 13 rebounds, while Mike Dunleavy scored 15 points on 3-of-6 shooting from 3-point range. Joakim Noah scored eight points, but couldn’t be kept off the boards, raking in 17 rebounds. Chicago held a 56-41 edge on the boards, and scored 19 points on 16 Warriors’ turnovers.

Golden State (35-23) just didn’t have it going tonight.

Jordan Crawford led all Warriors with 16 points and David Lee came off the bench to score 11 points. Lee missed the previous two games with a stomach flu, met the team in Chicago after not traveling with the team initially.

Chicago really put the clamps on Stephen Curry, holding the All-Star point guard to just five points on 2-for-10 shooing. Curry exploded on the Bulls back on Feb. 6, scoring 34 points on 13-for-19 from the field to go along with nine assists in Golden State’s 107-82 victory in Oakland.

After leading 24-21 at the end of the first quarter, Golden State was gut-punched by Chicago being outscored by the Bulls 82-58 the rest of the way. Chicago neutralized Golden State by forcing the Warriors to shoot 35.7 percent from the field (30-for-84).

But Golden State didn’t have their best game as a whole.

Outside of bigs Andrew Bogut and Jermaine O’Neal combining for 17 points on 8-for-10 shooting, Andre Iguodala and Klay Thompson combined for 13 points, but were 4-for-16 from the floor. Iguodala was 1-for-8.

No one in the Warriors’ starting lineup scored in double figures, which hasn’t happen since 1999.

The Warriors continue their current six-game road trip in New York Friday against Carmelo Anthony and the Knicks.

 

 

 

 

 

No Lee, No Problem as Streaking Warriors Grind Down Pistons for Win

By Matthew Harrington

It would be hard to believe on a night when David Lee wasn’t even in the building, Andrew Bogut nursed a nagging shoulder injury and Stephen Curry‘s silky-smooth shooting touch went rough that the Warriors would walk away with a W. Monday night proved that anything is possible with the red-hot Dubs, winners now of four in a row since the All-Star break. The Detroit Pistons (23-34) became victim number four, falling at the hands of the Warriors 104-96 at the Palace of Auburn Hills despite Curry nailing just 6 of 15 field goals attempted.

With Andrew Bogut returning to play after injuring his shoulder seven games ago and David Lee missing his second-straight contest with the flu, the load was placed firmly on the shoulders of the Warriors’ lone All-Star Curry. The Human Torch remained relatively damp, hitting only 3 of 9 three-pointers for 19 points but fed his teammates plenty while collecting nine assists. Guard Klay Thompson also had 19 points for the Warriors (35-22), including two that came on a dunk over Kyle Singler that sent the Pistons guard staggering into the stands.

Jermaine O’Neal, starting for Lee who didn’t join the Warriors on the trip, put together another solid performance, netting a second-straight double-double on 16 points and 10 rebounds. O’Neal previously sparked the Warriors 93-86 win over Brooklyn with 23 points and 13 rebounds Saturday night at Oracle Arena. Jordan Crawford had his best night in the blue and gold since coming over in a January trade, picking up 15 points in the Warriors first game of a six-game road trip.

The Piston big men took advantage of the absence of Lee and a limited Bogut (due to injury and foul trouble) with all three members of the starting frontcourt cracking double-digits in scoring. Forward Greg Monroe had a game-high 23 points and Josh Smith converted the double-double on 18 points and 11 boards. Starting center Andre Drummond picked up 11 points while Singler bounced back from the debilitating dunk to pick up a respectable 18 points.

The Pistons controlled play early, taking a 10-point lead with just over 5 minutes left in the 1st and the Warriors trailing 22-12. The Dubs closed out the quarter on a 21-15 lead to get within striking distance at 37-33. Golden State took its first lead since the 2:14 mark of the game after Harrison Barnes nailed a trey with 1:11 gone in the quarter. Just 35 seconds later, Crawford hit one from downtown to pad the Warriors edge to 41-37.

The two teams traded the lead twice over the rest of the half with the Warriors wresting it away from the Pistons for good on an Andre Iguodala layup with three minutes remaining to make it 55-54 for the visitors. The Warriors would head to the intermission clinging to a slim 63-62 advantage.

The two teams fought tooth and nail yet again in the second half, exchanging leads five times in the third to give the Pistons am 83-81 lead after 36 minutes of regulation. Down the stretch the Warriors limited Detroit to just 13 points while scoring 23 of their own to take home the victory, Golden State’s sixth consecutive victory over the Pistons.

Up next for the Warriors, three games back of the Los Angeles Clippers for first in the Pacific Division standings, is a trip to the United Airlines Center in Chicago for a Wednesday night showdown with the Chicago Bulls. The six game road trip also includes stops in New York, Toronto, Indiana and Boston.

O’Neal, Green provide huge lift for Warriors win over Nets

By Joe Hawkes

OAKLAND — With a six game road trip set to begin Monday in Detroit, the Warriors appear to be hitting their stride at the right time.

Playing without power forward David Lee (stomach flu) and center Andrew Bogut (shoulder inflammation), Jermaine O’Neal and Draymond Green filled in nicely, helping the Golden State Warriors  pick up their third straight victory after the All-Star break with a 93-86 victory over the Brooklyn Nets in front of a sellout crowd of 19,596 at Oracle Arena Saturday night.

“That’s what this game was all about, guys stepping up,” said Warriors head coach Mark Jackson after the game. “We needed that. Guys stepping up when needed and those guys stepped up tonight.”

O’Neal, who was caught in traffic due to the Monster Truck rally next door at O.co Coliseum, had a season-high 23 points and 13 rebounds while starting in place for Bogut, who missed his seventh straight game. O’Neal’s performance was vintage O’Neal. The kind of performance that made him a six-time All-Star in eight seasons with the Indiana Pacers.

“At this point of the year, you got to play hard and make every possession counts,” said the 18-year veteran O’Neal. “I don’t know what next year holds for me, but I know that my team will play hard each night. ”

Green poured in 18 points and 10 rebounds in 38 minutes of action tonight while starting for Lee. Green was all over the court and brought huge energy to the starting lineup seeing 38 minutes of action.

Stephen Curry scored 17 points with eight assists, and Andre Iguodala scored six points to go along with 11 rebounds logging a game-high 44 minutes.

Curry shot 7-for-13 from the field, including 3-for-4 from 3. With the Warriors clinging to a 88-86 lead with 1:02 left in the fourth quarter, Curry hit a 3-pointer off the glass giving Golden State a 91-86 lead with under a minute left in the game.

Golden State (34-22) dominated in many facets of the game including points in the paint (52-38), rebounds (50-39), assists (26-11), and steals (12-5), while holding Brooklyn to shooting 32-for-78 (41.0%) and 2-for-21 from 3 (9.5%).

Deron Williams led Brooklyn (25-28) with 20 points and dished out six assists.

Joe Johnson had 15 points, Andray Blatche had 14 points and eight rebounds, and Paul Pierce chipped in 11 points for Brooklyn, who have dropped eight of their last nine in Oakland.

Golden State improves to 18-10 at home this season, and were able to payback Brooklyn for snapping the Warriors’ 10-game winning streak with a 102-98 win in Brooklyn in January.

 

 

Lee led Warriors earn ugly win, outlast Rockets in OT, 102-99

By Gabe Schapiro

The Golden State Warriors (33-22) didn’t always make it look pretty, but as the saying goes, a win is a win. On Thursday night, at Oracle Arena, they beat the Houston Rockets (37-18) for the first time this season, 102-99, in overtime. Both offenses struggled for much of the game, in what often came down to isolation plays for James Harden against isolation plays for David Lee. When the dust settled, Golden State had grinded out a tough win.

The Warriors had their customary slow start to the game. Through 12 minutes of play they only trailed by four, but had only gotten eight points from their starters, compared to 12 points from their bench. Both teams were plagued by bad turnovers, miscues, and missed open looks.

The Dubs rebounded a bit in the second, turning the four point deficit into a four-point lead at halftime. Surprisingly the two foes star guards, Stephen Curry and Harden, had extremely quiet starts. Heading into the locker rooms they had only accounted for five points apiece. They would both come alive in the stretch run.

The sloppy but close play continued. Heading into the fourth quarter Golden State held on to their four-point lead, but it wasn’t a lead they held with confidence. Sure enough, in the fourth the Rockets clawed their way back, tying the game back up halfway through the quarter. In the waning minutes the two sides traded blows. Harden made one of his many big shots, a 23-foot jumper with 6 seconds left, to give Houston an 89-87 lead. Curry responded with a beauty of his own, a left-handed floater in traffic that arced over the skyscraper that is Dwight Howard, and sent the game into overtime.

In extra time, Curry again came up big and gave Golden State the quick lead with a three-pointer, a lead they wouldn’t relinquish.

Jermaine O’Neal, starting in the place of the still injured Andrew Bogut, had the play of the game. With 23 seconds left in OT, the Rockets’ Chandler Parsons drove hard to the basket, and O’Neal elevated to meet him at the basket and ferociously blocked the shot.

Curry made four of four free throws, and Draymond Green made two more, to ice the victory in the waning seconds.

Curry made the big shots late, but it was Lee who was practically the entire Warriors offense for long stretches of the game. He finished with a team-high 28 points, to go along with 14 rebounds. Curry’s strong second half gave him 25 points and six assists.

Iguodala had a relatively quiet night outside of some big points in OT, but still filled up the stat sheet. He compiled 11 points, eight boards, and seven assists. Guard Steve Blake made his debut in a Golden State uniform after the trade that sent him over from the Los Angeles Lakers, and he finished with three points, two rebounds, and one assist in 18 minutes off the bench.

For Houston, Harden led the way with a game-high 39 points, 34 of which came in the second half and overtime. Chandler Parsons had a strong game, adding 21 points, eight rebounds, and five assists. Dwight Howard had a dismal shooting night, hitting just 4-13 shots, but made his impact felt with 21 rebounds and four blocks.

The Warriors are back in action this Saturday, when the Brooklyn Nets come to town. The game begins at 7:30 PM.

Lee, Warriors roll past Kings

By Joe Hawkes

SACRAMENTO — With the All-Star break a thing of the past, the stretch run towards the playoffs has officially begun.

The Golden State Warriors know that very well.

With center Andrew Bogut sitting out his fifth-straight game with a left shoulder injury, the Warriors needed a late Andre Iguodala three-point play to cruise to a 101-92 victory over the Kings Wednesday night at Sleep Train Arena.

Golden State (32-22), had five players score in double figures, led by David Lee’s 23 points and 11 rebounds. Lee recorded his 17th 20 point/10 rebound game of the season. Klay Thompson (18 points) and Stephen Curry (13 points,) combined to shoot 11-for-28 from the field (2-for-7 from 3-point range).

Iguodala finished with 13 points, Draymond Green scored 12 points and grabbed eight rebounds, while Jordan Crawford got the bench really rolling with 10 points in nine minutes in the first quarter.

The telling part of the game was how the Warriors passed the ball tremendously with 26 assists and only seven turnovers. Those numbers were instrumental in Golden State holding a 52-5 edge on fast break points. Curry finished with a team-high eight assists.

Isaiah Thomas had 26 points and seven assists, Travis Outlaw finished with 18 points off the bench, and Rudy Gay scored 16 points and grabbed eight rebounds (four offensive) for Sacramento (18-35), who played without star center DeMarcus Cousins who sat out with a left hip flexor he injured in the Kings’ final game before the All-Star break.

Quincy Acy pulled down a career-high 12 rebounds.

Sacramento erased a 15-point deficit before taking their first lead in the third quarter at 76-75 behind Thomas’s 12 points in the quarter, but Sacramento couldn’t stop Lee and the Warriors in the fourth quarter, with the Warriors out-scoring the Kings 26-16.

As the 3:00 p.m. EST trade deadline looms, both the Warriors and Kings pulled off trades, but the Warriors trade was the biggest to boot.

Sacramento shipped swingman Marcus Thornton to Brooklyn for veteran shooting guard Jason Terry and power forward Reggie Evans early Wednesday, while Golden State waved good-bye to Kent Bazemore and MarShon Brooks and acquired reliable point guard Steve Blake from the Los Angeles Lakers just before tip-off.

Golden State used their $4 million trade exception that the team received from Denver in the Iguodala deal last summer to absorb Blake’s remaining $4 million salary in the final year of his deal to complete the trade, according to Associated Press. The Warriors are hoping that the acquisition of Blake and Jordan Crawford earlier in the season from Boston, will allow the team to pull back on both Curry and Thompson’s minutes.

In 27 starts for the Lakers, Blake 9.5 points and a career-high 7.6 assists a game this season. Clearly the addition of Blake strengthens the bench, which has clearly been one of the weakest in the league this season.

It’s unclear if Blake will suit up Thursday night when the Warriors play host to the visiting Houston Rockets, who destroyed the Lakers 134-108 at Staples Center Wednesday night.

With the win over Sacramento, Golden State improves to 3-0 over the Kings this season.

Warriors report: W’s don’t come in too shellshocked after LeBron buzzer beater to end first half; ready themselves for Linsanity & the Rockets

by David Zizmor

SACRAMENTO–The Warriors realize that the Miami Heat’s LeBron James three point step back shot that won it for Miami on a buzzer beater to end Golden State’s first half was not a whole lot they could have done about it. The only thing they could have done was maybe keeping the ball away from LeBron in the first place. The Warriors would have liked to have had anybody else to have had the ball instead of LeBron.

The fact of the matter is he really made a really difficult shot and if your going to have LeBron taking a difficult shot in that situation it’s probably the one you want him to take nine times out of ten. Most of the times he’s not going to hit that shot and that was a really difficult shot and the Warriors Andre Iguodala was on him and the Warriors had good defense.

LeBron made a great shot, you just tip your cap to him and go about your business and the Warriors look at that and say “hey we were in that game with the world champs and we beat them the other time we were in Miami” and you move on and you go about your business. The Warriors have to say ” we hang with the best that’s how good we are.”

The Warriors problems haven’t been with the good teams, the Warriors problems have been with the bad teams and the mediocre teams. They’re kind of known to play to the level of their competition. So you worry about a team like Sacramento where the Warriors played on Wednesday night. They may not take the night off but they played a poor game because that’s the trend this year when a bad team hosts the Warriors, the Warriors are known to play to that level of competition.

This is a very young team and their still learning, they have to learn and they have to learn they can’t coast on their reputation that they kind of earned that in the playoffs last year and the Warriors have to earn their way into the post season. Your not guaranteed anything in this league and while games they’ve won against Miami, Oklahoma City, and the Clippers and such proved that their just as good as anybody they need to get up for the bad teams too.

They have to look at the Spurs and say “hey San Antonio comes to play every single night no matter who the other team is on the other side of the floor, the Spurs are in there night in and night out. Even if Tim Duncan and Tony Parker are taking the night off to get some rest, the other guys step up their game and play as hard as they possibly can.

This is the reason why the Spurs are always at the top of the standings and the Warriors have to learn from that hopefully as the season gets down to the home stretch. The Warriors have to start taking that to heart. The Warriors are hoping that this is the part of the season where they really get into it. They have a favorable schedule going forward so hopefully that plays to their benefit.

David Zizmor covers the NBA for Sportstalk radio

Warriors can’t overcome LeBron’s greatness, lose nail biter 111-110

By Gabe Schapiro

The Golden State Warriors (31-22) lost a heartbreaker to the Miami Heat (37-14), 111-110, Wednesday night, at Oracle Arena. The Warriors looked horrible early before storming back and making a game of it. It eventually became the LeBron James and Stephen Curry show, in an epic duel of greatness. After beating Miami on their home turf last time these squads faced off, tonight the Heat exacted some revenge. James hit a last second three-pointer to stun the Golden State faithful, icing the victory for Miami.

For much of the early going the Warriors offense looked hopeless. They came out of the gate cold, and for a time it looked like they might lose a blowout. However, they rose to the occasion, and pushed back against the defending champions.

Golden State trailed by as many as 21-points, a few minutes into the third quarter. Thanks in large part to Curry and some impressive paly from Harrison Barnes on the bench, the Warriors began mounting a comeback. They went on a 20-2 run, and crawled all the way back to take the lead on a Curry three seconds into the fourth.

The momentum swung back in the Heat’s favor, who re-took the lead and held it for much of the quarter. With 47 seconds left, Curry nailed a 15-foot jumper to tie it up. Then he struck again, making an impressive lay-up in traffic with just 14 seconds remaining, which turned into a three-point play, giving the Warriors the 110-108 lead.

In their final possession Miami predictably went to James, who had been on fire all game. Andre Iguodala stuck with him, but the King couldn’t be stopped. He nailed a deep, fade-away trey with just 0.2 seconds left, lifting the Heat to victory.

Curry was the obvious standout for the Dubs. He scored a team-high 29 points on just 14 shots, to go along with seven assists and five rebounds. David Lee contributed a double-double, posting 21 points and 11 boards. Barnes was big off the bench, compiling 14 points and five rebounds. Draymond Green started in the place of Andrew Bogut once again, and filled up the stat sheet. He added eight points, eight boards, two steals, and three blocks.

For the Heat, the unstoppable James finished one assist shy of a triple-double. He finished with a game-high 36 points, 13 rebounds, and nine assists. Chris Bosh had 19 points and five boards. Michael Beasley and Norris Cole had good games off the bench, contributing 16 and 10 points respectively.

Despite the loss, the Warriors did well to come-back from such a large deficit against one of the league’s best teams. It wasn’t the positive note they were hoping for heading into the All Star break, but there were positives to be found. They’re back in action on Wednesday, February 19, when they’ll be traveling to Sacramento to take on the Kings.

Speights’ career night leads Warriors blowout over 76ers, 123-80

By Gabe Schapiro

The Golden State Warriors (31-21) thoroughly dominated the rebuilding Philadelphia 76ers (15-33), 123-80, Monday night, at Oracle Arena. The 76ers came into this contest as one of the league’s worst, and the shorthanded Warriors made them look like it. The game was never close, as Golden State had the clear edge in every respect. Marreese Speights was going up against the team that drafted him, and certainly made it a special one.

In what would be a good indicator of the rest of the night, the game began with a Philadelphia turnover leading to a Stephen Curry three-pointer. As a team they hit four of their first five shots, including 3-3 from beyond the arc. They kept pouring it on from there.

It was the surprising Speights who provided the majority of the entertainment tonight. He has spent most of the season as a bench player with minimal impact. He was once again a bench player, but on this night his impact was anything but minimal He entered the game with four minutes remaining in the first quarter, and seemingly out of nowhere turned into the human highlight reel.

Soon after entering, Speights was fouled and hit two free-throws, and much like the Warriors as a whole, he just kept scoring. He hit his first seven shots from the field, including a rare three-pointer, and 5-5 from the free throw line. At the half he already had 22 points, his season-high. Heading into the locker rooms, Speights had helped the team build an already insurmountable 66-33 lead.

He kept it up in the second half. Golden State coasted to the easy win, and when the dust had settled, he had scored a career-high 32 points, in just 26 minutes. For good measure, he added eight rebounds and three blocks. At one point the beaming Warriors faithful rained “M-V-P” chants down on him. He received a resounding standing ovation once he was removed, when the Warriors emptied their bench in the final minutes.

In all, six Dubs finished in double figures. On a rare night when he won’t dominate the headlines, Curry was still fantastic. He contributed 23 points, including 6-9 from three-point range, along with eight assists.

Draymond Green started for the third consecutive night, with Andrew Bogut still out, and notched his first career regular season double-double. He posted 11 points, 10 boards, and four blocks.

For the 76ers, Michael Carter-Williams was probably the only bright spot. He had a team-high 24 points, as one of three Philly players to finish in double figures.

The Warriors have one more game before the All-Star break. It’s not one they can write off, however, as they always dangerous Miami Heat are coming to town. The game is this Wednesday, at 7:30 pm.