Tag: Klay Thompson

Warriors refuse to lose, mount late comeback to top Grizzlies, 100-93

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By Gabe Schapiro

The Golden State Warriors (45-27) simply wouldn’t be denied as Stephen Curry led a late comeback to topple the Memphis Grizzlies (43-29), 100-93, Friday night, at Oracle Arena. A Grizzlies win would have tied the two squads in the standings, and extended their luck on the Warriors home court, having won four straight in Oakland. Golden State was without David Lee and Andrew Bogut, but they still put together one of their more impressive outings of the season, leading to very different headlines.

The contest was close throughout, and was played with a true playoff atmosphere. Neither side ever held more than a seven-point lead, as the two Western Conference foes duked it out. The Warriors had a three-point lead after the first quarter, and that was trimmed down to one point heading into half time.

After another close quarter in the third, as it often does it all came down to the final 12 minutes. Heading into the waning minutes the momentum swung decidedly in the Grizzlies favor, and it looked like they would outlast Golden State. With a bit more than three minutes remaining, Memphis had opened up a game-high seven-point lead. The Grizzlies wouldn’t score another point, however, and the Warriors came alive, going on a 14-0 run.

A huge Draymond Green three-pointer brought the Dubs back to within just two points, and a minute later Curry followed suit with a trey of his own to tie grab back the lead. Golden State suffocated the Grizzlies offense in the final minute plus, and Curry provided the dagger on the offensive end. Two Klay Thompson free-throws with a few seconds left officially sealed the Warriors victory.

Curry was fantastic, finishing with a game-high 33 points, eight assists, five rebounds, two blocks, and a steal. If he was Batman, than Green may well have been his batman. He played a huge 32 minutes off the bench, and contributed 12 points and nine boards. Marreese Speights got his first start of the season, a decision that was initially confusing, but paid off. He had 15 points on 7-of-9 shooting, and eight rebounds.

On the negative side Bogut took a hit to the groin just four minutes into the game, and never returned after heading to the locker room. His status moving forward is unknown, but would be a huge loss if he has to miss any significant time.

Zach Randolph led the way for Memphis in the losing effort. He posted a team-high 21 points and seven rebounds. Mike Conley added 20 points and six assists.

The Warriors are back in action this Sunday, when the New York Knicks come to town. The game starts at 6:00 PM.

Splash Brothers lead Warriors to 111-107 victory over Bucks

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By Gabe Schapiro

They didn’t make it look easy, but the Golden State Warriors (44-26) scratched out a win against the Milwaukee Bucks (13-56), 111-107, Thursday night, at Oracle Arena. Coming into the contest, the Bucks had the worst record in the NBA. However, you wouldn’t have known it from watching the game. The Warriors played far from their best, but you have to give credit where credit is due, and Milwaukee played hard. Despite a big disadvantage in free throw attempts, and an uncharacteristically poor shooting night from beyond the arc, Golden State found a way to hold on.

The game was close throughout. Every time the Warriors made a small run and made people think they were about to run away with it, as they probably should have against an inferior opponent, the Bucks swung back and played tough. Heading into the locker room Golden State grasped a slight 53-51 lead.

After briefly trailing towards the end of the third quarter, the Warriors would lead the rest of the way, but never managed to convincingly put Milwaukee away until the final buzzer rang.

For Golden State, it was their talented backcourt that led the way. Stephen Curry had a game-high 31 points and 11 assists. He was one of the few Warriors to have some success from three-point range, hitting three-of-five. Klay Thompson wasn’t nearly as efficient, but added another 29 points.

Andrew Bogut had a strong game going up against his former club. He finished with eight points and 12 rebounds. David Lee contributed his nearly customary double-double, posting 22 points and 12 boards.

On the negative side, Harrison Barnes struggled mightily starting in place of the still out Andre Iguodala. He failed to score a point on seven field goal attempts, to go along with two turnovers. The bench also had a pretty quiet night, outside of a solid 12 points from Jordan Crawford in just 12 minutes of play.

For the Bucks it was a true team effort that made the Warriors sweat it out. A whopping seven players finished in double figures, four of whom did it from the bench. Brandon Knight was the standout, producing a team-high 27 points and six assists.

Golden State will rarely be able to turn in this kind of performance and still eek out a win, but thankfully they timed it against a bad team at home. They’ll need to clean up their mistakes for their next matchup against the best in the West, the San Antonio Spurs. The game is this Saturday, March 22, at 7:30 PM, at Oracle Arena.

Shorthanded Warriors make it look easy, beat Orlando 103-89

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By Gabe Schapiro

No Andrew Bogut or Andre Iguodala? No problem. The Golden State Warriors (43-26) didn’t skip a beat despite two of their starters being out with injuries, easily beating the Orlando Magic (19-49) 103-89, Tuesday night, at Oracle Arena. Orlando has struggled mightily this season, but when Bogut and Iguodala were ruled out, the defensive backbones of the team, there is no doubt that it had some nervous for this one. Those concerns were fairly quickly put to rest, however, as all three of Golden State’s other starters picked up the slack. After the first quarter, this contest was rarely ever in any doubt.

The game started as a bit of a dogfight, in a tightly played opening frame that saw 13 lead changes. After 12 minutes the Warriors exited from the fray with a slim three-point advantage. There wouldn’t be another lead change the rest of the way.

Golden State slowly started pulling away from the Magic, and really slammed the door shut in a big third quarter, which saw them outscore Orlando 30-19.  The end of the bench saw some action late, as they eased to the victory.

It was nearly all good signs from the Dubs on this night. It was 14 minutes into the contest before they committed their first turnover. It was the third quarter before they missed their first free throw.

The three normal Warriors starters who did play in this one all had very strong games. Stephen Curry, Klay Thompson, and David Lee finished with 23, 20, and 20 points respectively. Lee finished with a double-double, adding 10 rebounds to his line. Draymond Green and Harrison Barnes got the starting nod in the place of their injured stars, and while both struggled offensively, they chipped in in other ways. Green hauled in nine boards, dished out three assists, and had two steals. Barnes had five rebounds and three assists.

Golden State’s bench, which saw a little extra play tonight, had a strong game as well, particularly Mareese Speights and Steve Blake. Speights hasn’t played much recently, but clearly came in ready to go. He contributed 13 points, eight rebounds, and a block in 23 minutes. Blake also put up double-digit points, finishing with 12 to go along with four assists.

In the loss five Orlando players finished in double figures. Nikola Vucevic led the way with a team-high 15 points. Tobias Harris performed admirably off the bench, adding 14 points and a team-high six rebounds. Their backcourt really struggled, combining for just eight points.

The Warriors have now won two straight, and will look to make it three this Thursday, when they will be taking on the Milwaukee Bucks. The game starts at 7:30 PM, at Oracle Arena.

Splash Brothers Will Slumping Warriors to Rally Past Portland Late in 113-112 Thriller

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By Matthew Harrington

Whatever message the Warriors discussed in a team meeting following their second-straight loss Friday night, one that saw a 15-point Golden State lead swing into a loss against the lowly Cleveland Cavaliers, certainly stuck with the Splash Brothers. It just took some time in Sunday evening’s 113-112 win over the Portland Trail Blazers at the Moda Center for the backcourt tandem of Klay Thompson and Stephen Curry to take over. The emerging faces of the franchise rallied Golden State (42-26) 18-point deficit in the third quarter to cap a wild comeback while avoiding a three-game losing skid for the first time since November 20-23 of this season.

Thompson, absent from Friday’s 103-94 loss to attend his grandfather’s funeral in the Bahamas, and Curry chipped in 15 points apiece in the fourth quarter, scoring 30 of 36 Warrior points in the pivotal period. The guards combined for 64 points, including 28 second-half points for Curry and 23 for Thompson to push the Dubs to their 15th triumph in 21 tries away from the friendly confines of Oracle Arena. The dominant road run is the first of its kind in franchise history.

After Curry’s 37 points and Thompson’s 27, including the eventual game-winner, David Lee finished third on the team with 16 points in only 24 minutes of play. Warriors forward Draymond Green had a team-high eight rebounds before fouling out. Damian Lillard led Portland (43-24) with 26 points while Nicolas Batum added 23 of his own to accompany a game-best 14 rebounds. Blazers center Robin Lopez converted a double-double as well, collecting 10 rebounds and 14 points. LaMarcus Aldridge sat out his second-consecutive game with a lower back contusion suffered in a 103-90 Blazers loss at San Antonio Wednesday.

Golden State opened the game again struggling to address the woes that sparked Friday’s closed-doors discussion. The Warriors found themselves trailing the team directly above them in the standings 55-44 at the half Sunday night. Portland, entering play with a 3.5 games ahead of the Warriors for fifth in the Western Conference, built on its first half success in the third. The Blazers took their largest cushion of the night, an 18-point separation, after Nicolas Batum hit a three to make it 70-52 Blazers 4:11 into the quarter. The Dubs chipped away with a 25-15 run over the final four-plus minute stretch to cut the deficit to 85-77, setting up the thrilling fourth-quarter momentum shift.

12 minutes away from only what would be only the second three-game losing streak all season, Golden State rallied to tie the game at 96-all with just over half a quarter. The Warriors evened the score courtesy of string of play where the Dubs limited Portland to 11 points while scoring 19 of their own over the first half of the final period of play. After Curry hit the free throw on Portland coach Terry Stotts’ technical foul, Thompson connected on only the second of two attempts from the charity stripe to give the Warriors their first lead since the first quarter now standing six minutes from the final whistle.

The lead changed hands five times over the next 5:49 of game time before Thompson,who arrived in the States late Saturday night, buried a three with just 11 seconds remaining on the clock to swing the scoreboard in  the Warriors’ favor 113-111. Golden State’s Andre Iguodala fouled Batum on a bid to even the game with five ticks left on the clock but the Blazers forward missed the potential tying shot after getting the first free throw to fall. Batum followed his miss and came up with the rebound, but his three-pointer from far out fell a few feet short of the basket as the buzzer sounded for Portland’s fifth loss in six games.

Warriors Center Andrew Bogut departed the game with 6:22 to play after suffering an apparent ankle injury on a layup attempt. Warriors coach Mark Jackson dismissed any concerns about the Aussie’s health, saying that Bogut asked to be subbed back in. Barring any setbacks, he should be on the Oracle Arena floor Tuesday night when the Warriors take on the Orlando Magic.

Warriors squander fast start, lose an ugly one to the Cavs 103-94

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By Gabe Schapiro

The Golden State Warriors (41-26) only managed to put together one good quarter, ultimately falling to the Cleveland Cavaliers (26-40), 103-94, Friday night, at Oracle Arena. Early on Golden State led by as many as 18, only to find themselves down by as many as 16 in the second half of the contest. The disappointing loss snaps a five game home winning streak for the Warriors. Klay Thompson missed a rare game to attend his grandfathers’ funeral, and it appeared that his presence was missed. At times it appeared that Stephen Curry was playing by himself, and they simply couldn’t get stops when they had to.

The Warriors got off to a lightning fast start, opening up a 20-4 lead within the first six minutes of the game. The Cavaliers composed themselves a bit, but were still looking up at a 32-16 deficit heading into the second quarter. All five Golden State starters had an assist, and the bench scored four field goals, more than they did in the entire contest against the Los Angeles Clippers two days ago.

That’s where most of the good news would end for the Warriors, however, as Cleveland caught fire and Golden State’s wheels all but flew off. In the second frame the Dubs were badly outplayed, and helped the Cavaliers case with far too many turnovers. Heading into the locker room the Warriors lead had shrunk to just one point, at 53-52.

Unfortunately for Golden State, the third quarter was more of the same. Their mistakes didn’t stop, which led to them being outscored 68-39 in the second and third quarters combined. Heading into the final 12 minutes, the Warriors found themselves down 84-71.

Golden State tried to put together some semblance of a comeback, but nine points would be as close as they could get to the lead. Cleveland finished out the game with relative ease, in one of the Warriors more disappointing losses of the season.

Curry had a pretty strong game amidst the sloppy play, finishing with a game-high 27 points and eight assists. He was five-of-10 from beyond the arc, and added three steals. Draymond Green was fantastic off the bench for another glimmer of a bright spot, tying a career-high with 18 points, to go along with nine rebounds and as always good hustle defense. The most glaring stat of the night, however, was probably the Warriors 17 turnovers.

For the Cavs Spencer Hawes was a force in the paint, posting a double-double. He had a team-high 22 points, and a game-high 13 rebounds. Their young backcourt of Kyrie Irving and Dion Waiters had good games as well, combining to score 34 points, dish out eight rebounds, and grab five steals.

The Warriors followed up a five-game win streak by losing their last two. They’ll look to get back to their winning ways this Sunday, March 16, against the Portland Trail Blazers.

Lee, Thompson lead Warriors over Dragic, Green and Suns

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By Joe Hawkes

OAKLAND — The Golden State Warriors went on a 21-2 run (38-17 overall) in the third quarter and held on tight, picking up their fourth straight win 113-107 over the Phoenix Suns Sunday night in front of sold out 19,596 fans at Oracle Arena.

David Lee finished with game-highs of 26 points and nine rebounds on 11 for 18 in 37 minutes, and looked tremendous attacking the basket. Klay Thompson scored 13 of his 22 points in the third quarter. Thompson was 9 for 15 from the field, including 4 for 6 on 3s.

Stephen Curry added 18 points and a game-high nine assists on 7 for 16 from the field while dealing with a strained right quad. Golden State shot a blistering 52.9-percent from the field (45 for 85), while the bench outscored Phoenix’s bench, 36-28.

Draymond Green was the high-man for Golden State off the bench with 13 points.

Phoenix had no answer for Golden State inside, allowing the Warriors to hold a 50-36 edge in points in the paint.

Gerald Green had 25 points and six rebounds, while backcourt mate Goran Dragic added 24 and six assists for Phoenix (36-26), who drop into a tie with the Memphis Grizzlies for the eighth spot in the Western Conference playoffs.

With the win, Golden State (40-24) improves to 9-2 since the All-Star break, and moves two games ahead of the Dallas Mavericks (38-26) for the sixth spot in the Western Conference.

Golden State hosts Dirk Nowitzki and the Mavericks on Tuesday.Klay Thompson

Warriors Stiff Hawks Despite Thompson’s Early Exit With Back Stiffness

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By Matthew Harrington

Golden State received a major scare on Friday night, but the visiting Atlanta Hawks weren’t the ones striking fear into the Warriors, nor scoreboard a factor as it was during the last engagement between the two teams. The Dubs skated to a 111-97 win at Oracle Arena this time out, outscoring the Hawks (26-34) in three of four quarters, a far departure from the 101-100 dramatic win in Atlanta in January. The drama from the evening, however, came six minutes into play when guard Klay Thompson shuffled off the court with a back injury, sitting out the rest of the evening.

The Warriors stated that Thompson, a talent on the cusp on super-stardom, was held out as a precautionary measure. His streak of 211 consecutive regular-season appearances, a franchise record, does not appear to be in jeopardy.  Despite only six minutes of playing time, Thompson still managed a point-per-minute output, going 2-for-5 from the field with a pair of free throws.

David Lee topped the Dubs with 18 points in 25 minutes while Andre Iguodala and Stephen Curry contributed 13 points apiece. Curry lead the Warriors with seven assists, while center Andrew Bogut had a team-high nine rebounds. Golden State (39-24) connected on over half of their bids from the floor, hitting 43-of-80 from the field for a 54.8 shooting percentage. They also out-rebounded the Hawks 44-36.

Forward Paul Millsap had 16 points and seven boards, both highs for the Hawks, after missing the previous five games with a knee injury. Fellow forward Mike Scott added 14 points. Scott also provided the comedy for the evening, losing his shoe put proceeding to make a three-pointer on the play.

The first quarter saw even play as the Warriors closed out the first 12 minutes with a single-point, 32-31 lead. It appeared to be more of the same for the 2nd quarter, with the Warriors grasping to a 48-46 lead five minutes from the half. Atlanta would be held to just six points over the closing 300 seconds to head to the half in a 66-52 hole.

The Hawks outscored the Warriors 25-19 in the third, the only instance of Atlanta outscoring its hosts in a quarter Friday night. The final frame of regulation opened on a down note for the visitors though as they failed to put a point on the board until Shelvin Mack hit a jumper with 5:07 left to play. By then the Warriors held a decisive 97-79 margin, allowing Golden State to withstand an 18-12 Atlanta run over the waning minutes of play to come out victorious.

Friday marked the first home game for the Warriors after their second-longest road trip of the season, a six-game swing that saw them go 4-2 against Eastern Conference foes. In a flip of scheduling, the Warriors will only play two of the remaining 10 games in March on the road. They continue the three-game home set with a tilt against Phoenix Sunday before the Dallas Mavericks come to Oakland Tuesday night. The Dubs, winners of eight of their last ten, currently sit in sixth place in the Western Conference standings and are four games back of the Los Angeles Clippers for the Pacific Division lead.

Warriors finish off road trip 4-2 with blowout win in Boston

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By Joe Hawkes

BOSTON — One night after Klay Thompson’s game-winning jumper for a 98-96 win in Indiana, Golden State didn’t need any theatrics in Boston to throttle the Celtics 108-88 Wednesday night.

Golden State had five players score in double figures led by David Lee and Klay Thompson, who each scored 18. Lee had a team-high 10 rebounds and the Warriors outscored the Celtics 58-32 in the paint.

Stephen Curry added 14 points on 6 for 10 shooting, and Jordan Crawford chipped in 15 off the bench for Golden State, who outscored Boston 31-18 in the second quarter and carried a 61-40 lead at halftime.

It was a thing a beauty to watch the Warriors share and protect the ball tonight, finishing with 28 assists to only 11 turnovers. For a team that has been plague with turnovers, Golden State moved the ball tonight with fluidity and confidence that you didn’t see earlier in the season.

Golden State forced 12 turnovers (8 ST, 6 BS), while holding Boston to 36-percent shooting (13 for 36) in the first half. It was the 21st time this season that the Warriors have held an opponent to under 40-percent from the field.

In the end of the third quarter, the Warriors found themselves up by 31 with a 80-49 lead and never looked back after two Thompson jumpers.

With the win, Golden State (38-22) finished their six-game road trip 4-2, and improved to 14-5 in their last 19 road games, a feat that no other team in franchise history has ever accomplished.

Boston (20-41)  were led by Kelly Olynyk’s 19 points, while Rajon Rondo added 14 points and seven assists, but committed seven of Boston’s 22 turnovers for the game.

Brandon Bass and Jared Sullinger each finished with 11 points and Jerryd Bayless added 10 for the Celtics, who have lost seven of their past eight games.

Golden State with a day off Thursday, the Warriors play 13 of their final 20 games at Oracle Arena beginning Friday against the Atlanta Hawks.

Thompson’s Game-Winner, 16 4th-Quarter Points Pace Warriors Over NBA’s Best In Indiana

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By Matthew Harrington

The enigmatic road trip continued for the Golden State Warriors Tuesday night when the host Indiana Pacers, owners of an NBA-best home record of 29-4 at Bankers Life Fieldhouse, narrowly snatched victory out of the jaws of defeat. Klay Thompson’s 25 points, including the game-winning jumper with .6 seconds remaining, willed the Warriors to a 98-96 decision over Indiana (46-14), owners of the top record in the association, despite Golden State blowing a 13-point lead with a half dozen minutes remaining in the fourth quarter.

Thompson rallied the Warriors (37-24) to the win with a 16 point fourth quarter when fellow guard Stephen Curry, the usual bell cow in the clutch for Golden State, went ice cold. Curry finished the night with 19 points, all scored in the first three quarters. Andrew Bogut and David Lee were hemmed in by the Pacers league-best defense for a combined 14 points and 11 rebounds. Pacers forward David West dropped a game-high 27 points while Paul George added 26 of his own. George completed the double-double with a game-best 12 rebounds.

Despite the Pacers topping practically every defensive metric available, the Warriors still connected on close to their season average in field goal percentage (45.5 percent), hitting 44 percent Tuesday on 37 makes out of 84 attempts. The Dubs hit exactly half of their shots from beyond the arc, going 10-for-20 from downtown and their bench outscored the Pacers reserves 34-11.

The Warriors took their first lead, 10-8, after Curry connected on a layup 4:15 into play before Paul George hit a three to restore the Indy edge. Led by a seven-point run from Curry, the Warriors closed out the final seven minutes of the first quarter outscoring Indiana 15-10, finding themselves up 25-21 after 12 minutes of play. The Warriors netted 23 second quarter points to the Pacers 21 to establish a 48-42 cushion at the half.

Indiana pulled within one, 51-50, just 2:18 into the second half and took their first lead since the first quarter two minutes later after Lance Stephenson hit a two-pointer with 4:32 of the clock and the scoreboard reading 56-54 Pacers. The Warriors closed out the final three minutes of the third on a 10-7 run to lead 73-70 three-fourths of the way through play.

The initial six minutes of the fourth and final frame were all Warriors, as they notched 19 points to the Pacers 9, but the home team held the guests to only two field goals in the final five minutes to draw even 96-96 after George hit his second of two free throws with just over a minute left. Klay Thompson’s buzzer beater, a turn-around jumper off a Draymond Green feed, would be the only basket made over the final minute of play, handing the Warriors their first triumph in Indiana since February of 2007.

With Tuesday’s win, the Warriors guarantee they will finish the second-longest road trip of the season going at least .500 after picking up wins in Brooklyn, Detroit and Indiana while falling to Chicago and Toronto. The Warriors can complete the road swing with a fourth win in a Wednesday night swing in Boston to complete the current six-game road set.

Raptors hold off Warriors behind DeRozan’s 32 points

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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.