All of the above made pertinent contributions Saturday night, only to have Andrew Bogut coming off the bench and out of the hazy past to remind everyone of his relevance in exterminating the stunningly recalcitrant Brooklyn Nets.
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After surviving a 4-foot buzzer miss by Brook Lopez, the Warriors then blitzed Brooklyn with a 10-0 run to start the overtime en route to a 107-99 victory that left them 11-0.
Shooting guard Klay Thompson was out for the Warriors with back stiffness, leaving the Dubs without their best defender. Neither would the Nets.
If Andre Iguodala hadn’t drained a 3-pointer with 5.9 seconds on the clock to force overtime, it wouldn’t have happened. When Curry gets on a hot streak, single-handedly changing the momentum and demoralising opponents, teams may try the Hack-A-Curry just to slow him down. When it comes to Golden State, I see the talent and I see last season’s title, but do they have the mental prerequisite that’s required to win 72 games in a season?
Curry was fouled behind the arc by Jack with 13.11 seconds, which allowed the Warriors to tie the score at 54-all before Young made a 19-footer with 4.2 seconds before intermission to give Brooklyn a 54-52 lead at the break.
Yet when teams push up on Curry or send multiple defenders, he can either bust by them and into the paint for a higher-percentage shot, or kick the ball to an open teammate for another high-percentage look. “The way our offense is set up, everybody has to be ready at any given moment”.
And the streaks remain intact. He later missed a game-winning attempt as time expired in the first overtime.
The Warriors will host the Toronto Raptors on Tuesday as they debut their “The City” jerseys.
Stephen Curry surpassed his dad’s record with about three minutes left in the third quarter of the Warrior’s game against the Nets, jacking up his total to 1,246 which is just one more than where his father left off.
That will make the Warriors’ defensive challenge tougher if Thompson can’t go.
“We’ve got a bunch of smart players on our team”, Iguodala said.
It took a good long while, but several Warriors rose to the occasion. He scored eight points in less than 1 minute early in the fourth quarter to get Cleveland back in the game. He had by far his best game of the season with 10 points, 18 rebounds, four assists, three blocks and two steals. “We escaped that one”.
“We’ve given ourselves a chance, and we know that we can compete at the highest level”. “But I ended up shooting 16 threes so I’m not very coachable for my Pops”.
“I think he’s setting the new standard as a shooter in this league”, Walton said. But it was fun while it lasted, right? Leandro Barbosa might have gotten the call, but he was in Brazil for a family matter.
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“Andre plays his best when you need him to”, interim head coach Luke Walton said. “The National Basketball Association is such a global game now that it touches home even when it’s not on USA soil”. “Our prayers and thoughts are with those people right now”.
