March 3, 2018: Golden State Game Recap
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Jonas Valanciunas sinks this go ahead bucket with 18 seconds left in the game. But would Nashville be able to hold on for the win?
Following our tough win on the road vs. the Timberwolves our guys had a 2 hour flight back home before taking on the 3rd seed in the West, the Golden State Warriors.
Again, this was going to be another tough game. The Warriors were just getting Klay Thompson back from an injury. An early injury to Steph Curry and Thompson’s recent injury are the only reasons why the Warriors aren’t one of the top 2 seeds in the West. Once Thompson went down, the Warriors started a 3 week long slump as they went 1-8 just before the all-star break.
Just like we suspected, with Thompson back, the Warriors were extremely tough to deal with. When you play the Warriors, no lead is ever safe.
For the first half, both teams went back and forth. I’m not joking. Literally all half, the two teams pretty much traded baskets.
The 3rd Quarter was easily the most exciting quarter of basketball probably all year. Both teams were lights out from the floor. The Warriors shot 64% from the floor while we shot 71% from the floor. It was some of the best offensive basketball, by both teams, that I’ve seen.
Now, I’m just going to jump straight into the final 5-6 minutes of this game. This game would make for one of the better games that will be played this year.
With about 5:58 left in the game, we held a 97-88 lead. Remember when I said no lead is safe vs. the Warriors? This is why.
Golden State had just called a timeout because Dennis Smith had scored his game high 28th point to push the lead to 97-88. We had stopped them on 5 straight possessions and I could tell we let up a little bit coming out of the timeout. Right out of the timeout, Curry drains a 3. Westbrook gets blocked at the rim by Capella. The Warriors start a fast break, find Klay Thompson open in the corner for a 3. Just like that, it’s 97-94. After a shot by Myles Turner didn’t fall, the Warriors set up their offense and just before the shot clock expired, Curry banged home another 3. So within a minute and a half, they had completely erased a 9 point deficit.
On their following possession they took a lead as Curry made a jump shot. On our following possession Dennis Smith missed a 3, but Valanciunas got the offensive rebound. Valanciunas then passed the ball to Turner at the top of the key. Turner then passed the ball to Westbrook who was wide open in the corner and Westbrook drained the 3. We now had the 100-99 lead with 3:45 left in the game.
After trading baskets for the next two minutes, the Warriors then jumped out to a 110-106 lead with 1:42 left in the game. We weren’t going to go down without a fight though.
Russell Westbrook made a contested layup to bring the score to 110-108. On the Warriors next possession, Klay Thompson’s wide open 3 rimmed out. Valanciunas grabbed the board, passed the ball to Westbrook. Westbrook then passed the ball across the court to Josh Jackson who was wide open in the corner for the 3. Jackson swished the 3 with 45 seconds remaining and we took the 111-110 lead.
15 seconds later Klay Thompson drained a closely contested fade away jumper to give the Warriors the lead.
On our ensuing possession, Westbrook dribbled the ball at the top of the key before passing it into the post to Valanciunas. He had great position on Clint Capela. Valanciunas backed up Capela and made a turn-around hook shot to give us the lead with 18 seconds left.
Golden State called their final timeout as they found themselves trailing 113-112 with 18 seconds left in the game.
The Warriors called a play to free up Klay Thompson for an open shot. However, Josh Jackson got around the pick and denied the pass. Curry then passed it to Jeff Teague who took the final shot. Teague threw up a fade away, VERY tightly contested 3, which hit the rim and bounced off as time expired.
We kept fighting all game long and we were able to come away with the exciting 113-112 win over one of the better teams in the Western Conference.
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07-04-2017, 03:58 PM
