The Golden State Warriors (51-14) beat San Antonio Spurs (37-28) to a narrow 110:107 (BOXSCORE). However, Stephen Curry was injured after just a few minutes. But Kevin Durant took over, who couldn’t be stopped in the fourth quarter.
The Warriors had to deal with a little shock early on. Stephen Curry stepped onto Dejounte Murray’s foot after less than three minutes on the drive, unluckily bending over. The playmaker still wet his free throws, but did not return. The Dubs gave a slight all-clear and explained during the game that it was just a sprain. However, for the fourth time since December, curry has been bent over with his right ankle.
But even with curry, the Dubs had a hard time on the offensive, only in the 13th minute. Trial from the field brought the first field goal. The Warriors took too many throws, which were well defended by the Spurs and missed one after the other the free next man. However, the Spurs could not benefit from this – on the contrary. Thanks to the strong Kevin Durant, the Warriors gained a two-digit lead.
It wasn’t until the second quarter that the offense of the Spurs kicked off. Davis Bertans scuttled a few threesomes, and now LaMarcus Aldridge was also better integrated. The Power Forward already had a double-double on the credit side at the break with 14 points and 10 rebounds and was one of the reasons why the Spurs went into the break with a small lead (50:46).
Even after the switch, the guests remained dominant and prevented the Warriors from starting one of their dreaded races in the third quarter. LMA pocketed all five of his throws in the section and through a 9-0 run, including Tony Parker’s 4 points, the Spurs went into the last 12 minutes with an 87-78 lead.
The Warriors were only just over 40 percent out of the field at that time, but at the beginning of the fourth quarter, the situation was overshadowed. The lead of the Spurs shrank again because the previously cold Klay Thompson (a total of 13 points, 5/16 FG) hit his throws. LMA was now doubled, but the Spurs overplayed this with a lot of movement, a 6:0-run gave the guests some air.
This was also necessary because Durant took over finally. The final MVP scored 14 points at a time and equalled two minutes before the end to 105:105, Draymond Green took the lead a little later. This lasted because Aldridge couldn’t counteract. Thompson netted his two free throws, but then Green LMA fouled at the threesome. The forward only hit two freebies, but Durant missed a shot on the other side and left the door open for San Antonio with a three-point lead from the Dubs for 2.3 seconds on the clock.
The Spurs took their last break and recorded a great play, but the wide open Bryn Forbes could not send the game into overtime with his throw.
The best scorer of the Spurs was the outstanding Aldridge, who scored 17 rebounds in addition to his 30 points. Parker made up for his role as a backup and played 11 counters and 7 assists. Rudy Gay scored 10 points coming from the bank, Murray scored 14 points. The Warriors were carried by the outstanding KD (37,14/26 FG, 11 Rebounds), Draymond Green (11,12 Rebounds, 10 Assists) recorded a triple double.