Warriors get 14th straight road win.
Golden State surges ahead in third quarter, wins 14th straight away game
CHICAGO >> No matter how ugly they play, the Warriors carve out a time where they can usually camouflage their past mistakes.
That moment this season has usually happened in the third quarter, where the Warriors walk back onto the court with a more talented roster, more focused mindset and more halftime adjustments. As a result, the Warriors put together a show that led to 119-112 victory over the Chicago Bulls on Wednesday.
“It wasn’t our finest hour,” Warriors coach Steve Kerr said. “But we had our moments in the third quarter.”
Fortunately for the Warriors (36-10), that secured a 14th consecutive road victory to match the franchise’s longest road winning streak that they also set in the 2015-16 season. The Warriors did so as Klay Thompson (seasonhigh 38 points on 12-of-22 shooting) and Stephen Curry (30 points on 10-of-18 shooting) scored at least 30 points in the same game for the 11th time in their NBA careers, while Kevin Durant added 19 points albeit on a 6-of-15 clip. Kerr likened the game to an “oldschool Splash Brothers game.”
“It can be anyone of us that can go off at any night,” Thompson said. “Tonight it was me and Steph. Saturday — Kevin and Steph. Maybe next game — me and Kevin. Who knows. It’s like a crap shoot.”
Unfortunately for the Warriors, their improved second-half performance could not erase the most notable thing that happened in the first half.
Only 24 seconds into the game, Jordan Bell sprained his left ankle after landing awkwardly on it as he unsuccessfully defended Chicago center Robin Lopez as he threw down a one-handed dunk.
Bell was then taken to the locker room in a wheelchair. Though X-rays came out negative, the Warriors diagnosed Bell with a sprained left ankle and that he would not return to the
game. Bell is scheduled to receive an MRI sometime Thursday. Afterward, Bell walked around with both a walking boot and crutches.
“I’m good. It’s not broken,” Bell said. “I’ve had worse injuries so that’s good.”
Bell had surgery to treat a broken right foot at the end of his freshman season at Oregon. The Warriors will not have definitive answers until Thursday. As Kerr noted, though, “the initial news we’re getting is halfway decent; so we’ll keep our fingers crossed.”
Earlier Wednesday, Bell vowed his 11th start for an injured Draymond Green (sore right shoulder) was “just another game” despite playing in Chicago for the first time. When Bell started against the Bulls in Oakland in late November, Bell flashed money signs in reference to Golden State giving $3.5 million to Chicago for the rights to its 38th pick that ultimately was used to select Bell.
Danny Parkins, the host of the Chicago-based sports talk show on 670 The Score, approached Bell before the game in the locker room and gave him a Chicago-themed T-shirt that read “$3.5 million on the back.” Bell respectfully declined to pose for a picture wearing the T-shirt, with proceeds going to charity. But Bell expressed amusement over the gesture. Nearly an hour later, Bell suffered an injury.
“Man. Oh my god. It’s like a story line happening,” Bell said. “It’s crazy how that happened. But we still got the win.”
Afterward, the Warriors labored without the key absences of Green and Andre Iguodala (left calf contusion).
The Bulls (17-28) held a 66-63 halftime lead by playing like the Warriors. Chicago shot 25-of54 from the field (46.3), posted 18 points in the paint and converted on 16 fast-break points.
“Our style of play wears teams down through the course of 48 minutes,” Curry said. “We know we get everybody’s best shot. So that first half, everybody is hyped up.”
Then, the third quarter started and everything turned.
The Warriors led 77-72 after going on a 14-6 run through the 8:02 mark, prompting Chicago to call timeout. The Warriors then expanded the lead to 85-72 after cementing an 8-0 run through the 5:15 mark, resulting in another Bulls timeout. The Bulls went through a nearly seven-minute stretch without making a field goal.
The Warriors could not relax just yet. It appeared that would be the case after Thompson made consecutive 3-pointers to stretch the Warriors’ lead to 107-90 with 7:40 left in the game. But the Bulls cut the lead to 112107 with 2:52 remaining after completing a 17-5 run. Nonetheless, the Warriors had enough of a cushion thanks to their strong third-quarter performance.
“Whether it’s third quarter or fourth quarter, we usually wear teams out. That’s our calling card,” Curry said. “I like to say Coach has some pretty spirited halftime speeches.
Sometimes he gets into it. Sometimes he’ll make a joke. Sometimes he’ll say ‘I got nothing for you’ and we’ll watch film and keep it moving. It depends. We understand how to win games and how to take advantage of the full 48.”
• The chemistry between Curry and Durant goes beyond handling the bulk of the Warriors’ offensive production. It also involved both donating $10,000 toward Colin Kaepernick’s “million-dollar pledge” that entails the former NFL quarterback matching donations for various charitable causes.
“That opportunity to donate and rally around what Kaepernick stands for and his mission to better his community with financial resources is huge,” Curry said . “It’s a small gesture we all can do.”
Those small gestures are going to large causes. After spending the 2016 NFL season kneeling and sitting during the national anthem to protest police brutality and racial inequality, Kaepernick has donated $1 million toward various initiatives.
Kaepernick matched Durant’s $10,000 donation to Silicon Valley DeBug, which has initiated and led campaigns to advance the rights of youth, workers, immigrants and others impacted by the criminal justice system. Durant tweeted to Kaepernick, “Thank you for all that you do brother.”
Kaepernick matched Curry’s $10,000 donation to United Playaz, a violence prevention and youth development organization that has worked in San Francisco for 20 years. Curry has partnered with “United Playaz” in the past, noting the group has organized youth groups to attend his various events that including refurbishing a court in October at Bushrod Community Center.
“The leadership is always kind of present, making sure they are getting as many resources as they can in the communities they reach out to in Oakland,” Curry said. “A lot of it is centered around keeping kids off the streets really and into productive activities. We give them father figures to look up to.”