OAKLAND — Finally home in their comfortable surroundings, the Golden State Warriors turned in a dreadful clunker of a performance but still managed a 106-104 win over the Philadelphia 76ers.
Riding an anxious but revved up crowd, Draymond Green’s defense and resurgent fourth quarter shooting from Steph Curry, the Warriors rallied from down 15 points to get the result they wanted in the win column, but the play on the court the first three quarters resembled a basketball team still out of sorts.
Up 104-103 with one minute left to play, it took two Green free throws, a monster block underneath the basket and bad Philadelphia in-bounds pass with 8 seconds left to finish off the Sixers. Green finished with 6 blocks and 4 steals on the defensive end, in addition to 20 points, 8 assists and 8 rebounds. Just a gem of a game from Draymond. His energy and intensity bails out the Warriors once again.
Shooting woes continued, though, as did the team’s uneven adjustment to life without Kevin Durant. The Warriors are now 3-4 since their star player injured his leg Feb. 28 in Washington.
The win snapped the Warriors’ first three-game losing streak since 2013 and the team sits a half game above the Spurs in the Western Conference standings. As documented by KNBR morning host Brian Murphy, the No. 2 seed is looking more and more realistic every day.
The Sixers increased their lead from 5, to 10, to 15 by the end of the third quarter. Golden State defensive breakdowns were followed by turnovers; missed layups and deep jumpers clanked off the iron in a 36.8 shooting night from the floor. Philadelphia pummeled the Warriors inside with Jahlil Okafor and Richaun Holmes, relentlessly attacking the rim and the glass. The Warriors had no answers for likely rookie of the year candidate Dario Saric, who scored 25 points. Golden State was caught off guard by the assault.
The fourth quarter is where the Warriors would finally get their act together with a patented blitzkrieg run. The open looks stopped for the Sixers, with Green and Andre Iguodala hounding Saric and Okafor. Shaun Livingston and David West were hitting pull-up jumpers. All of a sudden a fast start in the fourth quarter erupted into a 15-2 run and a one-point lead.
At first, it looked as if Curry’s 29th birthday party at Oracle Arena was going to leave a sour taste in his mouth. Wearing promotional Under Armour birthday kicks and having been serenaded by fans, Curry started the game 4-for-17 from the floor. At the end of the third quarter, Curry had a wide open look on a corner 3, but rimmed the shot out as time expired.
Fueled by the crowd and renewed defensive energy, Curry fed off the chaos, scoring 12 of his 29 points in the fourth quarter. How could we forget Klay Thompson, who kept this thing manageable in the second and third quarters with 28 points on a 5-for-9 clip from downtown.
The Warriors home stand continues Thursday night against the Orlando Magic.