After trailing by as many as 11 points in the fourth quarter, the Warriors came all the way back to beat the Milwaukee Bucks 121-112 on Friday night.
After trailing by as many as 11 points in the fourth quarter, the Warriors came all the way back to beat the Milwaukee Bucks 121-112 on Friday night. Klay Thompson paced Golden State with 27 points. Stephen Curry added 26 points, 10 rebounds and nine assists, while Draymond Green filled the stat sheet with 21 points, nine boards and eight assists. With the victory, the Warriors improve to 26-1 on the season.
GAME LEADERS
It wasn’t necessarily pretty, but the Warriors will take it. On a night when it appeared the Bucks might have their number for the second time in less than a week, Golden State gutted out a victory thanks to a strong fourth quarter push. Both sides played it close to start the game, with neither team able to gain more than a basket lead until Festus Ezeli’s putback gave the Warriors a 29-24 lead with 3:21 left in the first quarter. From there, however, the Bucks would close out the frame on a 12-4 run to take a 36-33 lead into the second quarter.
Milwaukee’s lead ballooned to eight after Giannis Antetokounmpo scored the first five points of the second quarter. That’s as large as the Warriors’ deficit would get until a 6-0 Bucks’ run put Milwaukee up 55-45 with 5:10 remaining in the half. At that point, Klay Thompson put the Warriors on his shoulders, scoring 11-straight points for Golden State to pull the Dubs within 66-56 with 1:52 left in the quarter. Two Miles Plumlee free throws with 24.9 seconds left would close out the scoring in the frame and send the game into halftime with the Bucks holding a 70-58 advantage. It marked the first time since January 17, 2014 that the Warriors gave up at least 70 points in the first half.
Things would get worse for Golden State before they got better, as Khris Middleton’s three-pointer gave the Bucks their largest lead of the entire game at 75-60 just 51 seconds into the second half. Little by little, however, the Warriors would scratch and claw their way back into the game. Ezeli’s hook shot began an 18-6 run for Golden State to pull within 81-78 with 4:33 left in the third frame. However, the Bucks immediately responded with a 12-5 run of their own to regain a bit of a cushion. Two Stephen Curry free throws with less than four seconds left sent the game into the fourth and final quarter with the Warriors trailing 93-85.
An alley-oop and a technical free throw would push Milwaukee’s lead to 11 early in the fourth quarter, but then the Warriors began to make their run. After O.J. Mayo’s floater put the Bucks up 100-89 with 9:19 left to play, Golden State responded with an 11-0 run to tie the game up at 100 with 6:09 remaining in the game. Less than a minute later, Ezeli’s dunk would put the Warriors up 103-102, and the Dubs would never trail again. Milwaukee would tie the game several times down the stretch, but Golden State always seemed to come up with an answer. After Greg Monroe’s layup tied things up for the final time at 108-108 with 2:28 remaining, the Warriors responded with a 7-0 run to put the game away for good. The Bucks would climb within five points of the Warriors with less than 25 seconds left, but some timely free throw shooting by Golden State erased any hopes of a last minute comeback. Ezeli’s two free throws in the final seconds gave the Warriors their largest lead of the game at 121-112, which would end up being the final score. With the victory, the Warriors improve to an NBA-best 26-1 on the season. Now 2-0 on their current five-game homestand, the Warriors will look to keep the momentum going when they host the Utah Jazz at Oracle Arena on Wednesday night.