A big night off the bench from Jonas Jerebko and a clutch shot from Kevin Durant helped the Warriors from losing a big lead in the fourth quarter of Saturday's win over the Mavs.
The Warriors saw their 18-point advantage in the fourth quarter shrink to one, but a 3-pointer from Kevin Durant with 14.2 seconds left in the game provided some padding in a 120-116 victory over the Mavs on Saturday at Oracle Arena.
TEAM LEADERS
That the Warriors led by 18 points in the first place had a lot to do with the play of Jonas Jerebko. The first-year Dub provided a huge spark off the bench to finish with a career-high 23 points on 10-for-12 shooting. After trailing for nearly the entire first half, the Dubs went on a 9-0 run in the third quarter, during which the Dubs took a lead for good, and Jerebko’s imprints were all over it.
With the Dubs down four, Jerebko finished a reverse layup, and on the Dubs’ next possession he tipped in a miss while absorbing a blow to the face. The shot got the crowd into the game, and Jerebko made the ensuing free throw to put the Dubs in front. But Jerebko was far from being done impacting the game. His all-out hustle helped him track down a loose ball, and with the shot clock winding down, he dribbled into a pull-up jumper that rattled in and capped the 9-0 spurt for the Dubs.
"He had several plays that just got the crowd into it with his hustle," Head Coach Steve Kerr said. "He gave us a huge lift off the bench and it was a great night for him."
The Warriors seemed to be in command at that point, as they pushed their advantage to seven by the end of the third quarter, and stretched it to 18 in the fourth when Jerebko (who else, right?) finished a fast-break with a slam for his final points of the game with 7:51 left in the quarter.
The Dubs’ offense went stagnant from that point on, and the Mavs took advantage. Wesley Matthews had 13 points in the fourth quarter as the Mavs came within one when DeAndre Jordan made a free throw with a minute left in the game. Thankfully for the Dubs, Jordan went 1-for-2 from the stripe on that trip, and the Dubs dodged another bullet when former Warrior Harrison Barnes missed a decent look from 3-point range that would have put the Mavs in front.
The Warriors, four minutes removed from their prior made basket, put the ball in Kevin Durant’s hands. The two-time NBA Finals MVP used a screen from Draymond Green, and dribbled to his left to the same area on the floor as his classic NBA Finals Game 3 3-pointers. Durant launched and splashed home a 3-pointer to give the Dubs the four-point cushion with 14.2 seconds left.
The shot capped a 29-point effort for Durant, who also had 12 rebounds and eight assists for his 10th double-double of the season. Stephen Curry made six 3-pointers but needed 22 shots to get 22 points and Draymond Green matched his season-high with two made 3-pointers, both of which occurred in the first quarter of a 14-point, 10-rebound night.
With the win, the Dubs improve to 22-11 on the season, and they’ll look to improve upon that mark on Sunday when they complete the home back-to-back against the Los Angeles Clippers.
More notable moments from Wednesday's defeat:
- The Warriors improved to 22-11 (.667) overall and 14-3 (.824) at home... Golden State has won 12-straight games versus Dallas at home, their second-longest active streak against any opponent at Oracle Arena (14-straight wins over Phoenix)…The Warriors have won 18 of their last 20 games versus the Mavericks overall… Golden State is 10-1 (.909) versus the Western Conference at home this season and 12-7 (.632) overall… The Warriors have won six of their last seven games at home.
- With 120 points scored tonight, Golden State is now 12-1 (.923) this season when posting 120-plus points.
- Golden State dished out 34 assists and hold a record of 9-1 (.900) when recording 30-plus assists.
- The Warriors had three players score 20-or-more points (Kevin Durant – 29; Jonas Jerebko – 23; Stephen Curry – 22) for the seventh time this season (6-1 record in those games).
- With 15 made three-point baskets (on 43 attempts), Golden State is now 10-0 when making 15-plus shots from three.
- The Warriors recorded 54 rebounds and are now 6-0 when grabbing 50-plus rebounds in a game… Golden State recorded 54 rebounds to Dallas’ 46 and is now 18-3 (.857) when outrebounding its opponent.
- Golden State is now 14-3 in contests which Stephen Curry, Kevin Durant, Draymond Green and Klay Thompson all play this season.
- Tonight marked the first game of the Warriors sixth back-to-back set this season (3-3 record in first game of back-to-backs)… Golden State holds a record of 5-1 in the second game of back-to-backs going into tomorrow night’s game.
- The Warriors are now 5-0 when recording 25-plus fast break points (27 tonight) and are 14-4 (.778) when posting more fast break points than their opponent (Dallas – 11).
- DeMarcus Cousins (left Achilles rehab) and Damian Jones (left pectoral surgery) were out.
- With tonight’s sellout crowd of Oracle Arena (19,596), the Warriors have extended their streak of consecutive sellouts to 308… This marks the fourth longest active-sellout streak in the NBA.
- Kevin Durant scored a game-high 29 points (9-18 FG, 3-5 3FG, 8-8 FT) and a team-high 12 rebounds, his 10th double-double of the season… He added a game-high eight assists and one blocked shot.
- Stephen Curry recorded 22 points (19th outing of 20-plus points), five rebounds, five assists and two steals.
Draymond Green scored 14 points (fourth outing of double-digit scoring), adding 10 rebounds marking his third double-double of the season… He added five assists and two blocks. - Klay Thompson contributed 14 points, five rebounds, four assists, two steals and one block.
- Jonas Jerebko tallied a career-high 23 points (10-12 FG, 2-4 3FG), leading all reserves in scoring… Jerebko added six rebounds, three assists and one steal in 21 minutes... His 23 points mark the most points scored by a Warriors reserve this season (previous: 20, Jerebko, 11/29 at TOR).