Andre Iguodala, Klay Thompson, Stephen Curry spark Warriors’ win
Late in the Warriors’ 106-94 win Sunday night over the Grizzlies, after hammering home a two-handed dunk, Andre Iguodala hung onto the rim and unleashed a yell.
In those final 12 minutes, after ending the third quarter with a two-point lead, the Warriors shut off driving lanes and held the Grizzlies to 13 points on 5-for-25 shooting.
Outside of point guard Mike Conley, Memphis’ starters combined to miss all five of their shots.
With one of their most grueling stretches of the season looming, the Warriors extended their winning streak to seven games.
“We just picked up our intensity” in the fourth quarter, head coach Steve Kerr said.
With Kevin Durant again watching from the bench, the Warriors overcame 18 turnovers with torrid shooting.
Klay Thompson scored 21 of his game-high 31 points after halftime and hit seven three-pointers.
Iguodala, who has been vital since Durant sustained a left knee injury Feb. 28 in Washington, poured in 20 points on 7-for-8 shooting to go with seven rebounds, four assists and two steals.
Stephen Curry was a sound distributor and, simply by commanding defensive attention, freed Thompson and Iguodala for open looks.
Two of his five three-pointers came in that fourth quarter, which improved the Warriors to 23-2 this season when holding teams to fewer than 100 points.
A year after its fourth-quarter dominance helped pave the way to an NBA-record 73 regular-season wins, Golden State often has deviated down the stretch from what it does best.
The extra passes and switching on defense that define Kerr’s tenure can give way to sloppiness in pivotal moments.
A Warriors team that boasts an average scoring margin of 11.6 points per game has outscored opponents by only 0.2 of a point in the fourth quarter.
No late-game collapse has been more stunning this season than the Warriors’ Jan. 6 overtime loss to Memphis, in which they squandered a 24-point, second-half lead at Oracle Arena.
After surrendering 81 points on 55 percent shooting through the first three quarters, Golden State put hands on shooters and defended the paint when it mattered most.
Iguodala’s driving dunk with 45 seconds left sent fans toward the exits.
Golden State prevented the Grizzlies from becoming the first team to beat it three times in a regular season since the Spurs in 2013-14.
The Warriors leave Monday for a back-to-back road set against Houston and San Antonio, the two teams following them in the conference standings.
[...] it’s back home for games against the Rockets and Washington (45-28).
If the Warriors and Spurs tie for first, San Antonio gets the No. 1 seed in the Western Conference because it has won the season series, leading 2-0 with one game remaining.