The Golden State Warriors (11-8) were back home at Oracle Arena after a four-game road trip, and appeared to be in for a relatively easy win against the lowly Toronto Raptors (6-11) on Tuesday.
Perhaps feeling a bit complacent, they came out flat and watched the Raptors take a surprising 36-19 lead after the first quarter. Stephen Curry had just three points after the first half, and things only got worse in the third quarter when the Warriors’ deficit ballooned to 27 points. DeMar DeRozan was simply unstoppable at times and scored a team-high 26 points. The Warriors kept fighting, though, and managed to cut the deficit to 18 points at the end of the third. From there, they took complete control of the game.
Curry went on a big run to end the night with 27 points, 10 assists and five steals. After struggling for much of the game, Klay Thompson couldn’t miss a shot when it mattered and ended his night with 22 points and seven assists. Golden State collectively out-hustled the Raptors on seemingly every possession with Draymond Green and Jermaine O’Neal running rampant, and managed to outscore them 42-15 in the final period for the improbable 112-103 victory.
Harrison Barnes, who helped put the game away with a 3-pointer with about a minute left in the contest, had an appropriate reaction following the game:
Crazy TEAM win lol
— Harrison Barnes (@HBarnes) December 4, 2013
A crazy win, indeed.
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James Park is the chief blogger of Sheridan Hoops. You can find him on twitter @SheridanBlog.