NBA: Golden State Warriors at Philadelphia 76ers

The Warriors were at point accustomed to being the under dog, but with the best record in the NBA that is no longer the case. Today, they faced one of the worst teams in the league and they would need to put them away quickly if they want to avoid a David and Goliath type of upset.

Andre Iguodala returns to his first home and the Warriors will be looking to get their 41st win of the season. The Sixers are an athletic bunch that have played better as of late, so you can’t take them lightly. They’ve won four straight home games.

Here’s our instant recap for those of you who missed the game.

1st Quarter

The Sixers came out and knocked down their first couple of buckets, but the Warriors came back to tie the game at four very quickly. The shots weren’t falling for the Warriors and the Sixers were playing with great confidence, they quickly went up by six. Harrison Barnes had five points in a row, plus Klay Thompson hit a triple of his own and the game was tied. It took the Warriors over two minutes to get another point on the board and the Sixers had all the momentum. For the next few minutes of the quarter both teams were making buckets, so the lead kept changing. However, the Warriors were held scoreless in the last two minutes of the quarter and the Sixers took a 24-20 lead into the second.

2nd Quarter

You expected the Warriors to turn it up another gear and pull away from these pesky Sixers, but it wouldn’t happen at the beginning of the second quarter. The Sixers hit a basket and couple of free throws and the lead was up to eight. After one minute, the second unit finally woke this team up. Leandro had six consecutive points and the lead was down to four. Marreese Speights and Andre Iguodala each had buckets and the game was tied at 30 with a little over nine minutes left in the half. The game then slowed down quite a bit, both teams couldn’t buy a basket. Iguodala got things going again and he dropped five unanswered points and Bogut chipped in with four and the Warriors led 41-36. Surprisingly, the Sixers would come back to tie the game. A Curry triple and a monster slam helped the Warriors take a 46-44 lead into the break.

3rd Quarter

It’s been a frustrating game for the Warriors, you expect them to pick up the pace and extend their lead to 20, but you have to give credit to the 76ers, they played good basketball. It took the Dubs two minutes to finally get on the board in the second half. Luckily for the Warriors, the Sixers could not score the ball either and after a Steph triple and Barnes bucket, the Dubs had the biggest lead of the game, nine. Back to back triples from the Philly cut the lead to five. The Dubs were shooting under 40 percent, otherwise they would be up by double digits. The Warriors couldn’t hold on to the nine point lead and the Sixers made a late push at the end of the third. A 6-2 run put the score at 67-61 as they entered the fourth.

4th Quarter

Mo Speights got things going for the Dubs in the final period. His had two quick baskets and the lead was up to 10. The second unit did something the starters couldn’t, extend the lead to double digits and not allow the Sixers to crawl back into the game. It was a 14-2 run and it came from a mix of Warrior players. This second unit was playing Warrior basketball, they just had to sustain it until the end of the game. Of course the Sixers responded with a run of their own. Philly went on a 9-0 run and the lead was down to a manageable nine. To make matters worse, Covington was fouled while shooting a three and made all of his free throws, cutting the lead to six. Five minutes remained and the crowd was back into it. The Sixers cooled off a bit and could not continue the run. The Warriors held on and won 89-84.