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Steve Kerr didn't think he needed Draymond Green and Andre Iguodala to beat the Milwaukee Bucks on Saturday night. He was right.
Despite resting two key rotation players, the Warriors showed why they're the league's best team on Saturday night, dominating the Bucks on both ends en route to a not-as-close-as-it-looks 108-95 win. Steph Curry (8/13 fg, 6/9 threes, 25 points, 6 ast, 6 turnovers) and Klay Thompson (8/17 fg, 3/8 threes, 21 pts) weren't as consistently sharp as usual, but Golden State still shot 51% from the field and 48% from deep (12/25), with only turnovers (22) and the free throw line (-15) preventing Kerr's club from completely blowing the Bucks' doors off.
Those themes started early. Milwaukee offset a miserable 24% shooting first quarter by hitting 13/14 from the line, allowing them to hang in -- somewhat improbably -- 24-23 after 12 minutes. Just getting a decent look was a chore, and the Warriors seemed to challenge every shot at the rim with multiple bodies. Which is a problem; normally one guy is enough to throw off the likes of Zaza Pachulia and Ersan Ilyasova at the cup, but Andrew Bogut (3 blocks in 19 minutes) had plenty of company tonight, reiterating why the Warriors boast both the league's best offense and defense.
Unfortunately, the Bucks didn't find their range in the second either, and were probably lucky to only be down 48-38 at the intermission. Milwaukee hit just 1/7 from deep and 27% overall in the half, as Ilyasova followed up his career night on Thursday with an 0/7 start and MCW struggled mightily with 1/6 shooting and three turnovers in the first half. The Bucks briefly got within six early in the third, but Thompson then went off for 17 of his 21 in the period to effectively put the Bucks away.
Trailing by 19 after three, Milwaukee's reserves briefly got the game back within 11 early in the fourth thanks in large part to some signs of life form Jared Dudley (13 points, 6/10 shooting). But two threes from Curry punctuated a 17-7 run to end it once and for all.
The loss drops the Bucks back under .500 (36-37) with another stiff test coming up on Monday in Atlanta. But hey, On Wisconsin, right?
Giannis Watch
Not a bad night for Giannis Antetokounmpo, who hit 4/6 shots from both the field and the line to total 12 points in 30 minutes. Unfortunately, the Warriors were able to limit his opportunities in the halfcourt, and Giannis wasn't able to make a big impact in other phases of the game (3 rebs, 1 ast, 1 stl, 2 turnovers). Highlight-wise, he hooked up with Tyler Ennis for a nice alley-oop and buried a nice pull-up jumper in an iso situation later in the third, but then sat the final period as Jason Kidd went with his reserves the entirety of the fourth.
Ennis goes up top to Giannis for the ooooooooooop https://t.co/wYqv6hGvAN
— Frank Madden (@brewhoop) March 29, 2015