Warriors trounce Bulls in another road blowout
The Golden State Warriors entered this week with two losses in three games, an unprecedented dip in form during their historically strong start to the 2015-16 season. Two thoroughly dominant wins should erase any concerns over a lingering drop-off.
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Two days after crushing the Cleveland Cavaliers at Quicken Loans Arena, the Warriors took on the Chicago Bulls at the United Center and got comfortable early again with a 125-94 blowout win. Golden State led 34-18 after the first quarter and never trailed by single digits thereafter, winning every quarter and keeping all Chicago runs relatively minor. A three-game road trip that started with a rough loss to the Detroit Pistons now finishes as a reaffirmation of their greatness.
The Warriors’ stellar play started early. After a Jimmy Butler jumper tied it at 14-14 a few seconds past the halfway mark of the first, the visitors finished the period on a 20-4 run. Six different players converted field goals during the stretch in a display of Golden State’s strong depth. Yet the highlight of the opening quarter came earlier when Harrison Barnes made this jumper after two players stopped to tie their shoes out of the inbounds pass:
It’s no surprise that the Warriors took over when they started playing 5-on-5.
The result was essentially decided from that point on. Stephen Curry led the way with 25 points (8-of-18 FG) and 11 assists, but the Warriors had six players in double figures and shot 52.6 percent from the field. There were also plenty of highlights, including this fantastic underhanded alley-oop from Leandro Barbosa to Andre Iguodala:
Even Curry played above the rim with this rare dunk in the halfcourt:
The only real scare of the game came early in the third quarter when Draymond Green took a shot to the face and had to go back to the locker room for attention, but he returned to the court after passing the NBA’s concussion protocol tests.
The Bulls struggled just as much offensively as defensively, shooting a mere 1-of-20 from three-point range as part of a 37-percent shooting night overall. Derrick Rose put up a good line with 29 points on 12-of-22 from the field, but he did much of his damage early. For that matter, the Warriors seemed content with his scoring if it meant no one else posed much of a threat. Pau Gasol had a particularly awful game, missing all eight of his shots on his way to a one-point showing. The silver lining for Chicago is that most teams look equally disjointed against a group as good as Golden State.
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Eric Freeman is a writer for Ball Don’t Lie on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at [email protected] or follow him on Twitter!
