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 Point guard Stephen Curry scored 27 points and shooting guard Klay
Thompson had 22, lifting the Warriors to 112-103 victory.
The comeback was the largest in the NBA this season and the
Warriors' largest in the past decade. They outscored the Raptors
42-15 in the fourth quarter.
The Raptors never blew a bigger lead in franchise history.
"It shows we're resilient," Thompson said. "(Center Jermaine O'Neal)
gave a great speech at halftime, pretty much challenging each and
every one of us to show what we're made of in the second half.
"Honestly, that was our turning point. It wasn't the third quarter,
it wasn't the fourth quarter. It was at halftime."
The Warriors trailed by 27 points with 9:20 left in the third
quarter when Toronto point guard Kyle Lowry hit a jump shot to make
it 75-48.
"It's hard to keep your head up when we played a perfect half of
basketball, one of the best halves we've had," Raptors coach Dwane
Casey said. "It's one of those things where they started hitting the
3 in the third quarter and we couldn't turn the water off."
The Warriors still trailed 88-70 entering the fourth quarter. They
last overcome a bigger lead after three quarters on Feb. 9, 1962,
when they rallied from 19 down to beat the Boston Celtics 126-124.
"We still played great defense on them," Raptors forward Rudy Gay
said. "They knocked down a lot of tough shots, and our offense was
stagnant."
The Warriors (11-8) beat the Raptors (6-11) for the ninth straight
time at Oracle Arena, and they extended Toronto's losing streak this
season to four games.
Forward Harrison Barnes added 19 points for the Warriors, and
forward David Lee scored 18, lifting Golden State to its second
straight victory.
Guard DeMar DeRozan led Toronto with 26 points. Lowry had 20, Gay 18
and forward Amir Johnson 16 off the bench.
The Raptors dominated an ice-cold Warriors team for the first three
quarters, beating them at their own long-range game. Curry was
1-for-5 from 3-point distance and Thompson 2-for-7 through three
quarters. In the fourth quarter, Thompson went 4-for-5 and Curry
2-for-2 from beyond the arc.
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"At halftime we were very upset with the way we
played," Lee said. "I thought we got outplayed intensity-wise in
the first half. Their bigs outrebounded us. Their guards outshot
us, and we were just a step slow in everything we did. And then
in the fourth quarter we started to get stop after stop and play
unselfishly on offense. Everyone contributed that was in there.
"Just really proud of the team for coming back, and this will be
a victory that we remember."
The Warriors cut their deficit to 92-81 with 9:03 left to play
when Lee scored on a baseline dunk.
Curry's three-point play sliced Toronto's lead to 97-92.
Thompson's 3-point shot made it 99-95 with under four minutes
left.
Curry then drained back-to-back 3-pointers, the second one
giving Golden State a 101-99 lead with 2:59 left to play.
DeRozan scored to pull the Raptors even, but Thompson drilled a
3-pointer, giving the Warriors a 104-101 lead with just over two
minutes left. Curry sank two free throws, making it 106-101 with
1:44 left.
Lowry made two free throws, but Barnes nailed a 3-pointer with
47 seconds left, giving Golden State a 109-103 lead.
"This being my third year here, there's never been a bigger win
as far as a statement," Warriors coach Mark Jackson said.
NOTES: Raptors F Tyler Hansbrough made his second straight start
of the season in place of F Amir Johnson, who started the first
15 games. Hansbrough finished with two points. ... The last time
he played the Warriors at Oakland, Johnson came off the bench
and scored 23 points, going 10-for-10 from the field in a
125-118 Golden State victory on March 4. ... Warriors starting F
Andre Iguodala (left hamstring strain) missed his sixth game,
and backup G Toney Douglas (left tibia stress reaction) missed
his 12th. Coach Mark Jackson said there is a chance Douglas
could play Friday against the Grizzlies in Memphis. ... Golden
State rookie G Nemanja Nedovic tweaked an ankle during pregame
warmups but suited up for the game. "Freak play, from what I
understand," Jackson said. "Stepping on a defender's foot and
coming down the wrong way, but nothing major fortunately."
Nedovic played five scoreless minutes.
[By Eric Gilmore, The Sports Xchange]
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