Thunder get outlasted by Warriors, 121-100
OKC showed a lot of fight tonight, with the game being tied 56-56 at halftime. But the Warriors outscored the Thunder 37 to 22 in the third quarter. In that time, the Warriors didn’t commit a turnover and their offense became about as lethal as it gets in the NBA. Without Steven Adams the Thunder had a pretty decent game considering their opponent, but tonight, being good wasn’t enough to outmatch the Warriors offensive arsenal.
The Thunder fall to 25-19 on the season. Steven Adams sat tonight again because of the concussion from the Kings game on Sunday and they really, really could’ve used him in this game. Westbrook, Oladipo, and Kanter combined for 69 of the Thunder’s 100 points. All three of those guys deserve a lot of credit for stepping up offensively, but the Warriors are just so efficient when their offense is clicking, that the game can be over from having even just one bad quarter against them, which is basically what happened tonight.
Golden State was +17 in fast break points, and the pace they play at is insane. The Warriors have three of the best three-point shooters in league history and pull-up three-pointers are a constant threat. The Warriors were +10 in rebounds, +12 in assists and +10 in points in the paint.
Westbrook earned his twenty first triple-double of the season tonight and had 27 points, 15 rebounds, 13 assists, 2 steals, 2 blocks and 10 turnovers. He really showed great poise and played with a great balance of knowing when to play-make and when to score. Sure, he had some turnovers that left me scratching my head and he doesn’t care about his efficiency numbers like certain other players, but that’s part of the Westbrook experience. He was really solid tonight.
Lord Voldemort (Kevin Durant, obviously) had 40 points, 12 rebounds, 4 assists and 3 blocks on a very efficient 13-of-16 from the field. He was their best player tonight and has been for the entire season. He had 5 three-pointers, all of which felt like haymakers that the Thunder didn’t have an answer for. Steph Curry had 24 points, 4 rebounds, 8 assists and 3 steals. Those two led the entire way tonight for Golden State and it’s tough for any team to have an answer when they’re both playing well. Four Warriors scored in double digits—Durant, Curry, Thompson and Green. No shocker there.
Notes
- Jeff Van Gundy guessed in the first half that the Thunder crowd won’t boo KD when the Warriors play at the Chesapeake Arena for the first time this season on February 11. After the half, he said that someone from OKC told him that he was way off on that prediction. JVG is my personal all time favorite commentator, but he definitely was wrong on that prediction. The OKC crowd is going boo him so hard, I can’t wait.
- Klay Thompson did in fact play tonight. He had 14 points, 4 rebounds, 3 assists, 1 steal and 1 block.
- Oladipo really shined tonight, especially to start the game. He had 3 steals in the first quarter alone and scored the Thunder’s first 7 points. He finished the night with 20 points, 3 rebounds, 2 assists, 4 steals and 1 block.
- Kanter also played well with 22 points, 9 rebounds, 1 assist and 1 steal, shooting 11-of-18. It’s good to see him play well against an elite team.
- No Draymond Green controversy tonight, so that’s something.
- The Thunder really don’t have anyone to guard KD. I don’t think Roberson matches up well with KD’s length and KD knows Roberson’s defensive game too well.
- Roberson had a really rough night on the offensive end with only 3 points in 34 minutes. He got denied at the rim quite a few times tonight and the Warriors were baiting Roberson and Grant to shoot three-pointers and they weren’t capitalizing on those open looks. That’s one of the huge limitations of this team. The Thunder have to find ways to get their wings involved. When KD goes off for 40 and Roberson can only score 3—that’s an issue that has to be addressed. And for those of you monitoring the Rudy Gay trade market, that may have evaporated with the news that he may have suffered an apparent Achilles injury.
- Westbrook had one of the most memorable traveling violations I’ve ever witnessed. He literally took six steps while talking with Oladipo. Shaqtin’ A Fool moment for sure.
- Jerami Grant started again tonight in place of Steven Adams. I liked how he matches up with Golden State, but the Thunder needed Adams tonight.
- February 11 needs to hurry up, that game could easily be a game of the year candidate.
