[1] Golden State Warriors 102-108 [3] Oklahoma City Thunder [OKC leads series 1-0]
Oklahoma City Thunder are the only team in NBA history to face two teams in the same post-season that have won more than 65 games in the regular season, but that doesn’t seem to scare them. En route to handing the Golden State Warriors their first home loss of these Playoffs, the Thunder have also snatched home court advantage for the series and take 1-0 series lead.
Kevin Durant scored 26 points, including a clutch jumper with 30.1 seconds remaining, while Russell Westbrook scored 27 points, 24 of which came in the second half as the Thunder win their third straight road Playoff game. Westbrook also had 12 assists, 7 steals and 6 rebounds to show for in his box score. Center Steven Adams chipped in with a double double of 16 points, 12 rebounds and also two blocked shots.
Considering the Conference Semis series with the San Antonio Spurs and this one game with the Warriors, the Thunder have registered a total of 3 road wins, the entire NBA had 3 road wins against these two teams during the regular season. Defeating the Warriors in the fashion that they did makes this win a huge morale booster for OKC, but they must not get complacent and continue to remain aggressive and play their style of game if they want to advance.
All that being said, there was one big statistic that OKC changed after this games. Golden State was 37-0, regular season and Playoffs, when they led by double digites at halftime, not anymore. Here’s the official word on that:
Despite all the 73 wins hoopla, when it comes to facing the Thunder, the Warriors were always going to be slightly under-sized. OKC have made use of that in every regular season game and did the same in Game 1, outrebounding the Warriors 52-44.
For Golden State, this is an upset for sure but just another chance for the team to bounce back and show their character, something they have done all year. The loss is the Warriors’ first Game 1 loss under second year Head Coach Steve Kerr and it came despite 26 points, 10 rebounds and 7 assists and 3 steals from the reigning two time MVP Stephen Curry.
Small positives aside, this was just a bad game for Golden State and they have nobody but themselves to blame for it.
Against a team like the Thunder, 14 turnovers are far too many, seven of which were committted by Curry alone. When their shots weren’t falling at the normally high efficiency that they do (44% from the field, 36.7% from 3), the last thing you need is to turn the ball over more times than your opponents.
OKC were already going to have the rebounding advantage thanks to their big men but Golden State found the need to give them more possessions by committing turnovers on a night where they were shooting a low percentage from the field.
Klay Thompson had 26 points, Draymond Green had 23 but it just wasn’t enough as the Warriors just did not show up as a team. The Thunder, using a short 8 man rotation, had 21 points from their bench.
Game 2 will be played at the Oracle Arena in Oakland on Wednesday.
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