[1] Golden State Warriors 96-88 [3] Oklahoma City Thunder [Golden State win series 4-3]
The Golden State Warriors used a 29-12 third quarter run to switch gears and run the Oklahoma City Thunder out of the building. The Warriors are now only the 3rd defending champion, first since the 1981 Boston Celtics, and 10th team overall, the first since last year’s Houston Rockets, in NBA history to go down 3-1 and still clinch the series.
Winning back-to-back Western Conference titles, the Warriors also set up a NBA Finals rematch with the Cleveland Cavaliers, the Eastern Conference Champions.
The rematch series begins on Thursday night, June 2nd at the Oracle Arena in Oakland.
Stephen Curry had 36 points, 8 assists and 5 rebounds while his back court mate Klay Thompson contributed 21 points on 6 of 11 (54.5%) 3-point shooting as they combined for 13 three pointers, six more than the entire OKC roster combined.
Draymond Green did his bit by filling by the stat sheet, recording 11 points, 9 rebounds, 4 assists and 2 blocks. Golden State’s All-Star Big 3 of Curry, Green and Thompson carried them when it most needed scoring all 25 fourth quarter points.
Andre Iguodala, the reigning NBA Finals MVP, started the game ahead of Harrison Barnes and provided the team with an efficient 42 minutes on the court, recording 7 points, 4 rebounds and 3 assists with just one turnover.
Unlike the Thunder, who effectively used just two reserves, Warriors Head Coach Steve Kerr looked to his bench to provide the team with a spark and allow the starters some much needed rest.
They answered his call as the Golden State’s bench outscored their counterparts 19-13 with Barnes being the most productive with 5 points, 8 rebounds, 2 assists and 2 steals.
While the Warriors celebrate their Conference championship, the Thunder have to deal with another collapse, having led the game for a majority of the first half. This is now their third loss in the Conference Finals out of four trips in the last six years, only making it to the NBA Finals in 2012.
In a 14 minute span the OKC Thunder lost the game, here are stats from that crucial period:
Having a shot a bad percentage in the last couple of games, Kevin Durant was determined to get his teammates involved and the trick worked up until the Thunder started missing shots. In Game 6, it was the turnovers for OKC and on Monday night it was their poor team shooting (38.2%) that got the better of them.
Just as predicted, OKC still won the battle in the paint and on the glass but outscored by 30 points, courtesy of the 10 more three pointers that the Warriors knocked down.
Russell Westbrook did have 19 points, 13 assists and 7 rebounds with just 3 turnovers but the All-NBA First Team guard had a rough shooting night, knocking down just 7 of his 21 shots (33.3%).
This late Curry three-pointer sealed the win for the Warriors:
