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On Thursday night, two of the hottest teams in the league were set to go head to head in front of one of the the loudest crowds at the Oracle Arena. It was the Golden State Warriors, that had lost only game in their last 17, versus the Oklahoma City Thunder, a team that has won six of their last seven games since its superstars Russell Westbrook and Kevin Durant made their return from injury.It was a game where the top defensive teams in the league were engaged in a head to head high octane offensive contest. Led by Stephen Curry’s near triple double performance, the Warriors came out victorious over the Thunder in a battle that went down to the final minutes.More importantly there ware a lot of talking points that could affect the future of both these teams.Without any further ado, let us get to the 5 takeaways from this duel between the two Western Conference giants:
#5 Golden State Warriors bounce back with a win
A night before facing the Thunder, the Warriors’ best unbeaten streak of 16 games came to an unfortunate end against the Memphis Grizzlies at the FedEx Forum. Despite their loss, Golden State still had the best record in the league at 21-3. Flow and offensive balance are the reasons why the Warriors are one of the top 5 offenses in the league.
Over the course of their 16 wins, the Warriors have rallied back from many deficits to eventually seal the win, but they failed to do so against a Grizzlies team who used the injuries of David Lee and Andrew Bogut to their advantage. Memphis pounded the ball inside to Marc Gasol and Zach Randolph in the paint and took charge of the game against a shorthanded Warriors front court. While the Warriors were being manhandled in the paint, couple of key players in Draymond Green and Stephen Curry struggled shooting from the field which disrupted the team’s perimeter offense.
After a disappointing game in Memphis the Warriors returned home and took care of business in their fashion shooting 47.7% from the field and 43% from long range. Stephen Curry led his team in the bounce back with near triple double figures of 34 points, 7 rebounds and 9 assists.
#4 Kevin Durant\'s injury
Oklahoma City have won 8 of their last 9 games since their superstar duo of Kevin Durant and Russell Westbrook made their return from injury. Their hot form helped them jump from the bottom of the western confernece to just half a game behind the last Playoff spot. When everything was going right for the franchise that won only three games through the first five weeks of the regular season, tragedy struck once more.
In the closing minutes of the first half, on his way to the basket while attempting a layup reigning league MVP Durant twisted his foot by stepping on the foot of Marreese Speights. He twisted the same foot that he had surgically operated on after suffering a Jones fracture at the beginning of training camp.
He did not return to the bench in the second half and the precautionary X-rays taken in the arena came back negative. He is listed as day to day and Head Coach Scott Brooks was uncertain whether he would play against the Los Angeles Lakers on Friday night.
Before the incident, Durant was shooting lights out. He scored 30 points in 18 minutes on 10 of 13 from the field and 5 of 6 beyond the three point line. Had he played in the form he was in prior to the sprain, it would have been a different ball game altogether.
#3 Weakness of Serge Ibaka exploited
Serge Ibaka is one of the premier defenders in the league and is among the top 10 internaltional players league this season. He has been part of the last three All-NBA Defensive First teams and has also been the league leader in blocks in two of the last three years. Unfortunately he is as big a liablity on offense as he is an asset on defense for the Thunder.
With Bogut and Lee ruled out due to injuries, the Warriors played a lot of the game with small line-ups on the floor. For most of the game, 6’ 7” Warriors forward Green was assigned the 6’ 10” Ibaka, but the lack of a post game on the part of the latter’s style of play meant that no advantage could be taken of the size mismatch.
Durant spend the second half in the locker room and only if Ibaka had a post game to depend on, the Thunder could have looked to him as a dependable second option. However, that was not the case. Although the team did hang on until the final minutes, the lack of a reliable second option to Russell Westbrook hurt the Thunder’s chances of winning the game.
#2 Russell Westbrook playing at a phenomenal rate
Russell Westbrook has been on a tear since making his return form right hand injury. He has a PER (Player Efficiency Rating) of 32.80, second only to the New Orleans Pelicans superstar Anthony Davis. He averages 28.3 points, 6.4 rebounds, 7.3 assists and 2 steals in 33 minutes of playing time over the last 10 games.
He makes his impact early in the game which allows Durant to settle in and find his rhythm. His shot selection and turnovers were the biggest concerns many felt he needed to address. While he still averages 4 turnovers a game, his field goal percentage (47.1) and shot selection this season has been remarkable.
Understandably, Durant has been slow regaining his last season’s MVP form. Much of the damage done by the Thunder over the last week has been courtesy of the improved MVP caliber play of Westbrook. He has accepted the responsibility of the team and stepped up his game to a level that has him jumping up the ranks in the MVP race.
#1 Stephen Curry continues MVP form
Team success has always been an important factor while deciding the league MVP. Solely on the basis of that, Stephen Curry takes a huge lead over the rest of the superstars in the league. He has led his team to an impressive league best 22-3 record through the first quarter of the NBA regular season.
His contribution to the team can also be verified by ESPN’s PER ranking. Curry has a Efficiency Rating of 26.45 which is fifth best in the league behind Davis, Westbrook, Durant and DeMarcus Cousins. The USA Basketball World Cup campaign in the off-season has fueled his improvement to a level that has made him arguably the best point guard in the league right now.
His unique combination of handles, shooting and court vision makes it a long night’s work for the opposing point guards. In this game against the Thunder, he scored a game high 34 points and had 9 assists which were instrumental in sealing the victory during the closing minutes. Other than the odd off game against the Grizzlies, Curry has been delivering consistently so far this season.
Guess the Lakers players!
