Golden State Warriors Fall Under .500 As Oklahoma City Thunder Shoot Lights Out From Downtown And Win In Blowout Fashion

The Golden State Warriors dropped below .500 last night after losing to the Oklahoma City Thunder 128-109. This marked their fifth straight loss and puts their home record at just 1-5. Golden State was without Steph Curry and Draymond Green, while the Thunder were fully healthy, but you’d still like to see the Warriors keep it competitive. The Warriors rolled out an interesting starting lineup, opting to have Looney come off the bench and play small ball. Kerr went with Saric, Kuminga, Wiggins, Klay and CP3. 

Kuminga got involved early, nailing a three before getting an easy dunk at the rim. But after the quick 5-0 burst, the Thunder absolutely dominated. They went on to finish the quarter on a 39-19 run. Shai Gilgeous-Alexander led the way with 11 points but it was an all you can eat buffet on offense for OKC as eight different players got involved in the scoring. Klay Thompson was able to drill a three ball but it would be his only of the game. The Warriors went on multiple scoring droughts of over a minute, and the horn sounded at the end of the first with the Thunder up 39-19. The second quarter was a different story. Golden State hit their stride on offense and cut into the Thunder lead. Looney got it going with three nice finishes at the rim and Kuminga flushed a dunk home, but rookie guard Cason Wallace sprayed a deep three to extend the Thunder lead back to 50-35. Moses Moody hit a couple threes on top of a short jumper, but the Dubs just couldn’t get stops and after an Aaron Wiggins bucket, OKC led 59-40 with under five minutes to play. The last five minutes was all Golden State, as they ripped a 20-8 run capitalized by two Dario Saric long balls in the last minute. At the break, the Warriors had all the momentum and only trailed 67-60. 

The Thunder threw the first punch taking an early 10 point lead on a smooth SGA step back three. Two minutes later the Warriors put a dent in the lead on a 6-0 run with a Wiggins put-back and a pair of free throws from Saric and Kuminga. It was back and forth for the majority of the third but at one point after another deep SGA three ball, the Dubs went on an 8-0 burst including five from Kuminga and a smooth stroke from Podziemski from beyond the arc. Trailing 84-83 with under three to play, the Warriors had a chance to take the lead OKC drilled back to back threes and never looked back. They finished the quarter on a 10-2 run and went into the fourth up 94-85. Golden State hung around for the first few minutes, but after Cason Wallace sprayed a three pointer giving the Thunder a 12 point cushion, the Warriors never brought below double digits again. Garbage time began with over four minutes to play and the Thunder evened the season series 1-1 with a dominant victory.

Shai Gilgeous-Alexander led the way for the Thunder with 24 points in a 6-21 clip including 9-9 from the charity stripe. Josh Giddey chipped in 19 points himself going 3-3 from downtown. Chet Holmgren held it down in the paint racking up 13 points and 10 boards while Santa Clara product Jalen Williams put up a solid 16 points. The biggest shock of the night was Isaiah Joe off the bench going 7-7 from beyond the arc and recording 23 points. For the Warriors, in a game without Curry you’d think Thompson would ball out. Instead, he went ice cold, only scoring 5 points on 1-10 shooting. However, seven other Warriors were able to get into double figures. Saric, Wiggins and Moody had 12, Looney and Podziemski had 13, and CP3 had 15. It was Kuminga who had his best game of the season so far, scoring 21 points on an efficient 8-13 from the field. 

This game boils down to the fact that the Thunder could not miss from three point land as they shot a whopping 59.4%. Add this with the fact that they shot 50.6% from the field, and you’ve got to be lights out on offense yourself if you want a chance to win. Additionally, I’ve said before, but Klay Thompson needs to figure it out. It is unacceptable to shoot 1-10 from the field when his backcourt mate is out with an injury. He needs to pick up the slack and dominate. Taking a look at the stat sheet, the Dubs turned it over 16 times which doesn’t help either. One glaring disparity is that Golden State actually grabbed 20 offensive rebounds and in turn, put up 11 more shots than the Thunder. But, as seen by the score, these shots did not translate to points. It was an off night for the Warriors, point, blank, period.

Luckily for the Warriors, they will have the chance to redeem themselves in two days as they square back up against the Thunder Saturday night. As I write this, Steph Curry is questionable to play. Stating the obvious, that will have a major impact on the game. If Curry suits up, I’ve got the Dubs bouncing back with a 121-111 win to get back to .500. But if Curry is out yet again, I’m taking the Thunder to knock off Golden State again, 118-104. 

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