The Golden State Warriors (31-5) were at Chesapeake Energy Arena to face the Oklahoma City Thunder (18-20). Warriors head coach made a conscious decision “a couple weeks ago” to rest, with the back-to-back in Houston coming tomorrow, forward Andre Iguodala and center Andrew Bogut, due to “wear and tear” as Kerr put it, similar to how Gregg Popovich rests Manu Ginobili and Tim Duncan on occasion.
1ST QUARTER: Buckets For All
The Warriors got off to a good start on the defensive end, as Marreese Speights stole an entry pass by Serge Ibaka trying to enter the ball to Steven Adams on the first play. Also, Harrison Barnes deflected a Kevin Durant pass, and Klay Thompson made the Thunder pay with a three-pointer on the other end.
The rest of the quarter was an offensive display by both teams. Thompson unveiled the full repertoire as he got a fade-away over Durant, a pull-up, and a left-handed drive, among others:
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Golden State wasn’t playing perfectly clean basketball, as Thompson committed two turnovers and Russell Westbrook knocked the ball away from Stephen Curry on the dribble up top, leading to an Andre Roberson run-out dunk, but shots were falling, as Draymond Green hit a jumper and Barnes drilled a trey from the right side.
But the Thunder answered, as Durant made a jumper and a trey and Westbrook drove the ball and got fouled, then took two free throws as the referees ruled he was in the act of shooting. Roberson then charged into Green and we had our first timeout with 5:36 to go in the first frame and OKC leading, 18-17.
At the timeout, Thunder head coach Scott Brooks inserted the newly acquired Dion Waiters for Durant, while Kerr subbed out Speights for David Lee.
Green drew a technical on Kendrick Perkins — Kerr laughed about it with Green — which gave the Warriors a 26-22 lead with 3:30 to go in the quarter, but Serge Ibaka gave the Thunder a 27-26 lead, leaving Green in the dust, with 2:41 to go.
Speights also made a beautiful running bankshot:
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Leandro Barbosa then contributed with a quick pass to a cutting Lee for two, as well as an early transition layup from the left side.
The Warriors ended the quarter with a 35-33 lead over the Thunder, as Thompson collected 13 points on 5-for-7 from the field, countered by 9 points by Durant and 8 by Westbrook.
Seven Warriors scored in the quarter.
2ND QUARTER: Four-Point Play With 0.1 On The Clock
After two straight layups from the halfcourt offense by Durant, leading up to 13 points, Kerr called timeout with the Warriors up, 41-39, and 8:37 remaining in the half.
Barnes hit two more corner treys, the second assisted by Lee, and the Warriors led 51-47 with 6:31 to go. But then the Thunder went on a run.
The run actually started with a Westbrook three-pointer that hit the back rim hard and bounced long past four Warriors in the paint, right into the hands of Reggie Jackson. The speedster Jackson surveyed the situation and dribbled right past the statuesque Golden State defense in for a rim-rattling jam. That tied the game up at 51-51 with 5:32 to play.
Westbrook then got a dunk, but the ball didn’t go through. Instead, it went high, but fell through the rim anyways!
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Jackson followed that up with a triple on a kick-out by Westbrook, and Durant capped a 9-0 run with a turnaround baseline fadeaway.
All of this happened in a stretch where the Warriors missed four shots and Curry committed two more turnovers.
Klay made a nice move and hung in the air, missed it, but got his own putback, but by then the Warriors were down 58-53 with 4:08 remaining.
Not only did Durant answer that with a spin on Green and a dunk, but also Curry committed his third turnover up top again against Westbrook and Jackson finished the steal off with a dunk to make it 66-57, Thunder.
On a designed last play, Curry delivered a laser to Thompson from the right corner and he drilled a three in the Thunder’s face with 5 seconds remaining, to cut the lead to 66-60.
Brooks called timeout, advanced the ball to halfcourt, and ran an alley-oop play to their seven-foot center Adams. Holiday picked up the play late and was the last line of defense. He leapt for the ball and the referee called a foul on Holiday for hitting Adams’ arm on the play. There was 0.1 seconds left on the clock.
As if things couldn’t get worse for the Warriors, Adams missed the second free throw, but Westbrook used his athleticism to enter the lane and tip the putback in, to give the Thunder a 69-60 lead at the buzzer.
Kerr was upset and picked up a technical, which would be attempted by OKC after halftime, while still arguing the foul on Holiday.
The 69 points were the most given up by the Warriors this season, although their best defensive stoppers in Iguodala and Bogut were sitting this one out.
Durant led all scorers with 21 points. Westbrook had 12 points, 6 assists. Klay led the Dubs with 20, but the Warriors committed 9 turnovers, with Curry guilty on 4 of them.
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