ORACLE ARENA, OAKLAND, CA — Two nights after blowing out the Blazers, the Golden State Warriors (3-1) were back at home in a highly anticipated matchup against the undefeated Oklahoma City Thunder (4-0).
The Warriors listed Patrick McCaw as doubtful. Damian Jones was out (pectoral surgery). The Thunder were without Cameron Payne (right foot fracture).
1st Quarter – Cooking With Kevin
Draymond Green got a piece of Andre Roberson’s attack on the first possession, but Steven Adams was there to clean up the mess.
Green then handed off to Kevin Durant at the top and he banged home a triple.
But Adams struck again as he boarded a missed three by Roberson, posted up Zaza Pachulia, waited for something to develop and, when nothing did, made a quick spin to the baseline past Pachulia and scored a reverse layup.
Draymond made a bad pass to a cutting Zaza, Russell Westbrook turned it over right back, Green missed a three from the top, and Westbrook drew a foul on an attack of Klay Thompson.
Stephen Curry answered back with a reverse layup right-to-left on the right baseline, past Roberson:
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However, Westbrook hit a dribble-and-pop on a pick-and-roll with Adams after Domantas Sabonis block on a switched post-up by Draymond versus Victor Oladipo, and the Thunder had an early 8-5 lead with 9:14 remaining.
Curry found himself iso’ed against Adams on the left side, the Warriors cleared out, and Steph made a “hesi” move past Adams for the lefty scoop just past the helping Roberson.
Westbrook then attacked, the ball slipped out on the way to the hoop, but managed to drop right in.
Then Curry leaned in beyond the arc to try and draw the foul, didn’t get it, and Warriors head coach Steve Kerr went ballistic, necessitating assistant Mike Brown to hold him back. Kerr received a technical, obviously, but Westbrook missed the free throw.
Oladipo then hit a three on the catch from Sabonis and Kerr called timeout as OKC capped a 9-2 run and held a 12-7 lead with 8:12 to play.
Later, another Adams spin-reverse against Pachulia gave the Thunder an 18-9 lead, both teams had empty possessions, and Curry finally found Thompson on the right side for Klay’s first three-pointer in a long, long time.
But Adams came back with a flip shot on the pick-and-roll with Westbrook, giving him 9 early points.
Draymond took some baby steps on a swing pass from Steph, but made up for it later with a putback of Curry’s right-to-left runner.
Green then got a steal on a loose ball up top, found Iguodala, who smoked the layup, but Draymond was there for the dunk putback.
OKC head coach Billy Donovan called a timeout as #Roaracle came alive, the Thunder still leading, 20-16, with 4:42 to go.
After Westbrook made a big step past Thompson to draw Klay’s second personal foul, the recently hot-shooting Ian Clark subbed in, but Sabonis hit a three on a trail of Russ after Westbrook blocked Steph’s right-side attack.
But Clark came back with an up-fake drive, getting a left-handed scoop to drop as he was fouled:
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Joffrey Lauvergne hit a corner trey assisted by Westbrook, Green couldn’t hit two consecutive putbacks of a Durant miss, and OKC’s new acquisition, Jerami Grant got an impressive dunk as Westbrook slipped and passed the ball away, a bowling ball into Iguodala the bowling pin, inadvertently freeing up the lane for Grant.
That gave the Thunder a 29-19 lead, but “KD” struck back quickly from the left block, only to get answered by an Oladipo swish in Durant’s face.
KD one-upped him on the next play, getting a spin in the same left block and Donovan called another timeout as the Warriors closed the OKC gap to 31-23 with 2:06 left.
Out of the timeout, Durant imposed his will, getting a reverse layup on a pick-and-roll with Curry, “and-one” against Grant:
KD gets the majority of his shots on this Triangle High Post action. pic.twitter.com/EWRRBTehaX
— BBALLBREAKDOWN (@bballbreakdown) November 4, 2016
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With 31.7 seconds remaining, Steph drew foul shots getting past Lauvergne, Oladipo was charged with an offensive goaltend trying to putback his own missed layup, and KD closed out the quarter with a three on a catch-and-shoot from the right wing with five seconds to play, drawing Golden State to within 32-31 at the break:
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2nd Quarter – Let It Rain
KD’s onslaught continued at the start of the second stanza, first throwing a sling pass to a cutting David West for a bucket, which gave the Warriors their first lead, then following a missed spinning reverse by Iguodala for a two-handed jam, then getting a left-wing triple after Klay tracked down a botched alley-oop by Iguodala in the left corner:
GSW getting the loose balls, KD 3 pic.twitter.com/1Gj3BSfmwy
— BBALLBREAKDOWN (@bballbreakdown) November 4, 2016
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After a Lauvergne lefty jump hook, Iguodala went baseline on a drive and dished to Thompson for a left-corner three:
OKC intent on letting Klay find his 3 point shot tonight pic.twitter.com/XjxuZmBVeD
— BBALLBREAKDOWN (@bballbreakdown) November 4, 2016
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Westbrook was way off with a three to answer, and at the TV timeout, the Warriors had pulled ahead, 41-34, with 8:51 to play.
Out of the timeout, Golden State continued their push, as Shaun Livingston got past Sabonis…
Strong move by @ShaunLivingston on TNT. pic.twitter.com/siHD3YT0uO
— GoldenStateWarriors (@warriors) November 4, 2016
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…Durant swatted Westbrook, then at a dead ball as Russ immediately fouled on the fast break, KD swished a standing triple that, of course, didn’t count.
Green and Pachulia checked back in, and Durant sat down with 18 points on 7-for-9 from the field.
Zaza got into the action, getting a spinning post up to drop, then giving a dime to Clark on a cut for two more. Curry added three free throws after drawing a foul on Roberson beyond the arc.
Then Westbrook bricked a stop-and-pop, going just 2-for-7 thus far, Steph went past both Lauvergne and Adams on the right baseline, only to get swatted straight down by Adams, but Pachulia was there once again for the offensive hustle.
Curry wheeled back to the right arc, Zaza gave it back to him as any sane person would, the shot clock wound down, and Curry up-faked and drew another three foul shots, this time against Adams.
All three free throws made gave the Warriors a 52-38 lead, but they weren’t done.
The defense clamped up, even though Westbrook hit a late-shotclock triple from the top, as Durant attempted a runner, Pachulia tapped out the miss right back to Durant, and KD swished from where he was standing, past the right arc:
KD 🔥🔥 pic.twitter.com/vLWoePttjw
— KNBR (@KNBR) November 4, 2016
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Zaza got a piece of a Russ jumper, outlet to Steph, and Curry delivered a behind-the-back lefty bounce pass in stride to Durant for three more:
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Oladipo managed to drill a jumper past Iguodala flying by, again late in the shotclock, but Pachulia grabbed another offensive rebound, this time on Durant’s miss from up top, and then found Draymond cutting to the hole for two more points via free throws, giving the Warriors a 58-43 lead.
Out of a timeout, Westbrook impressively swatted a Durant upfake, but Iguodala blocked Grant and the ball went off Grant’s leg.
KD then got iso’ed on the right side against Grant and took a big step past him, baseline, for another two-hand slam, with Anthony Morrow helpless in the paint, no rim protector in the game for OKC:
Morrow 😂 pic.twitter.com/l0rvsFkgVE
— BBALLBREAKDOWN (@bballbreakdown) November 4, 2016
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On the next possession, Russ drove, Green and Durant both blocked Westbrook, with KD’s being an emphatic volleyball swat out of bounds, but Draymond picked up a technical taunting Westbrook:
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Russ missed the free throw again, though, as Oracle Arena started to chant, “Warriors!”
Thompson’s struggles continued as he inadvertently stopped momentum by Golden State, stepping on the sideline out of bounds after Westbrook slipped on a drive and gave the ball to Curry.
Steph would later end the sequence, however, with a between-the-legs crossover right-to-left, stopping and popping from the right elbow.
That gave the Warriors a twenty-point lead at 63-43 with 1:26 to go.
Westbrook remained out of control, losing the ball yet again, and KD brought the ball up and pulled up from that familiar right arc, giving him 29 points in the half:
Might I suggest stopping the ball on the fast break? pic.twitter.com/yrTaMucyj8
— BBALLBREAKDOWN (@bballbreakdown) November 4, 2016
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Oladipo came back and drew a foul on an attack against Durant, and during the free throws, OKC backup center Enes Kanter exchanged words with KD, as a second wave of Warriors chants erupted.
With 36.4 seconds left, Durant lost the ball on a crossover, switched against Lauvergne, but James McAdoo stopped Westbrook at the rim and Green was fouled at the other end.
With 14.2 seconds remaining, Kerr had Westbrook trapped, he dished to Morrow, and the shooting guard got pressured by Draymond into a traveling violation.
Kerr called a twenty-second to draw up a play for KD, but he missed the right-wing catch-and-shoot and Golden State held a 68-43 lead at halftime, the Thunder not scoring in the last three-and-a-half minutes.
(Photo: @letsgowarriors Instagram via @brendaleon)
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