ORACLE ARENA, OAKLAND, CA — The Oklahoma City Thunder (38-13) were in town to face the Golden State Warriors (45-4).
The Warriors were without Festus Ezeli (sore left knee) and James McAdoo (toe), while the Thunder were without Andre Roberson (right knee sprain).
1st Quarter – Warriors Turn The Tide
The Thunder got off to a hot start as Steven Adams got an alley-oop from Russell Westbrook to open the game, Westbrook converted, and Kevin Durant added two more buckets.
Meanwhile, Klay Thompson, Harrison Barnes, and Stephen Curry all missed three-pointers, and the Warriors found themselves down 9-0 quickly.
But Barnes righted the ship as he came back with a feathery touch in the lane over the outstretched arm of Serge Ibaka, followed that up with a reverse layup through the paint, and Andrew Bogut got a slip down the lane for a dunk, fed by Curry.
That made it 9-6, Thunder.
Westbrook answered with a familiar darting layup past Thompson, but Klay answered back with a layup past Westbrook on the next play,nearly losing the dribble in the process.
After Westbrook missed another layup attempt, the Warriors ran down the floor and Thompson dished to Steph who dished to Barnes in the left corner for three, to halve the Thunder lead to 16-13.
Westbrook came back yet again with an attack of the lane against Draymond Green, but Bogut fouled him and the Thunder took a 20-13 lead with 6:28 remaining after a timeout by Warriors head coach Steve Kerr and Westbrook’s free throws.
Golden State made a push to close the gap. Curry started things off by drawing three foul shots from the left corner as Westbrook wasn’t careful enough on the close-out.
Later, Steph got switched onto by Durant and, with the shotclock winding down and beyond the arc, took a couple dribbles to the right and launched, just getting the triple over Durant’s defense.
Green then got a putback of Marreese Speights’ jumper that went in and out, even though Draymond was sandwiched between Durant and Adams.
Green then drew a charge on Westbrook and Durant picked up a technical arguing with the ref.
Klay drove past Durant from the right wing to the free throw line and stopped and popped over him, but Enes Kanter got two putbacks in a row, the second of which was initiated by a bad pass from Curry on the other end.
But Steph came back, scissoring through the Thunder perimeter to get an “and-one” scoop from the right side against Kanter…
Steph nice over the big man: pic.twitter.com/cAzc8Rm4R5
— Josh Lander (@JILProductions) February 7, 2016
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…then Andre Iguodala poked the ball out of a Durant drive on the right side, and Speights drained a catch-and-shoot jumper from the right wing, assisted by and after a pick-and-roll with Curry, the next time down.
That tied the game at 29-29 with 2:55 remaining.
Later, Kyle Singler got a pass in transition deflected away by Curry, and Leandro Barbosa drilled a left corner three as Green led the change of possession.
Barbosa scored another bucket shortly thereafter as Draymond and Steph played pick-and-roll, Green got the slip and the ball, and the Thunder defense forgot about Barbosa, who was wide open under the hoop.
Durant missed a late-shotclock deep trey attempt near the right hashmark, Draymond rebounded, brought the ball up, found Iguodala on the left wing, and got the ball right back for a layup, and the Warriors took a 36-31 lead, ending the quarter on a 12-2 run.
Curry tallied 10 points and 4 assists while Green added 4 points, 3 rebounds, 4 assists. Durant led the Thunder with 13 points.
2nd Quarter – Thunder Can’t Keep Up
Barbosa got the Warriors off on the right foot in the second quarter as Bogut fed him while sweeping across the lane on a cut, and Thunder backup guard Cameron Payne committed a foul for a traditional three-point play.
Iguodala also got this cross-over pull-up:
Iggy crossin em up pic.twitter.com/9Q2KJNisd3
— Josh Lander (@JILProductions) February 7, 2016
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Golden State began to get some separation from Oklahoma City as Barnes hit two buckets, Thompson followed with two more jumpers, and Iguodala went past Westbrook, who was probably expecting help, rather easily on the right baseline for this reverse jam:
Iggy doin Iggy pic.twitter.com/0QALEjCX4c
— Josh Lander (@JILProductions) February 7, 2016
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A left baseline jumper plus the harm by Shaun Livingston against a switched Ibaka, and a wide-open layup by Speights after Anthony Morrow missed a three and Curry pushed the ball after rebounding it, playing screen-and-roll once more with Mo.
The Warriors got another spark late in the shotclock as Livingston got a pass deflected by Morrow, but Speights grabbed it near the baseline and beyond the arc, and turned and buried a jumper over Adams to give the Warriors a dominant 58-40 lead.
Durant and Ibaka got layups and Kerr called timeout with 4:07 to go with Golden State up, 60-44.
Out of the timeout, Westbrook drilled a triple from the top, but Thompson got an “and-one” on the right side against Morrow.
Later, Curry missed an open trey attempt from the top, but Green got the rebound, played hot potato and got the ball immediately to Iguodala under the hoop, but with Adams nearby, Iguodala flipped the ball back out to Barnes for three from the right wing. That gave Harrison 16 points for the game.
The Thunder answered quickly, but Steph answered right back with a pull-up with his foot on the arc…
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…and after an Adams putback plus a foul on Barnes, Curry ended the quarter with Ibaka switched on him once more, and Steph pulled up for a swish with five seconds remaining.
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The Warriors took a 73-59 lead at halftime.
Along with Barnes’ 16, Curry had 14 points and 6 assists, Klay added 13, while Durant led the Thunder with 23 points on 8-for-13 field. Westbrook had 14.
(Photo: @letsgowarriors Instagram account via @freshy_fontane)
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