ORACLE ARENA, OAKLAND, CA — A night after blowing a 22-point lead to the LA Clippers and five nights after losing another late lead to the Golden State Warriors, the Oklahoma City Thunder (42-19) traveled to Oakland to face the Warriors (54-5).
Golden State was without the services of Festus Ezeli (knee surgery) and Kevon Looney (assigned to D-League), but both Stephen Curry and Andre Iguodala returned to action after sitting out the last game, a home victory two nights against Atlanta. The Thunder reported no injuries, although Josh Huestis was place on the inactive list for this game.
1st Quarter – Tit For Tat
The Warriors got off to a slow start, as they had a lone three-pointer from Harrison Barnes over the first three minutes, but things picked up as soon as Curry went with two behind-the-back crossover dribbles against Kevin Durant for a pretty lefty finger in the lane:
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Draymond Green then scored a triple after Steph got his drive knocked away by Russell Westbrook, which was sort of a soccer kick by Curry:
Steph Curry has added soccer to his passing resume pic.twitter.com/FN2NYxKvYb
— The Cauldron (@TheCauldron) March 4, 2016
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However, Durant answered right back with a layup with a lot of contact. It looked like the refs would swallow their whistles in the early going.
Barnes added this nice step-back over Serge Ibaka:
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Klay Thompson missed a wide-open three setup by an off-ball screen by Andrew Bogut, then Green missed a driving dunk attempt, but after making a runner, Durant missed the next one and the Warriors were off to the races, with Curry finding Klay for a layup in transition.
Golden State kept the heat on as Steph turned the corner on Westbrook for a high-banking layup on the right side, Westbrook tried to come back with a runner down the left lane that went too hard, and Draymond corralled the board and found Thompson for another reverse layup.
Thunder head coach Billy Donovan called a timeout and the Warriors had a 16-14 lead with 4:56 to go.
Later, Steph got cooking with a step-back three over Enes Kanter from the left wing…
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…then after Kyle Singler answered back with a three as well, got a step-back triple from the same side, this time over the outstretched arm of Ibaka.
Andre Iguodala came in to a nice applause from Oracle after missing one game with a strained left hamstring, but Dion Waiters hit a stepback over Steph and Ibaka made a turn-and-face jumper from the left baseline, and Warriors head coach Steve Kerr took his first timeout with 2:22 to play, the Thunder up 23-22.
Anderson Varejao came in and got an “and-one” on a set play out of the timeout, Green added a block of Durant then a “bully” post-up over Andre Roberson, but Durant answered back from the free throw line, and by the end of the first quarter, the Warriors held a 29-28 lead.
Curry tallied 10 points on 4-for-8 shooting while Durant countered with 11 points. Draymond collected 5 points, 5 rebounds, and 4 assists.
2nd Quarter – Curry Goes To Work
Marreese Speights started the second quarter and provided an immediate spark, hitting a jumper.. Shaun Livingston added a turn-and-fade “and-one” over Waiters.
The Warriors continued to feed on Waiters, as Thompson made a three after Barnes posted up Waiters on the right block, then Speights added a three on a catch-and-shoot from the top.
But Durant found Kanter for an “and-one” and the Thunder cut the lead back to 42-38 with 7:48 to play as a mandatory TV timeout occurred.
Curry checked back in, Klay got this layup…
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…but followed that up with a turnover on a bad pass that led to a Westbrook bucket at the rim, Speights missed a dunk in traffic that Randy Foye answered with two points, and after Livingston followed that up with a miss, Steven Adams tipped in a Westbrook early offense attack and Kerr called timeout to stop the bleeding with the game now tied, 44-44, with 6:10 remaining.
Green got a backdoor layup, Westbrook made an impressive dunk fed by Durant, Curry got a baseline layup assisted by Bogut…
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…and after Draymond picked Durant, Klay rewarded Green with a touchdown pass for a layup, and Donovan called timeout as the Warriors took a 54-52 lead with 2:41 left:
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After this drive by Klay…
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…Durant got his sixth assist on an Ibaka bucket, but Curry came back with a nice warding off of Durant with the right forearm as Steph drove in lefty and got a reverse layup to tie the game at 58-58 nearing the end of the half.
Later, Thompson couldn’t get past Durant, but passed the ball back out to Curry, who sized up Singler as his victim from way downtown:
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Durant made his sixth free throw of the half, Curry got a layup for his 18th and 19th points on a layup with 17.1 seconds remaining, and Westbrook threw the ball away at the buzzer, and Golden State maintained a 63-61 lead after one half.
Durant was up to 16 points, Ibaka added 11 points, while Thompson tallied 15 points to Curry’s 19, and Green collected 9 points, 6 rebounds, and 4 assists.
(Photo: @letsgowarriors Instagram account via @mark_l_a)
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