For two days, the Golden State Warriors were forced to consider the implications of losing another game in their Western Conference finals matchup with the Oklahoma City Thunder. Thunder’s dynamic duo Kevin Durant and Russell Westbrook found themselves with the weight of scoring for the team.
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OAKLAND-For the first time this season the Golden State Warriors had their backs against the wall, facing a daunting 2-0 deficit in the Western Conference Finals.
The Warriors bounced back after an uncharacteristic performance in Game 1, when the NBA’s top offense during the regular season fell apart on that end of the floor in the fourth quarter to lose a rare home game. In fact, they are actually more dominant after a loss. But in the third quarter, he finished only five possessions as Curry’s defender. Durant was already at 19 points midway through the second quarter. Even without Curry’s shooting, the Warriors made 40% of their three point shooting. Curry would add another layup for a total of 17 points in the quarter, and Draymond Green’s tip-in with 13.7 seconds left gave the Dubs a commanding 88-68 lead heading into the fourth and final quarter. While Curry was going off for his 15 the Thunder as a team scored two. While Durant hit a fadeaway jumper moments later, Curry answered by knocking down consecutive long shots, one a 3, to make it 76-59 with 5:47 to go in the third. That marked the 35th quarter Curry had this year with 15-plus points, which leads the National Basketball Association.
Curry did a much better job with the ball in his hands in Game 2.
The two-time reigning league MVP quickly got to his feet, sporting what he reported later to be a big bruise on his right elbow.
Whether it was Curry’s injury that slowed him down in Game 1 is debatable. It trickled down to the rest of the Warriors as the team overall had just 12 turnovers in the game.
In fact, his fairly valuable shooting arm looked largely terrible after the game, when Curry sported a big, round lump on the outside of his elbow. Take OKC with the points in what should be a close one. Westbrook and Durant took one shot each in the third quarter.
“He’s the MVP for a reason and he knows he didn’t have his best night in Game One”. He and Westbrook were the only two OKC players in double figures. “Five minutes left in the game and we’re down 4 or whatever, and we were acting like we had 20 seconds left”.
Curry snapped a scoring drought of 16 minutes, 57 seconds by scoring 12 points in 82 seconds. He scored 10-straight points for Oklahoma City, pulling the Thunder within 35-32 with back-to-back three-pointers after Golden State had pushed their lead to double-digits.
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It didn’t look too healthy after-or during-the game, but it obviously didn’t affect his shooting and Curry said he’s fine with perhaps some elbow-draining coming in the next few days before Game 3 on Sunday in Oklahoma City.
