After the Oklahoma City Thunder took a 3-1 lead over the Warriors in their Western Conference final series, the Internet showed no mercy to Curry and Golden State.
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Westbrook, who led the league with 18 triple doubles during the regular season, posted his first triple double of the playoffs for the Thunder who have a 3-1 series lead.
Meanwhile, Thunder All-Star point guard Russell Westbrook had his second consecutive dominant outing, with 36 points, 11 rebounds and 11 assists.
The Warriors, who broke the long-standing National Basketball Association record of the mighty 1995-96 Michael Jordan-led Chicago Bulls of 72 victories in a single regular season, suffered their first back-to-back defeats this season. With a win, the Thunder will return to the NBA Finals for the first time since 2012 when they lost to LeBron James and the Miami Heat in a five-game series. “We have to chase down loose balls”.
“Every game is a new game”.
The Thunder entered the fourth quarter with a 12-point lead, and it didn’t take long for Kerr to call in the reserves. “We’ve put in too much work to go out like this”.
The Golden State Warriors have their backs against the wall in the Western Conference Finals after dropping another game to the Oklahoma City Thunder on Tuesday night. The Thunder improved to 19-0 this season when Westbrook gets a triple-double. The only other 3-1 comeback was in 1979, when the Washington Bullets rallied to beat the San Antonio Spurs, winning Games 5 and 7 at home.
The play was indicative of the type of night Oklahoma City was having as the Thunder raced out to a 72-53 halftime advantage. “You’ve got to get to a place after each game – what happened in the game, what do we need to get better, what do we do well, what are some changes or adjustments we need to make – and then you’ve got to move into the next one”, Donovan said. We played a little slower parts of the game.
Led by the sharpshooting abilities of Klay Thompson, the Warriors cut the score to 80-74 with 4:48 left in the frame.
But Dion Waiters hit a 3-pointer to put Oklahoma City back up by 12.
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That OKC group countered what was thought to be the Warriors’ best lineup – Thompson, Stephen Curry, Green, Andre Iguodala and Harrison Barnes – by outscoring them 55-13 over the past two games, even with lineups in which Ibaka was the Thunder’s only big man. This is the first time Steve Kerr has coached a series with more than two losses for his team. Kerr, hollow, fidgeted nervously as Okhaloma, which finished with a 56-40 rebounding edge, proceeded to dominate and scatter Golden State with a balanced game, anchored on unforgiving defense.
