The Golden State Warriors have tied the Western Conference Finals after their 118-91 win over the Oklahoma City Thunder. The Warriors never trailed in either of their first two series, but they fell behind 2-1 in both the Western Conference semifinals against Memphis and NBA Finals against Cleveland past year. Curry went on a 15-2 run by himself, taking a blowtorch to Oklahoma City’s defense, all with an elbow the size of a grapefruit. “It looks like it has a tennis ball on top of it, but it doesn’t affect range of motion or anything”.
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The Warriors were obviously led by Curry’s 28 but he had a lot of help from his teammates with six of them scoring in double figures. In those situations, the Thunder averaged 80.0 points per 100 possessions, a significant drop from the 105.6 points per 100 possessions they averaged when Curry guarded Westbrook. “I think our guys are up for the challenge”.
A nervous 15 or so seconds ensued before Curry, still just 3 1/2 weeks removed from a right knee sprain, stood up and walked over to the bench.
They also have a defensive that should be good enough to contain the Thunder’s supporting cast.
In the third quarter, Curry got angry at the lack of foul calls and made a decision to take over the game as if it were a Rubik’s Cube.
Despite being closely marshalled by Russell Westbrook for most of the contest, Curry was able to find or create little openings to get his shots. The second story is more dramatic – complete with a classic Curry-revenge barrage of threes – but the first story is likely more important for the fate of the series.
Festus Ezeli scored 12 points for his first game in double digits these playoffs, Marreese Speights had 13 points off the bench, and Golden State didn’t falter after halftime the way it did two nights earlier in losing Game 1 108-102.
What does not kill Curry’s right arm apparently only makes him more likely to go on a third-quarter rampage that transcends space, time and the Oklahoma City Thunder. It’s something Draymond Green does half a dozen times a game if not more, and often is excused.
“Nothing to really worry about”, Curry said.
It is safe to say that the Golden State Warriors season could not of gone any better so far.
“The elbow’s fine”, said Curry, who took nearly seven minutes to take his first shot. For the Warriors to beat the best rebounding team in the league by nine on the boards despite playing small lineups just showed that it was Golden State’s night.
When the backups tip-toed through a quiet night in Game 1, not even Curry, Thompson and Green could overcome Oklahoma City’s second-half comeback. He still hasn’t had two good games in a row in these playoffs.
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Despite its second-half woes, they still had a fighting chance, trailing by 3 with 22 seconds left.
