And they were, in the end, demolished.
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The Thunder take a 2-1 series lead into game four in Oklahoma City on Wednesday (NZ time).
Yet this feels profoundly different, partly because OKC is so explosive.
Per ESPN Stats & Information research, Donovan played Serge Ibaka at center just 5 percent of the team’s possessions in Games 1 and 2.
Golden State Warriors guard Stephen Curry was quiet during game three of the Western Conference finals on Monday.
On his future induction into the Oklahoma Hall of Fame: “That’s a blessing, anytime you’re able to say you’re in the Hall of Fame anywhere I think it’s a blessing in itself, especially for somebody like myself after not ever thinking I would ever play in the National Basketball Association and to be in the Hall of Fame is a blessing and something I’ll never take for granted”.
‘We got what we deserved, ‘ Warriors coach Steve Kerr said. And if we are to look back in the third quarter of Game 1, the Thunder also scored 38 points, too. Russell Westbrook tallied 30 points and 12 assists, and he was two rebounds away from his first triple-double of the postseason.
J.A. Adande, ESPN.com columnist on Draymond Green Flagrant Foul 1 on Steven Adams in second quarter (via Twitter): “It’s easy to sit Dahntay Jones for a game”.
The Warriors at that time trailed 48-40. But the Warriors closed the quarter on a 15-9 run, entering the second quarter down 34-28. “During a game, players – at times – flail their legs in an attempt to draw a foul, but Green’s actions in this case warranted an additional penalty”. “That’s the strength of our team, our size and physicality, I think it’s important he uses that every night”.
“I mean, it happened before”.
Indeed, while the game was semi-competitive, the only Warrior who acquitted himself well was Andre Iguodala – 3-5, three assists, two steals and nine points. “This season and last season, we haven’t lost wire to wire like this, where they absolutely kicked our ass”, Andrew Bogut said.
Thunder appear to be growing as they go. And that’s what happened. Perhaps more importantly, it once again reaffirmed that the team can win on the road and in the fourth quarter, as it established in beating San Antonio in six games.
The Warriors are the fifth 65-win team to lose by more than 25 points since the NBA-ABA merger in 1976-77.
Their interior defense was pitiful with Draymond Green, Andrew Bogut and Harrison Barnes being the main culprits. Open looks, contested looks, layups and jumpers, all seemed to conspire against them.
The manhandling was so severe, there are doubts the Warriors could readily recover the way they did in Game 2 of the Western Conference playoffs at home.
“The only line that looks good to me is the (OVER 220) this is why…” “I missed a ton of layups”. It’s a possibility that nobody has been talking about, but maybe Durant stays with the guys he’s played with nearly his entire career, Westbrook, Ibaka, etc. If the Thunder do end up losing this series, he still may not leave, because they did upset the Spurs.
“It was just a bad flow out there and we couldn’t stop it”, Curry said.
“We’ll be all right”. With a team that can be good for years to come down the line, and a team he has been with his whole career, it will probably take something huge and unforeseen now to get KD out of OKC.
Golden State will be in an uncomfortable position heading into Game 4 on Tuesday in Oklahoma City, but the Warriors remain confident.
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The urgency shifts to the Warriors.
