Steve Kerr gave his Golden State players a much-needed mental day off with time to rest their tired bodies, and he got back to work trying to figure out how to save the season against a powerful Thunder team that shows no signs of slowing down.
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Clearly you need the right personnel to win when you go small, and the Wolves – particularly when Muhammad scores 35 points like he did in that game – have the right players to do that. “This isn’t how we’re going to go out”. “We did a great job of defending home court”.
But Curry is playing, the Warriors need him, and the Thunder is under no obligation to feel pity.
Make no mistake; the Warriors will come out with a vengeance in Game 5 on Thursday night at Oracle Arena. The possession ended with a turnover. But they’re doomed if he’s timid.
Klay Thompson almost carried the Warriors back into the game in the third quarter – scoring 17 straight points during one stretch – by playing with reckless abandon. After a quiet first half in which he only had 4 field goal attempts, Thompson entered the third with his mind set on penetrating and putting up shots. Curry buried half-court shots on command as he claimed a second consecutive MVP award but he has been outplayed by Thunder point guard Russell Westbrook in the conference finals, prompting inquiries about the right knee he sprained last month. The other provides raging passion and a will to overwhelm opponents even though he’s a little undersized (but when he’s off a beat, the entire team wavers and the entire team looks undersized).
When they stole Game 2 from San Antonio to knot their West semifinal series 1-1, Westbrook said the Thunder couldn’t be happy.
Harrison Barnes posted 11 points in the loss for the Warriors, who attempted just 17 free throws in the first half. But the ultimately futile burst only served to highlight how listless the team had looked up until that point.
Can Warriors rally back from 3-1 down?
Adams had no comment on Lil Stache Bro’s fictitious rival – Stuff Curry.
The Thunder has sped them up when they wanted, slowed them down, stolen their passes, blocked their shots, rebounded their wayward shots and dribbled through them.
The 19-point lead didn’t last long as Thompson began to tear apart the Thunder defense.
And while it’s not fair or accurate to put the blame for those defensive struggles on one person, it’s unavoidable for the focus to fall on Draymond Green. After becoming Public Enemy No. 1 in OKC for his kick down under to Kiwi center Steven Adams in Game 3 and not getting suspended by the league office, Green was drowned in boos all night long. Green’s white-hot intensity took its first hit when his technical count for the playoffs forced him to curtail his outward displays of emotion – both joy and frustration.
However, Green said the drama and stress of the previous two days wasn’t a factor in his poor performance during Game 4. For the second straight game OKC rang up a 72-point first half.
All of this leads to a very bleak place. But Curry reckons his team can script a turnaround. On offense, the team has been unable to find the cohesive movement-oriented attack that served them so well.
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No denying it’s a daunting task for the defending champs – especially given that MVP Stephen Curry is a far cry from being completely healthy. Their spiritual leader, Green, is in the midst of a crippling crisis of faith.
