Thompson scored the first nine points of the fourth quarter for Golden State and added two more clutch 3-pointers in the period after a brief pep talk from Curry before the last quarter began. Kevin Durant starred once again for his team with 29 points but it came off a poor shooting night (10 of 31) and he too failed to show up in the final minutes, recording two of his three turnovers in the final three minutes of the game. Until that point, Westbrook and Oklahoma City had taken excellent care of the ball and brought maximum intensity on each possession.
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The Oklahoma City Thunder were 12 minutes away from returning to the NBA Finals. We were upset we lost, but we let that go.
“Our job isn’t done and we have a lot more work to do”, Bogut said. The Thunder won Game 3 133-105, tying a franchise record for points scored in a playoff game.
Thompson kept them in it with four three-pointers in just over seven minutes to start the quarter.
Thompson’s 3 with 1:35 remaining put the Warriors up 104-101. In the game where Golden State needed him the most, Thompson was his best. Ultimately, the Thunder’s offense turned into isolation plays for either Westbrook or Durant, a trend that certainly satisfied Golden State. Green, who had hit Adams in the groin area twice during the series, was a constant target for the vocal Thunder fans.
However, they were outscored 33-18 in the fourth quarter in front of their home crowd.
“We just didn’t help each other enough in those situations”, Donovan said.
“It’s going to be a hard game”, Curry said. “We’ve got another game to play, so it’s pretty high right now”.
At one point, Thompson pulled up for a 28-footer well behind the top of the key and swished it through.
Durant: “We know we’ve got another game to play”. We’re excited about that. “We’ve got to take advantage of it. Go up into their building, and it’s going to be great atmosphere”. And we can’t hang our heads.
The 15 points were the result of five 3-pointers, including three by Curry, who had made only two the entire first half.
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The Thunder made 22 of 32 from the foul line while the Warriors hit 21 of 44 from behind the arc. Draymond Green bounced back from a couple of rough games to finish with 12 points with 12 rebounds and six assists, but all everyone will be talking about was the shooting display from Thompson who single-handedly broke open a close contest to force a dramatic Game 7. However, with Game 5 and Game 6 loss, the Thunder might already have known the specific adjustments that they have to do in order to beat the Warriors. Serge Ibaka added 13 points and nine rebounds. Westbrook has 24 steals in the series.
