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BOX SCORE

At this stage in the season, meaning three games left, I could see how it might be easy to lose a little focus when playing a team 30 under .500. Especially when you jump out to a 20-point lead early in the first half and drop 42 first quarter points. I could see how maybe you coast a bit, letting the other team go on a 16-5 run and get back in the game. Heck, I could even see the game tightening in the third going into the fourth. It’s the NBA. It happens all the time.

But losing this game? That’s just ridiculous. Read more…

Recap Golden State Warriors

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Ok. City Thunder (49-30, 23-16 road) at Golden State Warriors (24-55, 17-22 home)

TV: FS Oklahoma (Cox 37, HD 722, Tulsa Cox 27, DirectTV 679, UVerse 753)
Stream: Click here
Radio: WWLS The Sports Animal (98.1 FM, 640 AM, 97.1 FM Tulsa)
Time: 8:00 CDT

Offensive Rating: Thunder – 108.1 (13th), Warriors – 108.0 (14th)
Defensive Rating: Thunder – 104.2 (8th), Warriors – 111.7 (29th)
Pace: Thunder – 93.0 (14th), Warriors – 100.3 (1st)

View from the enemy: Warriors World

It’s a good thing the Thunder remembered how to play defense on Friday. Otherwise, I’d be a little anxious about this one. You know, with playing the Warriors and everything. But here’s something neat about this game: After winning 23 games last year and losing 30 in just 34 games, the Thunder have a shot to win their 50th this year. Mind. Blown. Read more…

Preview Golden State Warriors

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Ok. City Thunder (28-21, 13-11 road) vs. Golden State Warriors (13-35, 9-13 home)

TV: FS Oklahoma (Cox 37, HD 722, Tulsa Cox 27, DirectTV 679, UVerse 753)
Stream: Click here
Radio: WWLS The Sports Animal (98.1 FM, 640 AM, 97.1 FM Tulsa)
Time: 9:30 CST

Offensive Rating: Thunder – 106.4 (18th), Warriors – 106.2 (19th)
Defensive Rating: Thunder – 103.3 (6th), Warriors – 110.6 (28th)
Pace: Thunder – 92.1 (18th), Warriors – 100.4 (1st)

View from the enemy: Warriors World

I always hate when these games happen. Mainly because, what’s a guy to write about when his team just played the new opponent six days ago? Thw Warriors are fresh on our minds and we know what they do. Nothing has really changed. Monta Ellis is still fast, Steph Curry can still shoot and the front office hasn’t added 16 new D-Leaguers to the roster. Alas. Read more…

Preview Golden State Warriors

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Golden State Warriors (13-32, 4-19 road) vs. Ok. City Thunder (25-21, 13-10 home)

TV: FS Oklahoma (Cox 37, HD 722, Tulsa Cox 27, DirectTV 679, UVerse 753)
Stream: Click here
Radio: WWLS The Sports Animal (98.1 FM, 640 AM, 97.1 FM Tulsa)
Time: 6:00 CST

Offensive Rating: Thunder – 105.7 (21st), Warriors – 106.4 (17th)
Defensive Rating: Thunder – 102.9 (5th), Warriors – 110.1 (26th)
Pace: Thunder – 92.2 (18th), Warriors – 100.6 (1st)

View from the enemy: Warriors World

I really like playing the Warriors. First of all, they aren’t that great. Second, they don’t play very good defense so there’s potential for big stat lines for Kevin Durant, Russell Westbrook and Jeff Green. And third of all, they’re kind of fun to watch. Read more…

Preview Golden State Warriors

BOX SCORE

(Photo by Layne Murdoch/NBAE via Getty Images)

At halftime, Kevin Durant was 3-10 from the floor with just six points. And I’d bet you nobody was happier.

For really the first time this year, his Thunder teammates picked up the slack. It’s not like Durant was playing bad, but for once, he wasn’t forced to play good. The Warriors focused their defensive effort on KD and so Durant deferred to the other two Broingtons. Jeff Green was awesome in the first 24, putting up a double-double (17-10) and James Harden had 15 points (10-10 from the line), as OKC held a 51-50 lead at halftime over Golden State. Just hold down the fort and wait for KD to start cooking and that’s exactly what Harden and Green did.

And all it took was Durant remembering how awesome he is and the Thunder took control in the second half to run away from Golden State, 104-88, notching win No. 11 and finishing this homestand 3-2.

Here’s a good stat: This is the first time this season the Warriors have been held under 90 points. How’s that for defensive improvement? A 29-18 third quarter did the trick for OKC, though it didn’t go as smooth as the box score seems. The Thunder scored seven quick points out of the locker room in literally a minute. Russell Westbrook had five in 10 seconds. But after that, OKC scored six over the next eight minutes. The offense stalled, the team got lazy and GSW cut the score to 63-62. But OKC finished on a 16-5 run to really take the game over. Read more…

Recap Golden State Warriors

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Golden State Warriors (6-13, 2-8 road) vs. Oklahoma City Thunder (10-9, 5-5 home)

TV: FS Oklahoma (Cox 37, HD 722, Tulsa Cox 27, DirectTV 679, UVerse 753)
Stream: Click Here
Radio: WWLS The Sports Animal (98.1 FM, 640 AM, 97.1 FM Tulsa)
Time: 7:00 CST

Offensive Rating: Thunder – 105.6 (21st), Warriors – 107.5 (15th)
Defensive Rating: Thunder – 103.5 (8th), Warriors – 111.8 (29th)
Pace: Thunder – 91.7 (19th), Warriors – 102.2 (1st)

View from the enemy: Warriors World

Another one of these. The “Slightly scary, but only because the Thunder is perfectly capable of dropping a stinker at any time, but at the same time, OKC should cruise to a victory” type of game. They terrify me. You win and it’s taking care of business. You lose and it feels like a disaster. I feel like I say this every time. But it’s true. Read more…

Preview Golden State Warriors

No. 1: Uncle Jeff goes to the bank

(I’ve always liked Brian Davis’s call on that.) Finally, the Thunder flipped the script at the buzzer. After losing five or six times as the horn sounded, OKC did it to someone else for once. I remember being a little excited after that game. Read more…

Riff Raff Golden State Warriors

(Deep breath)

Wooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo.

Woo.

Boy it feels nice to be on the other end of that. After watching it happen four times to us, seeing our guys jump all over each other after the buzzer was pretty stinking nice. Oh, and guess what? Nine baby. Nine.

But dang, what a great game that was. There were 14 ties and 22 lead changes. The first half was played at a hellish pace, with both teams combining for something like 480 points. At halftime I actually had to go towel off. The third quarter slowed down dramatically with Oklahoma City  scoring just 17 and Golden State 25. The fourth quarter was all about who could get more stops, grab more rebounds and turn the ball over less. And I guess, who had the ball last. In this case, it was Jeff Green knocking down an awesome jumper as time ran out, lifting the Thunder to a 122-121 win over the Warriors. Woo.

The Thunder three were BIG tonight. I mean big. Russell Westbrook had 30 points and seven assists (20 points in the first half), Green 26 and Kevin Durant 27, 12 boards and five assists. So to spare you from grabbing your calculator, the three combined for 83 points, or 68 percent of OKC’s total points. It was funny that with about a minute left Fox Sports Oklahoma awarded the player(s) of the game to Durant and Westbrook and left Green out. Oops.

A major sequence was the 9-2 run the Thunder had mid-fourth to tie the game at 88-88. The Warriors looked poised to pull away, but OKC (NINE!-34) hung tough and clawed back in it. After taking a four-point lead minutes later, the Thunder dodged a huge bullet as GSW (13-30) got three cracks at the bucket but came up empty and OKC closed winning the quarter 33-26. Those type of things weren’t going the Thunder’s way when they were losing the close ones. Now, they’re learning how to scrape and claw and fight and win.

Check out some of these stats from tonight: OKC played at a ridiculous pace (98.0) and had an offensive efficiency of 124.5. Conversely, Golden State had an offensive efficiency of 123.5. OKC shot 49.4 percent from the field on 85 shots and GSW hit 52 percent on 75 shots. Some may disagree, but to me, it wasn’t about bad defense tonight. It was just about really, really good offense coupled with a fast game. And for another double-take stat of the game, OKC took 33 free throws and hit 30 and GSW took 40 (!) and missed just two — but none bigger than C.J. Watson’s with about a minute left. Remember when the Thunder were hitting just 60 percent of their free throws and losing games by seven? Yeah, that would’ve been the case again tonight if they didn’t hit 91 percent. Nice work guys. Read more…

Other Golden State Warriors, Oklahoma City Thunder

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Oklahoma City Thunder (8-34, 2-17 road) vs. Golden State Warriors (13-29, 9-9 home)
Wednesday, Jan. 22
Oracle Arena
Oakland, CA
9:30 PM CST

TV: FS Oklahoma (Cox 37)
Radio: WWLS The Sports Animal (98.1 FM, 640 AM)

Offensive Rating: Thunder: 101.1 (29th), Golden State: 108.2 (11th)
Defensive Rating: Thunder: 108.5 (19th), Golden State: 113.2 (29th)
Pace: Thunder: 93.8(6th), Golden State: 97.5 (1st)

So what is this, like the 14th time we’ve played the Warriors? Because holy crap, it sure feels like it. This is game one of a two-game West Coast road trip. This is OKC’s first trip to the left side of America, but is the third time the Thunder has played the Warriors. I guess that’s not so bad. The first matchup, Golden State beat OKC 112-102 but the Thunder got revenge with a 107-100 win on New Year’s Eve. Since Ron Adams joined the bench that night, OKC’s been the best team in the league. Well, maybe not, but it kind of seems like it compared to the first two months.

After winning two out of three during last week’s homestand, OKC is now 5-5 in its last 10. The Warriors have won two in a row and three of four. What does that mean? It’s a nice way to say these two teams have horrendous records but have been playing better lately. Read more…

Other Golden State Warriors, Oklahoma City Thunder, Pre-game