Review: OKC Thunder down the tired Warriors 119-98

OKLAHOMA CITY, OK – FEBRUARY 6: Kevin Durant #35 and Hasheem Thabeet #34 of the Oklahoma City Thunder celebrate while playing the Golden State Warriors

The OKC Thunder rallied past the Golden State Warriors with a score of 119-98 to improve to 37-12 and drop the Warriors to 30-19. Kevin Durant led the way for the Thunder as he scored 25 points on 10 for 18 shooting. He added 7 rebounds, 4 assists, 2 steals and 2 blocks. He did turn the ball over 5 times though. Russell Westbrook chipped in with 22 points on 8 of 19 shooting, and added 5 assists and 4 steals with 3 rebounds.

The Warriors are going through a tough phase. Sometimes your opponent gets red hot, and there’s little you can do to counter it, besides answering right back on offense. The Warriors were coming off a loss to the Rockets, where they tasted 23 three pointers, an NBA record. And today, they faced the best offensive team in the Thunder, who had three players score above 20 points. Besides Durant and Wesbrook, Kevin Martin added 21 points on 8 for 16 shooting with 4 assists. This game was a back-to-back affair for the Warriors, and they had problems with their flight to OKC which landed 100 miles away in Tulsa. They reached their hotel at 4:30 AM, which explains the tired legs. The game was decided so early that Kevin Durant and Russell Westbrook didn’t even play in the fourth quarter as the final period opened with the Thunder up 90-79. The score would have been even more lopsided, as the Warriors shot a paltry 37% from the field in the first half. However, they made up for it with their hot three point shooting.

The Thunder out-rebounded the Warriors by just one, 50 to 49. But the Warriors shot almost 10% poorer. The Thunder shot 50.5% from the field and the Warriors shot 40.9%. They did make half of their threes, going 10 for 20 while holding the Thunder to 8 for 23. The Warriors were pressured into 19 turnovers, and they forced only 12 in return. When you give up second chance points to the best offense in the NBA, you’re going to have a bad time. One of the catchups where the Warriors ought to have had an advantage was David Lee vs Serge Ibaka, but Ibaka outplayed Lee as he went for 15 points and 9 rebounds on 7 for 10 shooting. Lee scored 12 points with 11 rebounds, but he shot 5 for 13. The highly energetic Kent Bazemore added 11 points off the bench for the Warriors. Carl Landry and Richard Jefferson added 9 points apiece. Harrison Barnes gave them 19 on 7 for 9 shooting. Klay Thompson added 19 on 8 for 16 shooting.

For the Thunder, Reggie Jackson had a career high 12 points. The Warriors were without the services of Andrew Bogut and Jarrett Jack. Jack was out with a right shoulder contusion and ailing hip. Steph Curry couldn’t bring it as he finished with 14 points on 5 of 20 shots and had 11 assists.

The Warriors will play the Memphis Grizzlies on 9th February. The Thunder will play host to the Phoenix Suns before going to Phoenix to play the Suns again. Both the Thunder and the Warriors seem to be a lock to make it to the post-season, where they may end up playing each other again in a playoff series. Here are the highlights from the first half of this game-