Final
Thunder-Warriors Preview
May 17, 2016 - 10:57 PM The Oklahoma City Thunder have won three straight road playoff games against teams that dropped a total of three home games during the regular season.If they make it four straight for the second time in franchise history, they'll be in a commanding position against a Golden State Warriors team bidding to put itself in the history books.
The Thunder look to take a 2-0 Western Conference finals lead Wednesday night against the Warriors, who seek to recover from a 14-point fourth quarter in the opener.
The West was supposed to be won by either Golden State or San Antonio, teams that combined to go 79-3 at home in the regular season. Those clubs now have been victimized at home three straight times by Oklahoma City, which won Game 1 over the Warriors 108-102 on Monday after winning the final two games in San Antonio of its semifinal series.
The Thunder franchise hasn't won four straight on the road in the playoffs since the 1995-96 Seattle SuperSonics did it en route to the NBA Finals. Oklahoma City is 5-1 on the road in this postseason.
"You have to have a mindset coming into these kinds of venues. Our guys, I think they understand what they're walking into," coach Billy Donovan said. "You don't just walk in here say, `Oh, everything's going to be OK.' You have to have a mindset to understand. The first thing is to embrace the fact it's going to be hard."
Golden State was stifled after building a 13-point halftime lead. The Warriors' 42 second-half points and 14 in the fourth both were lows for this postseason.
The club didn't lose two straight during its record 73-win season. Doing so now would put Golden State in a major hole heading to Oklahoma City.
"That doesn't matter at this point," said forward Draymond Green, who scored 23 points. "Obviously, it helps just knowing what to do to not lose back-to-back games, but it's the playoffs. It's the conference finals."
Coach Steve Kerr noted that the team's film session Tuesday went well while Green was quick to point out that the Thunder prevailed even though Kevin Durant and Russell Westbrook combined to make 17 of 51 shots for their 53 points. Westbrook missed nine of his first 10 attempts.
"The other guys are playing better," Green said. "KD (Durant) didn't play well last night to KD's standards. Russ didn't play to Russ's standards, yet they won the game because the other guys are playing better. So that's something that we've got to take care of and make sure that everybody else is not getting off and having really good games."
Steven Adams had 16 points and 12 boards and Serge Ibaka added 11 of each as the Thunder held a 52-44 edge on the glass. Oklahoma City led the league in average rebound margin during the season at plus-8.4 and has upped that margin to plus-9.5 in the postseason.
The Warriors got 51 points from league MVP Stephen Curry and Klay Thompson, although Curry's seven assists to seven turnovers were problematic. The duo missed nine of 10 shots in a final period in which Golden State made 6 of 23 attempts.
"This is obviously a really good defensive team we're playing against," Kerr said. "They've got length and athleticism, and in a lot of cases they force you into kind of iso ball. I thought they did that to San Antonio quite a bit in the last series."
Durant posted his first double-double of the playoffs with 10 rebounds while Westbrook added 12 assists and seven steals. The Thunder also got to the foul line 32 times to 17 for the Warriors.
Although Oklahoma City now has home-court advantage, it isn't taking anything for granted.
"We got a W the first Game 1, but there is a lot of basketball to be played, so we can't be too excited," Durant said. "It was a good win for us, but we're not going to be jumping up and down, chest-bumping on the court. We've got a lot more basketball to play."
- OKLAHOMA CITY: 91
GOLDEN STATE: 118
Final
May 18 11:30 PM - End of 4th Quarter.
May 18 11:30 PM - OKLAHOMA CITY: 91
GOLDEN STATE: 118
4th Quarter - 0:15
May 18 11:30 PM - End of 3rd Quarter.
May 18 10:54 PM - 57
roots - 52
roots - 57
roots - 52
rootsRUWTbot Took away 5 roots (Individual Performance)
Thunder 49, Warriors 59 3rd - 11:22May 18 10:25 PM - End of 1st Half.
May 18 10:06 PM - OKLAHOMA CITY: 49
GOLDEN STATE: 57
2nd Quarter - 0:16
May 18 10:06 PM - End of 1st Quarter.
May 18 9:31 PM - OKLAHOMA CITY: 0
GOLDEN STATE: 0
1st Quarter - 12:00
May 18 9:04 PM - Steven Adams vs. Andrew Bogut (Harrison Barnes gains possession)
May 18 9:04 PM - OKLAHOMA CITY: 0
GOLDEN STATE: 0
Final
May 18 9:04 PM
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