It was a quarter later than usual, but the Golden States Warriors’ inevitable onslaught was too much for the Oklahoma City Thunder to overcome in a 136-125 loss.
After the Thunder capped a 79-69 first half with a Jalen Williams’ 3, the Warriors used a 33-27 third-quarter scoring advantage to cut OKC’s lead to four points.
“I thought we did a really good job at holding them off in the third (quarter),” Thunder head coach Mark Daigneault said. “We got a little more bogged down offensively but we kept the scoreboard moving enough and kept them kinda in arm’s distance.”
The Thunder couldn’t hold off the Warriors for much longer though; they were outscored, 34-19, in the fourth quarter.
“I thought our competitiveness and our poise was there tonight. I just thought the execution on the defensive end wasn’t great,” Daigneault said. “They guarded us really well in the fourth (quarter) and like I said, deserved credit for the win”
It was a tale of two halves for the Thunder. After outscoring the Warriors, 79-69 in the first half, they were outscored, 67-46, in the second half.
The Thunder led for the first 40 minutes, but the Warriors finished the final 8:30 of the game with a 28-17 run to complete the 15-point comeback win.
It was a high-scoring affair in which the Warriors went 20-of-47 (42.6%) from 3. Overall, the Warriors shot 47-of-95 (49.5%) from the field.
The Warriors’ win was headlined by a pair of 30-point scorers.
Stephen Curry finished with 34 points on 11-of-25 shooting and went 6-of-13 from 3.
Jordan Poole finished with 30 points on 8-of-19 shooting and went 5-of-12 from 3. Poole started in place of Klay Thompson, who was a late scratch due to lower back tightness. Poole led the scoring avalanche for the Warriors in the fourth quarter, scoring 18 points — only one fewer than the Thunder team — in the period.
A late Poole 3 was the decisive play; it increased the Warriors’ lead to 11 points with a little over three minutes remaining. This was part of a personal 7-0 run by Poole that spanned less than a minute.
Draymond Green finished with 17 points, 10 rebounds and five assists. Off the bench, Donte DiVincenzo had 16 points and Moses Moody had 13 points.
Meanwhile, the Thunder didn’t have any problems scoring either. OKC shot 44-of-93 (47.3%) from the field, but went 11-of-32 (34.4%) from 3 — nine fewer made 3s compared to Golden State.
“I thought, offensively, we played with great force,” Daigneault said. “We set a great tone on that end of the floor:125 points on the road is a good number. We deserve credit for that. We went and earned those points tonight.”
Both teams also enjoyed busy nights at the charity stripe. The Thunder shot 26-of-35 (74.3%) from the free-throw line while the Warriors shot 22-of-30 (73.3%).
For the Thunder, Shai Gilgeous-Alexander had another ho-hum 30-point performance with 32 points on 11-of-17 shooting. Overall, the Thunder had six players score at least 11 points.
The 11-point loss concludes OKC’s season series against the Warriors; it went 1-3. The Warriors finished their home season an impressive 33-8.
The Thunder have lost three consecutive games and are 2-6 in their last eight. Thanks to the Dallas Mavericks also limping to the finish line (1-7), OKC remains in 10th place — the last play-in tournament spot — in the Western Conference. The Thunder lead the 11th-placed Mavericks by half a game. The Thunder have two games remaining; the Mavericks have three.
It looks like it’ll be a tight finish in the remaining days of the season for the Thunder and Mavericks and the last play-in tournament spot. Importantly, the Thunder own the tiebreaker.
Let’s look at Thunder player grades.