OKLAHOMA CITY — Being fouled on a 3-pointer with 7.7 seconds left, Chet Holmgren had the chance to tie a high-scoring affair at the free-throw line.
With the entire crowd waiting in anticipation, the seven-foot rookie swished in all three attempts with ease.
“Make sure my hands are dry and just go out there and shoot free throws (the) same way I practice them every single day,” Holmgren said on what was going through his mind as Golden State challenged the foul.
The Oklahoma City Thunder extended the game against the Golden State Warriors beyond 48 minutes and came out victorious with a 138-136 overtime win.
“It was a great win because it was an uphill battle for us in a large part of the game,” Thunder head coach Mark Daigneault said. “… We were able to kinda stay in the game because of our defense and the way we kinda scrapped. We didn’t let the lead get out of control despite a slow start offensively…
“Obviously, great experience for us against a team of that quality. All these games against them, they really stress test you.”
The Thunder carried the momentum into the five-minute period, as a 12-3 run by OKC was capped off with a Holmgren corner 3-pointer with 2:40 left. The 3-pointer erupted the loud crowd into a frenzy as the Thunder led 130-121.
The Warriors threatened again as they cut it to as little as two points, but OKC always answered back to close out the tight two-point win.
It’s hard to believe this game turned out the way it did in the early stages of this contest. The Warriors built a 28-19 lead following the first quarter as OKC struggled to generate a flow on offense.
The Thunder quickly turned it around in the second quarter with a 37-point period. The offensive burst helped trim Golden State’s lead and entered halftime trailing 62-56.
A 33-point third quarter by the Thunder flipped the score as OKC entered the final frame with an 89-84 lead. The five-point lead quickly evaporated as the Warriors opened the fourth quarter on a 13-4 run to take a four-point lead.
From that point, it was a back-and-forth game that saw both teams exchange leads until there wasn’t enough time left in regulation.
Shai Gilgeous-Alexander and Stephen Curry exchanged buckets in the final minutes as the All-NBA guards tried to wield their respective teams to a regulation victory.
Alas, four quarters wasn’t enough as this classic went an additional five minutes. The Thunder escaped with the home win following a 20-18 scoring advantage in OT. After all that, OKC wrapped up an entertaining regular-season series against Golden State by winning the final three matchups.
“It’s a long game,” Gilgeous-Alexander said on a game that featured 20 lead changes/ties. “Ups and downs; goods and bads. We’ve been on both sides in a basketball game… We know there’s a lot of game left and stuff we can control.”
The Thunder had a weird offensive outing. Sure, they scored 138 points on 52% shooting — but OKC shot a miserable 5-of-29 (17.2%) from 3. That type of shooting night from deep usually spells doom, but a 31-of-36 night from the free-throw line helped make up the difference.
OKC conducted most of its scoring inside of the paint, where it dominated the Warriors, 78-50. A 28-point difference in that area will also certainly help overcome a cold night from 3.
Gilgeous-Alexander led the way for the Thunder with 38 points on 15-of-30 shooting. Jalen Williams also contributed with 28 points and Holmgren totaled 21 points to go along with his three blocks.
Meanwhile, the Warriors had a more traditional high-octane offensive night. Golden State shot 47% from the field and went 19-of-48 (39.6%) from 3. It went 19-of-23 from the free-throw line and dished out 29 assists on 49 buckets.
“I thought we were ready to play because of the way we were defending,” Daigneault said on their defense. “It wasn’t like we were flat. We were defending like crazy. That’s why we were able to keep to 10 or 12 points.”
Each time the Warriors had the ball, they usually produced points on an efficient level. The problem was they didn’t have the ball as often as they could’ve — OKC forced 29 turnovers, a franchise record and a 2023-24 regular season record.
The Thunder scored 35 points off of those turnovers, a significant difference from the Warriors’ six points in that same category.
“We shot the ball incredibly poorly from 3 and they turned it over a lot,” Daigneault said. “Someone’s gonna win anyways and we were the team that won… We were fortunate to win that game, it could’ve gone either way.”
Curry was typical Curry for the Warriors. The future Hall-of-Famer had 34 points on 10-of-20 shooting and went 6-of-12 from 3 — including 10 in OT as he almost single-handily brought Golden State back from the dead in the final two minutes.
Klay Thompson contributed with 22 points on 8-of-15 shooting and went 4-of-9 from 3. A much better outing for him than his previous games against OKC.
Draymond Green had 12 points and 13 assists before he eventually fouled out and committed the crucial shooting foul on Holmgren in the aforementioned play that sent this game into OT.
Off the bench, Jonathan Kuminga had 24 points and 12 rebounds. Dario Saric had 11 points and 12 rebounds.
This was a massive win for the Thunder to conclude an entertaining regular-season series against the Warriors. Of their four matchups, two went into OT and another was decided by single digits.
“I just thought we had great mental toughness,” Daigneault said. “It wasn’t an easy game for us by any stretch of the imagination.”
The Warriors have been viewed as a contender before anybody notable on the Thunder even entered the league. To go toe-to-toe against a team with that pedigree and history and to come out victorious in three of their four matchups speaks volumes as to how far OKC has progressed since last season.
“Obviously, it was a dynasty that came here today,” Gilgeous-Alexander said. “It’s just been multiple games like that this year where we play the best of the best and we rise to the challenge.”
Let’s look at Thunder player grades.