When returning to his former home, Kevin Durant suffered a clear defeat. Thanks to an outstanding Russell Westbrook, the Oklahoma City Thunder (8-9) did not give the Golden State Warriors (13-5) a chance in the 108-91 win.
Thunder fans don’t forget. At least not too fast. Also in the second year of his return Kevin Durant played in front of emotionally charged Oklahoma fans, who followed each of his actions with boo-cries and celebrated every little mistake with frenetic cheer. So it was a great joy in the first quarter when Durant had to take a seat on the bench with two early fouls and watch his colleagues get caught up in the unbelievably active defensive of the Thunder.
The hosts made aggressive use of the numerous transition possibilities and built up a two-digit lead in the first twelve minutes. Shortly before half-time, things got heated for the first time between the former Thunder-Buddies: Westbrook provoked a ball loss in the direct matchup with KD and had a few words left for his old comrade. It continued its sporty run towards Thunder and OKC extended the lead for the break to 65:48.
Although the lead remained clear, the game continued to be emotionally charged. Durant and Westbrook collided again and ended briefly for a few seconds forehead to forehead. However, the current MVP was still in the lead in sporting terms and thus prevented a warriors comeback. Throughout the final quarter, the Thunder was running out of energy very slowly, but Golden State was unable to reduce the gap and Steve Kerr ordered his starters off the field early.
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Westbrook missed the triple double with 33 points (13/26 FG), 10 rebounds and 9 assists. Carmelo Anthony (22 points, 8/17 FG) was a big factor especially in the first half and Paul George scored 20 points (8/19 FG) with a strong defensive (4 steals, 2 blocks).
Stephen Curry was his team’s top scorer with 24 points (9/18 FG) but also produced 6 turnovers. Durant (21 points, 8/17 FG) faded against Westbrook.
OKC did a sensational job of closing down the Warriors’ passes: George, Steven Adams, Andre Roberson and Westbrook’s long arms were everywhere, provoking most of Golden State’s 22 ball losses.
The weakness of the warriors on the defensive board was once again a factor: in half court situations, the Thunders were able to turn 36 percent of their misalignments into second chances. Especially Adam’s (6 offensive rebounds) could not be stopped by the physically inferior players of the Warriors.
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Russell Westbrook about his mindset in this game (Thunder):”For me it wasn’t a special mindset, but just my basic attitude – I want to rip my opponent’s head off in every game. Hopefully this game will be the turning point for our season so far.”
Russell Westbrook. In the last few weeks Westbrook has been having problems finding his role in the new team construction around George and Melo. Against Durant he simply turned his head off, played in the usual MVP manner and dominated all elements of the game. A simply outstanding performance.
Klay Thompson. Equipped with the almost perfect jump throw, it is always strange to see Thompson’s throws not wanting to find their way into the Reuse. Nine of his twelve throws missed and Klay could not leave his usual mark on the game defensively either.
Against Golden State, many opponent coaches choose the way to make the game slow and get the Warriors off course. Billy Donovan chose the opposite and gave his players and Westbrook in particular the green light to play at maximum speed.