Wednesday, against the Kings deprived of their star point guard, De’Aaron Fox, the Warriors won on a shot from Klay Thompson with 0.2 seconds to play. Last night, facing a Thunder deprived of Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, their star point guard, the Warriors also won with 0.2 seconds to play thanks to a spoon-fed lay-up from Stephen Curry (30 points, 8 rebounds, 7 passes) over Chet Holmgren. This is the Warriors’ fifth victory in a row, and the fourth in four away games this season.
With a hot Dario Saric (20 points), the Warriors are in the lead throughout the first half. They take a nine-point lead several times but their twelve lost balls allow the Thunder to remain in ambush. In the wake of Chet Holmgren (24 points, 8 rebounds, 5 assists), Oklahoma City remains aggressive and makes Golden State’s defense suffer with incessant “drive & kick”. An 8-0 brings them to -2 at the break (69-67).
The Thunder’s devilish skill continued in the third quarter. Lu Dort scores 16 points at 100% success in the first seven minutes of the period, including 4/4 from 3-point range, to put Oklahoma City in front (100-93). It takes 12 points from Stephen Curry to limit the damage, before maestro Chris Paul (13 assists) wakes up Jonathan Kuminga (19 points) to allow the Warriors to return to equality (106-106).
14 points from Josh Giddey in the first five minutes of the last quarter and physical drives from Jalen Williams (18 points, 8 assists) gave control of the match to the Thunder (133-127).
However, the Warriors never gave up. A 2+1 from Draymond Green, 6 points on offensive rebounds from Andre Wiggins (17 points) and Jonathan Kuminga, a 3-pointer from Klay Thompson (18 points) put the two teams back to back (133-133). During the last 75 seconds, the two teams went blow for blow before Stephen Curry defeated the Thunder with a silky touchdown.
WHAT YOU MUST REMEMBER
– A completely crazy “money time”. After 46 minutes of devilish skill from both sides, the last two minutes of the match lasted an eternity with Draymond Green at the heart of the storm. Mark Daigneault won a challenge on a moving screen from the inside, Steve Kerr lost a challenge on a foul by his player on Chet Holmgren, and the referees asked to review a possible elbow from Green on Holmgren. Finally, on Stephen Curry’s winning lay-up, Green touched the circle before the ball entered but after five minutes of review, the double MVP’s basket was finally validated, giving the Warriors victory.
– Chet Holmgren and the Thunder impress. Without Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, the Thunder started from far away against the Warriors in full swing. From the first minutes, Chet Holmgren set the tone by attacking the Dubs. Jalen Williams, Lu Dort and Josh Giddey did the same. The Thunder are the team that drives the most in the league and the Warriors were unable to slow them down all night. OKC finished the meeting with 60% success and 52% at 3-points! Mark Daigneault’s men, however, ended up losing the game because their 19 lost balls and 13 offensive rebounds conceded gave the Warriors 53 points, a deficit of 22 points…
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How to read the stats? Min = Minutes; Shots = Successful shots / Attempted shots; 3pts = 3-points / 3-points attempted; LF = free throws made / free throws attempted; O = offensive rebound; D=defensive rebound; T = Total rebounds; Pd = assists; Fte: Personal fouls; Int = Intercepts; Bp = Lost balls; Ct: Against; +/- = Point differential when the player is on the field; Pts = Points; Eval: player evaluation calculated from positive actions – negative actions.
