NBA Playoffs on Sling TV: Warriors at Thunder, Game 3
On Wednesday, the Warriors got back to the business of winning basketball games, outscoring the Thunder in every quarter on their way to a 118-91 victory that evened up the Western Conference Finals.
Golden State struck first, taking a quick 6-0 lead on 3-pointers by Klay Thompson and Draymond Green. With the Warriors up 13-12, Steph Curry went on the first of two tears, scoring 9 consecutive Warrior points to put them up 22-16. OKC’s Kevin Durant would answer in the 2nd, scoring 12 points in just 3 minutes and 10 seconds to again close the gap to 1 point. Late in the 2nd quarter a Durant field goal would tie it at 49-49. Unfortunately for OKC, the Warriors would close out the half with an 8-0 run to make it 57-49. Steph Curry would soon make things a lot worse for the Thunder.
Midway through the 3rd, with the Warriors up 64-57, Curry went nuts. In the span of 2 minutes and 12 seconds of play, he scored 15 points, hitting 4 of 4 from the field, and 3 of 3 from the line. When the dust had settled, the Warriors were up 79-59 and the rout was on. Golden State’s final margin of victory was 27, and it wasn’t that close, as the lead ballooned to as much as 34 following a Marreese Speights 3-pointer with 5:12 to play.
Durant led all scorers with 29 points on 11-of-18 shooting, but committed 8 turnovers, and while Russell Westbrook shot a grisly 5-of-14 for 16 points, he did make 12 assists – unfortunately, OKC’s top jersey-sellers didn’t get a lot of help from their teammates. Curry, by contrast, led his team with 28, but as importantly was one of seven guys to score in double figures, with Speights scoring 13 on 5-of-6 shooting, and Festus Ezeli going 5-for-5 for 12 points – that kind of bench play is tough to overcome.
Watch the Golden State Warriors vs. the Oklahoma City Thunder at 8pm ET Sunday on TNT.