Game Flow
All season long the Thunder has set its sights at preparing its players for night-to-night NBA challenges by stacking itself up against the best of the best. More often than not for a young team, those types of matchups will come with growing pains. That was the case on Thursday night in San Francisco as the Thunder dropped one to the Warriors, a team that has been battling through injuries all season but is on the cusp of securing a spot in the playoff play-in games.
With second year stopper Lu Dort tasked with defending two-time NBA MVP Stephen Curry, the Thunder aimed to get a look at how those two would work against one another, strength against strength. Unfortunately for Dort, a flurry of quick fouls took him out of the game in the first half and tripped up any momentum he was building after some strong defensive stops. Dort racked up four fouls in the first half alone and Curry was able to play loosely, ripping off 34 points on 6-of-13 shooting from 3.
Stephen Curry scores 34 points, leads Warriors past Thunder
By BEN ROSSMay 7, 2021 GMT
The Warriors moved into eighth place in the Western Conference, a half-game ahead of Memphis.
“I just liked that we took care of business,” Warriors coach Steve Kerr said. “I thought we played a pretty a solid game. Our defense was good. We basically took care of the ball and rebounded well.”
Mychal Mulder added 25 points in just 20 minutes off the bench, making seven 3-pointers in 13 attempts. Andrew Wiggins had 18 points and seven rebounds.
“I think we were just executing well tonight offensively,” Mulder said. “We’ve been doing a lot better job of executing plays, finding guys where they like to catch the ball, playing with pace, playing with rhythm.”
Thunder drop 5th-straight with 118-97 loss to Warriors
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The Oklahoma City Thunder dropped its fifth straight loss Friday despite a career performance from Ty Jerome.
The Golden State Warriors won 118-97.
The second-year guard out of Virginia tied his career-high with 23 points in a 118-97 loss to the Golden State Warriors at Chase Center. Jerome also grabbed four rebounds and dished out three assists in just over 22 minutes off the bench.
The Warriors (34-33) were led by two-time MVP Steph Curry, who scored a game-high 34 points to seven helpers. He went 6-for-13 from the three-point range and 6-for-7 from the free-throw line. Mychal Mulder torched Oklahoma City as well with 25 points off the bench, including seven three-pointers.
Tip-Off Time: 9 p.m. CT
Television: Bally Sports Oklahoma
Thunder Status
After falling to Golden State on Thursday, the Thunder now has a reel of fresh film to review and analyze before facing the Warriors again just 48 hours later and beginning an action-packed weekend. The Saturday matchup will mark the start of the final back-to-back of the season for OKC, who will travel to Sacramento for a pair of games against the Kings starting on Sunday.
Though the Thunder fell 118-97 on Thursday, it demonstrated the steady momentum of improvement it’s been building all season long. Winning the free throw line battle with 20 attempts compared to Golden State’s 18; taking care of the ball with just 10 turnovers and handling the Warriors pesky perimeter defense. Thunder point guards Théo Maledon and Ty Jerome headlined the offensive effort, learning from its first matchup with Golden State and withstanding their pressure in order to generate quality looks at the basket.
Warriors start season-ending homestand vs. Thunder
Field Level Media
06 May 2021, 11:19 GMT+10
When the Golden State Warriors saw a run of six home games to close the regular season on their schedule earlier this year, they hoped to be able to use it to lock up a postseason berth or, better yet, to improve their playoff seeding.
Turns out, they re going to get an opportunity to do both when the 11-day stretch tips off Thursday night against the visiting Oklahoma City Thunder.
The Warriors (33-33) flew home from their final road trip of the season early Wednesday morning tied with the Memphis Grizzlies for the eighth playoff spot in the Western Conference.