With dominant win over Thunder, Warriors send message to rest of NBA
By Cole Kundich
On Monday, the Golden State Warriors continued their scorching start to the regular season with a 117-91 demolition of the Oklahoma City Thunder in front of the 97th straight sellout at Oracle Arena.
The victory improved their league best record to 27-5, giving them a 1.5 game lead for the top spot in the Western Conference and a 5.5 game lead over the LA Clippers for top spot in the Pacific Division.
One thing is starting to become more clear as the season goes along – the Warriors seem to be almost unbeatable when playing in front of their home crowd at Oracle Arena. The 14-1 record speaks for itself. Besides an early season loss to the San Antonio Spurs, the Warriors have taken care of teams they are supposed to beat, while sending the likes of Oklahoma City, Houston, Clippers and other playoff contenders to losses. If Golden State secures the No. 1-seed in the West and a path to the Finals has to go through Oracle Arena, that is not a good sign for the rest of the league.
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A big improvement from this Warriors team is their killer instinct when they build a lead. Golden State had a 20-point lead entering half time, and Oklahoma City came out strong in the third quarter, getting to within 13 points, which is not much when you have Kevin Durant on your team. But just when OKC looked like they were getting some life, the Warriors kept pushing the lead back up, and it eventually became too much for the Thunder as Golden State went on to win by 26. Warriors teams of the past two seasons didn’t know how to capitalize once they got a lead, but Monday’s contest symbolized the experience this team has gained in playing together and knowing how to put away their opponent.
Sure, Golden State is a better basketball team with Andrew Bogut on the floor. But Monday’s win improved their record to 10-3 without their starting center. Unlike last season, this team has too much talent and too much depth to be on life support when Bogut isn’t playing.
That depth showed against Oklahoma City. Bogut’s backup, Festus Ezeli, also missed the game due to injury, and Maureese Speights, who is filling in as starting center, didn’t have his “Mo Buckets” type of game, shooting only 1-of-8 from the field. You could hardly notice any struggle though, as players in every other position picked up the slack in the blowout victory.
David Lee is beginning to look more and more like himself. Lee, who is taking a large chunk of Bogut’s minutes, seems to be embracing his role in the second unit. When both Lee and Bogut are healthy, it will sure be interesting to see how Steve Kerr manages their minutes on the court.
Draymond Green contributed 11 points, 13 rebounds, five assists and three blocked shots against Oklahoma City — stats that don’t come as a surprise anymore to Dubs fans, telling you something about the consistency Green has provided all season.
Kevin Durant and Russell Westbrook combined to shoot 8-of-37 from the field for 36 points, a formula that equates to a win for whoever they are playing against every single time. But their performance was a rare one, a performance we do not see often from two of the NBA’s Top 10 players. However, Golden State’s defense deserves credit, as they made it very difficult for the Thunder’s star tandem to find open looks.
Golden State’s win over Oklahoma City to keep the best record in the NBA was in some sorts a reflection of their season – an experienced group who doesn’t use excuses, finds different ways to win, gets contributions from almost everyone that comes in, and a team that still hasn’t hit their ceiling.
To the rest of the association, look out.