Kristaps Porzingis played some important minutes for the Golden State Warriors in his return on Saturday night, but it ended in heart-break for the visitors who suffered a 104-97 lead at Oklahoma City.
The Warriors had multiple opportunities in the last two minutes to tie or take lead and record a shock win over the Thunder, but only have themselves to blame after struggling to execute offensively and missing some crucial free-throws throughout the game.
Warriors put up tough fight but go down in OKC
Porzingis was the chief perpetrator of the free-throw woes in his return after a six-game absence due to illness, missing three of his six attempts from the charity stripe as Golden State went just 11-of-18 (61.1%) as a team.
The Thunder, meanwhile, went 23-of-24 from the free-throw line, led by MVP Shai Gilgeous-Alexander who went 14-of-15 on his way to a game-high 27 points, five rebounds and five assists. Gilgeous-Alexander delivered the dagger in the final minute, hitting a side-step three over Draymond Green to extend Oklahoma City's lead to five with 43 seconds remaining.
Porzingis wasn't a dominant figure as such in his return, but it was nonetheless a promising display from the veteran center in just his second game for the Warriors since last month's bombshell trade with the Hawks.
The 30-year-old shot just 3-of-10 from the floor and missed all three of his 3-point attempts, yet his ability to draw mismatches in the post were important as Golden State continue to play without Stephen Curry and Jimmy Butler.
Porzingis' ability to create looks from the post were highlighted not only by his ability to get to the free-throw line, but also his five assists after drawing multiple defenders and finding his teammates. The former All-Star big man finished with nine points, five rebounds, five assists and a block, but the biggest positive might be the fact he was a team-high +6 in the seven-point loss.
The other major positive was that Porzingis played 23 minutes which was six more than his debut game with the franchise last month. Steve Kerr even briefly went to an extraordinary jumbo lineup featuring Porzingis, Al Horford and Draymond Green late in the fourth-quarter.
The tough loss also took some shine of a career-best scoring performance from Gui Santos, with the Brazilian forward continuing his impressive form with 22 points, 11 rebounds, three assists and two steals.
Brandin Podziemski had 17 points, six rebounds and six assists in a game-high 39 minutes, while Green hit four threes and finished with 16 points, four rebounds, five assists and two steals in another better performance from the veteran forward.
The short-handed Warriors were close to pulling off two-straight shock road victories after beating the Houston Rockets on Thursday, and should still take some confidence into a back-to-back against the Utah Jazz and Chicago Bulls starting on Monday.