The Golden State Warriors were officially eliminated on Friday night, but that may still prove the ideal outcome for the franchise after the Phoenix Suns were brutally beaten by the Oklahoma City Thunder in Game 1 of their first-round series on Sunday.
Less than 48 hours after advancing past the Warriors, the Suns endured a beatdown in Oklahoma City as they fell to a 119-84 defeat. Given that could have been Golden State taking on the merciless reigning champions, the result emphatically validates a perfect outcome where the franchise got vintage post-season performances from Stephen Curry and Draymond Green, yet still get to keep their valuable lottery pick this year.
Thunder smacking Suns validates Warriors perfect outcome
While a victory over the L.A. Clippers in Wednesday's first Play-In game was memorable, there was still a question mark on whether it would really be best for the Warriors to advance to the playoffs when the reward would be taking on the Western Conference's top seed.
As much as there was plenty of intrigue ahead of Friday's game between Golden State and Phoenix, the reality is that it's highly unlikely either team would be any sort of meaningful challenge for the Thunder who coasted to a 64-18 regular season record.
That proved the case in Game 1 as OKC built a double digit lead less than eight minutes into the game, led by 21 at half-time, and weren't tested again on their way to a 35-point blowout victory that allowed them to rest their core rotation in the fourth.
Jalen Green fell back down to earth after his 36 points against the Warriors on Friday, going for only 17 points on 6-of-16 shooting from the floor while committing three of his team's 17 turnovers -- 11 more than the Thunder.
The scariest aspect for the Suns is that they got destroyed despite a horribly inefficient game from Shai Gilgeous-Alexander. The reigning MVP still ended with 25 points thanks to 17 free-throw attempts, but shot just 5-of-18 from the floor and missed all four of his 3-point attempts.
Warriors keep their lottery pick rather than face Thunder
Perhaps a healthy version of the Warriors with Jimmy Butler and Moses Moody, and without Stephen Curry missing 27 games late in the season, could have provided a stern test to the young Thunder.
Yet in their current state, Golden State were never going to be a match. Therefore losing to Phoenix and keeping their lottery pick -- with a 9.4% chance of jumping into the top four -- may have been the perfect outcome.
That's especially the case when Wednesday's game against the Clippers provided a reminder that Curry and Green are still capable in the biggest moments, offering some optimism heading into the offseason of what the Warriors can produce once healthy moving forward.
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