Back-To-Back: Thunder Throttle Warriors Again to Take 3-1 Series Lead

In its most pivotal game of the season, the Thunder was able to blow out the Warriors for the second consecutive game as OKC now holds a commanding 3-1 series lead in the Western Conference Finals. The Thunder’s 118-94 win marks the first time this season that Golden State has lost back-to-back games.

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Russell Westbrook was an unstoppable force throughout the contest, and led the Thunder with 36 points, 11 rebounds and 11 assists to go with his four steals.

While OKC’s stellar point guard was in the zone throughout the four quarters, his most impressive stretch came in the second frame.

After Oklahoma City stormed out of the gates to the tune of a 15-to-0 run which put the Thunder up 22-8 early in the game, Golden State was able to slowly claw back and get within two points in the second quarter.

But right when Golden State was able to get within striking distance, Westbrook decided to go bonkers out on the hardwood, and his teammates followed his lead. Westbrook got things rolling for OKC with an assist on a Durant jumper, and then went on to finish a strong layup after Andre Roberson added a couple layups of his own.

As Chesapeake Energy Arena buzzed with excitement, Steven Adams zipped a baseball pass to an open Roberson under the basket, who caught the fastball and dropped the ball in the basket to put the Thunder up 56-43. While the OKC run was electrifying, Westbrook needed to add a few finishing touches.

Westbrook assisted a Durant elbow jumper, and then two possessions later hooked up Serge Ibaka for a money ball that nearly blew the roof off the arena. But a Thunder run just wouldn’t be the same if it didn’t involve a Westbrook 3-pointer, so the point guard added one of those as well as OKC ripped off a 22-to-6 run to get up 20 points and took a 19-point lead into halftime.

While the first half was a circus throughout the Peake, there was a little more nervous energy in the third quarter as the Warriors fired back with a response.

Led by the sharpshooting abilities of Klay Thompson, the Warriors cut the score to 80-74 with 4:48 left in the frame. Thompson—who was limited to only four points in the first half due to foul trouble—scored 19 straight Warriors’ points during that run, but without the help of anyone else, the Warriors weren’t able to get any closer than six points.

The Thunder buckled down and got its lead back up to 12 points heading into the fourth, and kicked off the final frame on a 20-to-9 run as the home crowd roared with excitement.

While the Thunder was rolling, Golden State’s Steph Curry wasn’t playing like his normal self. After scoring 15 points before halftime on only 4-of-14 shooting, Curry only managed to score four points on six shots in the second half. A lot of that had to do with the relentless defense OKC was playing, as every player wearing a white uniform was playing a physical brand of basketball.

While Westbrook had the triple double, Kevin Durant had a monster game as well on both ends of the floor. Durant finished with 26 points, 11 rebounds, four assists and four steals, while his three blocks were contagious to the rest of his team, who fed off the energy of their superstar.

Roberson finished with 17 points and 12 rebounds in what was his best game of the season, while Ibaka added 17 points and seven rebounds of his own. Both Roberson and Ibaka played with extreme energy throughout the game, and that greatly benefited the Thunder on both ends of the floor.

Steven Adams added 11 points and seven rebounds, as all five Thunder starters scored in double digits. Dion Waiters was once again a force off the bench with 10 points, three rebounds and three assists.

Thompson led the Warriors with 26 points, while Draymond Green struggled throughout the game and finished with six points, 11 rebounds and six turnovers.

The Thunder will look to close out the series in Game 5 on Thursday night in Oakland.