By Michael Doutey
The Oklahoma City Thunder lose 112-80 in blowout fashion to the Golden State Warriors in Oakland on Saturday night. The Thunder struggled to get anything going on offense, yet hung around until the halfway point of the third quarter. That’s when the Warriors went on an avalanche of a run and the Thunder were finished. OKC struggled shooting from the get-go and never found any rhythm as the game went on. Now, Golden State didn’t shoot the ball well in the first half either, but the Warriors got cooking in the second half and ran the Thunder out of the building. Here are tonight’s five observations.
1. It was Over When…
With 7:52 left in the third quarter, OKC took a 59-56 lead on a Paul George three, his only make of the game. The Warriors would close out the quarter on a 28-7 run, essentially ending the game right then and there. The onslaught continued into the fourth, but it really was just a cherry on top for the Warriors. They’d already won the game. It happened in a blink of an eye. Inside Oracle when the Warriors are raining threes, games can get out of hand in a hurry. We’ve seen this for years and Saturday the Thunder were another victim of the massive runs the Warriors make in the third quarter.
2. Not so OK3
The Thunder’s big three was absent in the Bay. Russell Westbrook, Paul George and Carmelo Anthony shot a combined for 11-46 (23.9 percent) from the floor and 3-20 from three and combined for 34 points. That is not going to beat many teams in the NBA. But that’s especially not going to even compete with the Warriors. The Thunder as a team shot the ball 33 percent from the floor and 26.5 percent from three. OKC never had a chance.
3. PG’s Worst Night Ever
In the Thunder’s biggest games, Paul George has shined bright. Tonight? Well, PG might have had his worst game of his entire career. PG scored five points on 1-14 shooting and went 1-9 from three. PG was way off. He never got in any type of groove. He missed open looks from three. He missed shots right at the rim. He quite literally missed nearly everything. He was really frustrated tonight, getting a technical venting his irritation at himself and how the Thunder got ran out of Oracle. He played hard, but he couldn’t put anything together consistently. He struggled with his handle, his shot and his overall flow of the game. This hopefully is an anomaly for PG. You have to credit the Warriors defense some, but most of it was the off night from PG.
4. Russell Westbrook’s Struggles Continue
The last time we have seen MVP level Russ was the last time OKC played at Golden State. The Thunder blew out the Warriors by 20 that game, but Russ rolled his ankle that game and he’s been off ever since. Russ scored just 15 points on 4-15 shooting and was 1-5 shooting from behind the arc. Russ was forcing bad passes into congested areas of the floor. He turned the ball over five times and never really attacked the basket. He was very passive and the team seemed the take on his attitude. Russ has been off ever since he missed two games this month with an ankle injury. I wonder how much that is bothering him still?
5. Golden State’s Role Players outplayed OKC’s
The Thunder got next to nothing from Alex Abrines, Patrick Patterson and Jerami Grant. They combined for nine points on 3-11 from the floor. Meanwhile, Nick Young blitzed the Thunder for 16 points on 4-5 three point shooting. Andre Iguodala scored just seven points, but he was a plus-29 while on the floor. OKC got nothing from their role players and were massively outplayed by the Warriors second unit.
The Thunder, who are now in seventh place in the Western Conference, look to recover from tonight’s beating on Monday night against the Orlando Magic. Tip time is set for 7 p.m. inside the Chesapeake Energy Arena.
