When the Oklahoma City Thunder needed it most, their dynamic duo came through with the biggest win of the season thus far in Game 3 against the Warriors
Just when we thought that the defending champions would get things according to how they wanted them to be, Kevin Durant and his partner, Russell Westbrook, had other things to say.
In Game 3 of the Western Conference Finals at Chesapeake Energy Arena, the dynamic duo of Durant and Westbrook combined for 63 points as the Oklahoma City Thunder dominated the Golden State Warriors en route to a 133-105 victory.
The Thunder now lead the best-of-seven series 2-1.
While many thought that this series would end in 5 games in favour of Steph Curry and the rest of the defending champions, Durant and company successfully stole Game 1, on the road, and now defended their homecourt by making the Warriors look like every single team they’ve dominated in their 73-9 run during the regular season: their starters on the bench with towels hiding their faces.
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At least that was the case in the final 12 minutes of the game where the Thunder led as much as 41 points. If anything, their Game 3 performance against the best team in the NBA this season proved something else: we haven’t seen the Thunder play in full strength.
If anything, Game 3 is just the warm-up and if you are Golden State, who won 73 games during the regular season, it’s either you resume your league-leading offense or, you might just be packing at the end of Game 5 because if you allow the Thunder to win Game 4, you are one home or road loss away from an embarrassing exit.
Embarrassing, disastrous exit.
What was the key in Game 3 for the Thunder? Their own version of Superman and Batman took over and enabled the rest of the team to run away and never looked back.
Related Story: Three Reasons OKC Dominated The Warriors In Game 3
To give credit where it’s due, the Warriors were actually able to tie the game at 38-all late in the second quarter. From that point on, Kevin Durant, who scored 33 points while making all of his 12 free throw attempts, drilled a fastbreak three. Serge Ibaka scored on a couple of dunks. And in just a snap, the Thunder were able to build and hold a double-digit advantage throughout the entire game.
In that pivotal second quarter alone, Durant and company outscored the Warriors 38-19. And if we are to look back in the third quarter of Game 1, the Thunder also scored 38 points, too.
Russell Westbrook finished the game with 30 points, 12 assists and 7 rebounds to compliment Durant’s offensive outburst. As a team, OKC made 50 percent of their shot attempts. Although they only made 32 percent of their attempts from downtown, which was still better compared to GSW’s 30 percent, OKC attempted, and made most of their free throws, shooting 89 percent as team.
OKC also dominated the rebounding battle, 62-48, with 41 on the defensive end as to compared to only 28 defensive rebounds hauled down by the Warriors.
In those few times during the regular season, and even in the playoffs, when the Golden State Warriors lost, we always looked at the performance of Steph Curry and the other half of the Splash Brothers, Klay Thompson. In Game 3 against the Thunder, Curry and Thompson scored 24 and 18 respectively.
The problem was the duo only made 5 of 19 attempts from downtown – 3 of 11 for Curry and 2 of 8 for Thompson. To make things worse, only the two of them scored in double-figures. Draymond Green, someone who can produce triple-doubles every now and then, only produced six points, four rebounds and three assists.
He only went 1 of 9 from the field. Embarrassing, isn’t it?
We all know that the Warriors have yet to drop two consecutive games this season. Game 4 isn’t the right time to do so especially for a team that won 73 games in the regular season, one better than the fabled ’95-’96 Chicago Bulls led by Michael Jordan and Scottie Pippen.
The series is far from done, especially for Steve Kerr and the rest of the defending champions. Come Game 4, they have a choice: show up as the same team that won last year’s championship against LeBron James and company, show up as the team that won 73 games during the regular season and remind Oklahoma City who the defending champs really are.
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Or, they can show up as the team that played in Game 3? Could their record-breaking season might be over come Game 5.