Road Warriors survive Thunder to wrap up huge trip

The Warriors blew most of a 30-point lead late, but righted the ship to escape with a 127-116 win over the Oklahoma City Thunder

For three quarters, the Golden State Warriors trounced the Oklahoma City Thunder. For the final 12 minutes, they held on for dear life, but escaped with a 127-116 win.

Golden State led by as many as 30 points late in the third quarter in Oklahoma City, but the lead shrank to six points before scored eight points and blocked a shot in the final 3:23 to give the Dubs a huge win over a Western Conference power and complete a 4-1 road trip.

Curry had a season-high 36 points in a game where it looked like he’d be able to rest early. Jonathan Kuminga had 20 points off the bench on 11 shots, while De’Anthony Melton had 19 points, 10 rebounds, and three steals after being elevated to the starting lineup. Andrew Wiggins had a well-balanced game with 18 points, eight rebounds, and five assists, and Draymond Green led all players with 11 assists.

The Warriors took control of the game in the second quarter thanks to a barrage of three-pointers. They went 9-for-14 from distance in the second, with three from Melton and two each from Curry and Kuminga.

It was beautiful basketball, with the Warriors delivering 12 assists and only turning the ball over twice, while getting three steals. Kuminga had 12 points in the quarter, playing over 11 minutes because he was simply too hot to take out.

A crucial moment of the game happened when Andrew Wiggins drove for a layup in the first quarter on the Thunder’s star sophomore center, Chet Holmgren. Holmgren, whose body is primarily made of bones, ligaments, and beard hair, crumpled to the ground and didn’t seem able to put weight on his right leg. It looked like a hip injury, but it also wasn’t intense contact — there was no foul called, nor should there have been.

That’s crucial because the Thunder were already missing center Isaiah Hartenstein, plus backup big men Kenrich Williams and Jaylin Williams (“Arkansas Jaylin Williams” to Bob Fitzgerald, not to be confused with “Santa Clara Jalen Williams”). That meant that for stretches of this game, OKC was playing 6-foot-5 Alex Caruso at center.

It took a little while for the Warriors to recognize the giant hole in the paint, but then they put in Kuminga, the team’s best paint-attacking threat.

While they missed a few layups, JK led the team with 14 first-half points, with a diet of dunks, layups, and two smooth-looking threes.

After the 39-point second quarter, the Warriors — and especially Steph Curry exploded in the third for even more. Curry went for 17 of the Warriors’ 42 points, going 7-for-10 from the field. The team as a whole shot 65%, with eight different players scoring and the team getting 10 assists. An 8-0 run to start the quarter gave then a 15-point lead, Buddy Hield threw down a dunk to give them a 19-point lead, and after two late Kuminga free throws, the Warriors led by 30.

Things were going so well that when Wiggins got what looked like an open dunk blocked (#DunkItWiggs), the ball caromed out to to the perimeter for a Draymond Green three-pointer. Plus, the team played solid defense, aside from not being able to avoid fouling the Canadian James Harden, Shai Gilgeous-Alexander. SGA finished with 24 points, 12 of them coming from the free throw line after the Warriors reached in, hacked, and occasionally just breathed on him or got pushed by Gilgeous-Alexander himself, spending the majority of the game in the bonus.

Then in the 4th, the Thunder bench blasted the Warriors bench out of the gate. Mainly the team couldn’t make a shot, or stop Isaiah Joe (seven 4th-quarter points), but there were some weird plays. Buddy Hield committed a foul a millisecond before a ball was inbounded, leading to a free throw and then a three from Joe. Kyle Anderosn missed a tip-in. Kuminga blocked a shot and forced a jump ball on one possession, and the Thunder still scored.

Steve Kerr called timeout to bring in Melton, Wiggins, and Green, and the team promptly committed a 24-second violation. Curry came back in, and the team finally scored on Melton’s fourth triple 3:45 into the quarter, then the team missed a pair of tip-ins sandwiching a Wiggins trip to the foul line where he missed both shots. Cason Wallace made back-to-back threes for OKC, and suddenly the Warriors’ lead was down to 11 points.

Gary Payton II and Draymond Green committed offensive fouls on consecutive possessions. Lu Dort fouled Green, but Green hit him in the head flailing his arms, leading to an SGA free throw after a coach’s challenge. It was reminiscent of the game last season against the Cleveland Cavaliers where Green got ejected for a technical that wasn’t called until a replay review. Then Melton threw an inbounds pass that led Alex Caruso perfectly for a breakaway dunk, cutting the lead to 114-108.

Then the Warriors settled down. An alley-oop from Green to Kuminga got an easy dunk and Curry hit a three. Gilgeous-Alexander missed one free throw, probably because he was so exhausted from his earlier free throws. There was a moment of panic when Green lost a rebound to Jalen Williams, and it turned into an and-one.

Then Curry hit his dagger to ice the game, likely giving Thunder fans a horrible flashback to another Curry dagger.

The Warriors would have been closer in the first quarter, perhaps even in the lead, were it not for an epidemic of Pietrusing that spread through the entire roster. If you’re unfamiliar, “Pietrusing” refers to spotting up behind the three-point arc and awaiting a pass with one foot slightly out of bounds. That was the signature move of former Warriors swingman Mickael Pietrus, the Warriors’ lottery pick from 2003. That accounted for half of the Warriors’ six first-half turnovers, a relatively modest total overall.

Of course, the Warriors also had six in the fourth quarter, while committing nine fouls. But they got their second win against a NBA title favorite in five days, and finished a tough road trip with a 4-1 record. The only outlier was Friday’s nightmare loss against the Cavs, but we have a few theories about that stinker:

1. They went to the Rock and Roll Hall of fame and got bummed about about Buddy Holly and the Big Bopper.
2. They were terrfied that the river would catch fire, potentially damaging a boat and breaking Klay Thompson’s heart.
3. They felt bad about winning all those titles over them

Now the Warriors are 8-2 and a stunning 6-1 on the road. Tuesday, the team returns to the Chase Center, the Emirates Cup kicks off, and Captain Klay returns. The team made the fans sweat, but ultimately it was a wildly successful road trip. Mostly.