The Oklahoma City Thunder put the defending NBA Champs on the ropes with another blowout win on Tuesday. Russell Westbrook had 36 points, 11 rebounds and 11 assists, as the Thunder rolled the visiting Golden State Warriors 118-94 to take a commanding 3-1 lead in the Western Conference finals.
The Thunder can knock out the Warriors and punch a ticket to the Finals with a road win today in the best-of-seven series.
“I think we’re in a good place but we have to move on to the next game,” said Westbrook after collecting his fifth career playoff triple-double. “It’s the first team to four, so we have to go back to the drawing board and figure what we need to do to close it out.”
Kevin Durant netted 26 points, Serge Ibaka and Andre Robertson had 17 apiece for the third-seeded Thunder, who stayed in front in the second half after leading by 19 at the break. “We were trying to play simple basketball,” Durant said. “Defensively, we did a good job keeping our hands up.”
Klay Thompson scored 26 points, 19 in the third quarter, but league MVP Stephen Curry had just 19 for the top-seeded Warriors, who committed a post-season-high 21 turnovers en route to suffering consecutive losses for the first time this season after Sunday’s 133-105 Game 3 blowout.
“I just missed them,” said Curry, referring to his frosty 6-of-20 field goal shooting. “It’s a terrible night to have that happen but I’ll be better.”
The Warriors will look to keep their magical NBA-record 73-win season alive with history against them. Only nine teams have ever rallied to win a series after falling into a 3-1 hole.
“The series is not over and we believe in ourselves,” Curry explained. “It’s a terrible feeling not stepping up and playing our game. I think we’re a special team and this is not how we’re going to go out.”
Added Thomson: “We have to play with desperation like our lives are on the line and go from there. We have to play like the world champs Thursday night.”
OKC came out fired up and went on an early 16-0 blitz capped by a thunderous Westbrook dunk and corner triple to open up a 28-15 advantage. Golden State finished the quarter on an 11-2 burst to pull within 30-26.
The Thunder dominated the second quarter 42-27 behind Westbrook’s 16 to go up by 19 at the break. Westbrook led the way with 21 points while Durant had 18.
The Thunder took a 94-82 lead into the fourth quarter despite Thompson getting loose for 19 consecutive Warriors points to pull within 80-74 with 4:48 left in the third period.
“I told myself we’re not going to go very far if I don’t push myself to be aggressive,” Thompson said. “I told myself just have one of those quarters. We’re already down by so much, why not go out there gunning and get to the rim as much as possible.”
OKC regained control and opened up a 101-85 advantage on a Robertson triple before cruising home with the convincing win front of the more than 19,000 cheering fans at sold out Chesapeake Energy Arena. “This team is outplaying us right now and we have to come up with answers,” Warriors coach Steve Kerr said. “It’s as simple as that.”