Golden State vs Oklahoma City Thunder

Last night was game one of the Western Conference Finals between the Warriors and the Thunder. The Thunder ended up winning it primarily for a a few reasons. Turnovers, rebounding, out scoring them in the second half, and it helped also that Golden State was only 1 out 11 shooting in the 4th quarter on 3 pointers.

The first half was definitely controlled by Golden State. They were hitting good shots, making good plays, and it also helped that OKC was missing their free throws. The game was in their favor and they held a 14 point lead but that all changed in the second half.

In the 3rd quarter and an on to the end of the game the Thunder came out firing. If you look at the statistics you can see that both Durant and Westbrook didn't have the best shooting nights but they played brilliantly in the 2nd half to win on the road against the high and mighty Warriors, who have only lost one or two times this season. Westbrook was especially impressive. In the first half he was on a shooting slump but in the 3rd quarter he scored 19 of the 38 points scored by the Thunder. He ended up with 27 points and they were clutch in the final moments of the game. Even Steven Adams, who doesn't have a good free throw percentage hit all of his free throws in the 4th quarter. The Thunder have more big men then the Warriors and they were able to out rebound the Warriors. They also got a lot of 2nd chance points. When your the defense you can't let that happen or otherwise the offense get's more chances to score. And the Thunder took advantage of that. 

Like I mentioned the Warriors played a pretty good first half but then the second half seemed to go downhill. The Thunder were forcing more turnovers against the Warriors, they were having a harder time getting shots to go down, and their 3pointers were off the mark. Both Steph Curry and Klay Thompson, who are the best 3 pointer shooters in the league struggled. Combined Curry and Thompson for 8 out of 22 on 3 pointers. They both ended up with a respected 26 points (Curry) and 25 points (Thompson).

The ironic thing is earlier in the season the Warriors were on the road against the Thunder and this happened like it did last night except the roles were reversed. The Warriors didn't play good in the first half and the Thunder did. In the second half the Warriors played excellent and the Thunder didn't allowing them to come back with a double digit deficit and in the final moments of the game win against the Thunder on the road. 

This series is definitely going to be competitive and its not going to be an easy challenge for the Warriors. All expectations that were said that the Warriors would definitely be going back to the NBA Finals is now at a halt.  All the OKC doubters can see now that they have a strong chance to go to the NBA Finals and that they aren't going away. In my mind this series is anybody's game. The Thunder came out and made a statement and it's going to be fun to see what happens in the next upcoming games.