Culture of Hoops

Warriors Destroy Thunder in Critical Game 2 Victory

Screen capture courtesy of the NBA/YouTube.

Screen capture courtesy of the NBA/YouTube.

 

The Golden State Warriors had no problem destroying the Oklahoma City Thunder in Game 2 of the West Finals, evening the series 1-1 in the process. The final score was 118-91.

Game 2 was competitive until Stephen Curry went bonkers in the third quarter. He had 15 points over a two minute span – his final line was 28 points on 9-15 shooting (5-8) on threes.

Another player with a massive impact for the Warriors was Andre Iguodala. He had 14 points, and more importantly, the enigmatic free throw shooter went 5-6 from the line. He also made an acrobatic layup that seemed to defy physics to some degree.

Golden State shot 50.6 percent from the field, 46.4 percent from deep, and had 12 turnovers in Game 2. Oklahoma City went 44.9 percent from the floor, 30.4 percent on triples, and had 15 turnovers (eight from Kevin Durant).

With Durant’s sloppiness and Russell Westbrook having a second straight poor shooting game (5-14 for only 16 points), OKC was doomed. That and being the victim of a Curry explosion in the third quarter.

An aspect I noticed and one the announcers picked up on was Andrew Bogut‘s struggles. Perhaps he’s experiencing health issues, or perhaps he’s just not focused, but he looked lost offensively and far from his normal self defensively. Given the energetic and effective play of both Festus Ezeli and Anderson Varejao in Game 2, how Steve Kerr manages center minutes will be intriguing.

For the Thunder, the Western Conference Finals have been an early success even in the face of being obliterated in Game 2. They snagged a game and now basically have a best-of-five series with three potential games at home. Of course, the Warriors could easily grab the advantage back by splitting on the road.

Game 3 will be in OKC on Sunday, 5/22 at 8:00 PM ET.

 

91
Final 1 2 3 4 Tot
Oklahoma City 20 29 19 23 91
Golden State 27 30 31 30 118
118
9:00 PM ET, May 18, 2016
ORACLE Arena, Oakland, California  Attendance: 19,596

Oklahoma City
Player Pos Min FGM-FGA FTM-FTA 3PM-3PA +/- OR Reb A Blk Stl TO PF Pts
K. Durant F 35:16 11-18 5-5 2-4 -17 1 6 1 0 1 8 4 29
S. Ibaka F 29:49 1-6 0-0 1-4 -12 3 8 0 0 3 0 4 3
S. Adams C 35:53 4-6 1-2 0-0 -25 2 10 0 0 0 0 2 9
R. Westbrook G 31:28 5-14 5-5 1-5 -27 1 1 12 0 2 3 1 16
A. Roberson G 15:21 2-5 0-0 1-2 -19 0 3 0 1 0 1 1 5
D. Waiters 28:59 3-11 0-2 1-4 -22 0 1 3 1 1 1 1 7
R. Foye 18:18 2-4 0-0 1-2 -2 0 2 1 1 1 0 1 5
E. Kanter 14:49 3-5 0-0 0-0 -11 0 2 1 1 0 2 4 6
A. Morrow 8:31 1-3 3-3 0-1 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 1 5
K. Singler 8:21 0-0 0-2 0-0 -2 0 1 0 0 1 0 1 0
C. Payne 7:04 1-4 0-0 0-1 0 0 0 2 0 0 0 1 2
N. Collison 6:11 2-2 0-0 0-0 +2 0 2 1 0 0 0 1 4
N. Mohammed  DNP — COACH’S DECISION
J. Huestis  DNP — INACTIVE
M. McGary  DNP — INACTIVE
Totals 240 35-78
(.449)
14-19
(.737)
7-23
(.304)
7 36 22 4 9 15 22 91

 

Golden State
Player Pos Min FGM-FGA FTM-FTA 3PM-3PA +/- OR Reb A Blk Stl TO PF Pts
D. Green F 32:08 4-9 0-0 2-4 +24 2 8 7 2 1 1 3 10
H. Barnes F 30:54 5-8 0-0 1-1 +19 3 6 3 0 0 0 4 11
A. Bogut C 15:49 2-2 0-0 0-0 +14 3 6 1 0 1 2 3 4
S. Curry G 29:40 9-15 5-5 5-8 +24 0 2 3 0 1 3 0 28
K. Thompson G 29:56 5-17 3-4 2-8 +26 0 2 4 0 1 2 0 15
A. Iguodala 25:32 4-10 5-6 1-3 +18 1 3 1 0 3 0 1 14
S. Livingston 17:26 1-3 0-0 0-0 +6 1 4 3 0 0 0 2 2
L. Barbosa 15:49 2-6 0-0 0-1 0 1 2 2 0 2 1 2 4
F. Ezeli 13:32 5-5 2-6 0-0 +8 1 5 1 1 0 1 3 12
M. Speights 9:18 5-6 1-2 2-2 -8 0 2 0 0 0 2 0 13
I. Clark 7:04 0-3 1-2 0-1 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 1 1
B. Rush 6:38 0-0 0-0 0-0 -2 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 0
A. Varejao 6:15 1-1 2-3 0-0 +6 3 4 0 0 0 0 2 4
K. Looney  DNP — INACTIVE
J. McAdoo  DNP — INACTIVE
Totals 240 43-85
(.506)
19-28
(.679)
13-28
(.464)
15 45 26 3 9 12 21 118

 

Officials: Mike Callahan, Kane Fitzgerald, Ed Malloy
Time of Game: 2:26
Technicals
Oklahoma City
– K. Durant (6:33 – 3rd Qtr)
Click to comment

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.

To Top