Golden State was walloped by the Thunder 133-105, trailing by as much as 40 points Sunday evening.
For the first time this season, the Warriors got a taste of Karma.
After dolling out major loss after considerable defeat, Golden State finally received the kind of pounding that the reigning champs became known for. Oklahoma City walloped the Warriors 133-105, trailing by as much as 40 points during stretches of Sunday’s wake up call.
Russell Westbrook and Kevin Durant were jacking for beats Sunday night, and they came back with five albums worth. One from Draymond Green, who could wind up missing Game 4 with a suspension following a seemingly inadvertent — Green says it was accidental — kick to the undercarriage of Thunder center Steven Adams.
Curry jacked for two albums worth, after failing to go into takeover mode, something that has bailed out Golden State several times this year. And two more robberies to the entire starting cast, who failed on what felt like every shot attempt, to run back to defense with some points scored.
The Thunder jacked every bit of hope for a positive finish halfway through the third quarter, when they amassed a 40 point lead and didn’t falter in their showmanship.
The most intriguing element of the evening was the lack of perimeter shooting from the Warriors. Attempts to drive down the lane were almost constant, and even though the high percentage shot is often preached, the Warriors couldn’t get a rain drop to fall.
Stephen Curry couldn’t get his shot to go, evidenced by his 3-for-11 on shots from distance, and Klay Thompson shot an equally dreadful 2-for-8 from three-point range.
Call it unlucky, but the Warriors poor use of spacing — or what they would have had, if they sank a few more shots from beyond the arc — might have been one dagger.
The other, though, was Durant and Westbrook going a combined 20-for-34, which is a recipe for a close game at best.
It was expected that Oklahoma would give the Warriors a serious run, and more problems than the Spurs, the other team aiming for the Western Conference Finals two weeks ago.
These kinds of problems, though, were not.
Nobody could have expected that the Warriors would trail by 40 points during any point of the playoffs, but reality has set in, and it’s not looking great for Golden State.
The consensus was that the Warriors and Thunder would split a game apiece in Oklahoma City, though it’d be hard to find an honest man tell you that he expected this.
The Warriors have yet to lose back to back games this season, including the playoffs, which is a nice memento to remember. But it’s only that — a statistic that has zero bearing on Game 4.
Steve Kerr had better get something cooking, and assistant head coach, soon to be Lakers head coach Luke Walton has a mighty lesson at hand. The task: figure out what went so incredibly wrong, and fix it. Very quickly.
If the Warriors don’t, they risk going down three games to one, in a best of seven, and the odds weighing heavily against them.
Jason Leskiw is SFBay’s Golden State Warriors beat writer. Follow @SFBay and @LeskiwSFBay on Twitter and at SFBay.ca for full coverage of Warriors basketball.
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“…seemingly inadvertent kick…”
no need to read further…