By: Ben Leonard
The Warriors came into Friday night cruising, winning their last eight games. The middle-of-the-pack Oklahoma City Thunder rode the skill of Russell Westbrook to overcome the NBA-best Warriors’ momentum and take a commanding 127-115 victory. Golden State’s defense was overwhelmed by Westbrook and his first triple double of the season, scoring 17 points, dishing out 17 assists, and grabbed a career high-matching 15 rebounds in the process. The loss was just the sixth of the season for the Warriors, who fell to 31-6, while the Thunder moved to 19-20.
The Warriors were in the control of the game early, getting out to a 35-33 lead at the end of the first quarter. Guard Klay Thompson set the tone early, scoring the Warriors’ first five points, and had 32 points in the game. Thompson’s efforts were not enough to overcome the stellar play of the Thunder, who started to pull away, outscoring Golden State 36-25 in the second quarter.
Kevin Durant also chipped in 36 points of his own, grabbing 9 rebounds in the upset victory for Oklahoma City. With Andrew Bogut and Andre Iguodala sitting for rest purposes, Golden State was out-rebounded 54-43, clearly lacking a physical presence in the post. Golden State was behind in most major statistical categories, including field goal percentage (52.6% vs. 45.7%) and three point field goal percentage (45.5% vs. 37.5%). Looking ahead, Golden State will travel to Houston for a matchup versus the Rockets on Saturday at 5 PM PST.
Stats and info courtesy of ESPN
Cover Image: By Keith Allison from Owings Mills, USA (Russell Westbrook) [CC BY-SA 2.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0)%5D, via Wikimedia Commons
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