by Jerry Feitelberg

photo espn.com: OKC Thunder’s Steven Adams stops for a post game interview following the Thunders’ defeat of Golden State at Oracle Arena

In a post game interview following the victory over the Golden State Warriors the Oklahoma City Thunder’s Steven Adams who is from New Zealand said that the Warrior guards are “quick little monkeys” when word of this spread and there was some complaint to outrage. Adams quickly apologized saying “It was a poor choice of words mate, I wasn’t thinking straight. I didn’t know it was going to offend anyone but I’m truly sorry. It was a poor choice of words. I was trying to describe how difficult it was chasing those guys around.” said Adams

The OKC Thunder stunned the Golden State Warriors 108-102 in Game One of the Western Conference Finals. The Dubs had a fourteen-point lead in the third quarter, but OKC shut down the Dubs offense to win. The Warriors have to win Game Two as game three and fours will be played in Oklahoma City. As it stands now, the Thunder owns home court advantage even if the Dubs win game two.

The Warriors won the first half. They were able to contain Russell Westbrook to three points for the first twenty-nine minutes of the game. The Dubs led 27-21 after the first quarter and 60-47. The taller Thunder erased the lead in the third quarter. The Thunder, the best rebounding team in the NBA, used their big men to control the boards. They also shut down the Warrior offense in the fourth quarter by holding them to just fourteen points. The Thunder outscored the Warriors 61-42 in the second half.

The story of the game can be shown in the production of the big men. The Thunder’s centers, Steve Adams, and Enes Kanter combined to score 24 points and had 18 rebounds. Andrew Bogut, Festus Ezeli, and Mo Speights combined for four points and six rebounds. Bogut did not score at all. He was questionable before the game as he had a groin injury. Hopefully, he will be at full strength Wednesday night.

Steph scored twenty-six. Klay added twenty-five and Draymond had twenty-three. The Thunder’s big three were Kevin Durant with twenty-six, Russell Westbrook had twenty-seven and Steve Adams knocked down sixteen.

Game two of the series will be Wednesday night at the Oracle Arena at 6 PM PT. There is no question that the game is a MUST win for Golden State.