Golden State Warriors forward Draymond Green (23) holds the ball as Oklahoma City Thunder guard Shai Gilgeous-Alexander defends during the first half of an NBA basketball game Friday, Dec. 8, 2023, in Oklahoma City. (AP Photo/Nate Billings)

By Barbara Mason

In a horrendous display of ineptitude the Golden State Warriors (10-12) came away with 29 turnovers in their matchup with the Oklahoma City (14-7) Thunder Friday night losing 138-136. The team has struggled with ball protection for awhile but Friday night they outdid themselves. Even the 34 points scored by Stephen Curry couldn’t get the job done, although, they did come close.

Friday night the Warriors took on the Thunder . The Warriors had won their last game beating the Portland Trailblazers 110-106 and were looking to establish a winning streak. The Thunder dropped their last game to the Houston Rockets Wednesday by the score of 110-101. Prior to beating the Trailblazers the Warriors lost a heartbreaker to the Los Angeles Clippers 113-112.

The first quarter was all Warriors and the team had a great start to this game leading 28-19 after the opening 12 minutes. The Thunder did win the second quarter 37-34 but Golden State maintained a 62-56 lead going into half time. In the first half, Klay Thompson had shot for 13 points followed by Andrew Wiggins with 12.

In the third quarter, the Thunder turned the game around winning the quarter 33-22 taking an 89-84 lead. OKC was spurred on by the number of turnovers coming from the Warriors. On 29 turnovers, the Thunder scored 35 points.

The Warriors won the final quarter 34-29, but this was only good enough to tie the game. This game would go into overtime with the Thunder prevailing 20-18 in OT and winning the game 138-136.

Despite the 29 turnovers, the Warriors came very close to pulling this game out. Warriors guard Stephen Curry scored 10 of his 34 points in the overtime. When the dust had settled, this game was lost due to poor ball protection.

This was the third loss in a row that the Warriors dropped in their past four matchups with the Thunder this season. Curry did everything he could to will his team to victory scoring 20 points in the fourth quarter and overtime. Golden State just could not overcome the turnovers. They actually had four turnovers in overtime.

The Thunder’s Shai Gilgeous-Alexander finished with 38 points and Jalen Williams had 28 points in this game. OKC is a very young team yet they now reside in second place in the Western Conference standings.

The Warriors will try to turn things around when they travel to Phoenix taking on the Suns Tuesday night. They will need to clean up the turnovers and the fouls which were also problematic in Fridays game. Tipoff for that game is scheduled for 7:00 PM and will be aired on TNT.