Warriors pull even, quell panic
Golden State Warriors fans are nothing, if not appreciative.
They suffered through decades of disastrous basketball yet remained among the most loyal hoops followers in the NBA. But when your team takes the kind of turn for the better these Warriors have in these last two seasons — taking the first title in 40 years last season, winning an unprecedented 73 regular-season games as an encore — it’s only natural to become extremely uncomfortable with losing in any form, let alone a Western Conference finals opener against the underdog Oklahoma City Thunder, as the Warriors did Monday.
So yes, the Bay Area sky was falling fast and furious over these last few days.
But not anymore. With Game 3 in Oklahoma City on Sunday and the series tied 1-1, it’s back to normal in these parts after the Warriors’ 118-91 win Wednesday.
This was the kind of outing that surely will lighten the local mood, with back-toback NBA MVP Stephen Curry turning in one of his trademark performances (28 points in 29 minutes, 5-for-8 eight from three-point range) and the Warriors defense clamping down in the kind of way it hadn’t all postseason.
The Thunder shot 44.9.% from the field overall and gave up 16 turnovers that led to 23 points. Oklahoma City was led in scoring by Kevin Durant (29 points), who miti- gated his impact by coughing up eight turnovers.
Curry, as he has for two seasons running, stole the show.
With the Warriors up 64-57 midway through the third quarter, he scored 15 in 1:58 to extend the lead to 79-59. A threepointer from 27 feet out. Three free throws (and another from a Durant technical) when the Thunder star made contact with Curry beyond the arc. Another three. A 22footer for two points, and another three for good measure.
The Warriors, earlier angst be darned, were on their way.
But in the second quarter, a Durant alley-oop from Westbrook tied the score at 49 with 1:35 left, and the Thunder had done more than enough to make these spoiled Warriors fans nervous. They had surely heard about the daunting history at hand, how teams that go down 2-0 in a best-of-seven series so often fall short (243 of 260 in all; 17 of 20 when down 2-0 at home). And the fact that Durant was showing his best again after a woeful 10-for-30 shooting performance in Game 1 only made matters worse. He had 23 points in the first half of Game 2, on 9-for-13 shooting overall.
If only the Warriors hadn’t erupted in those final 95 seconds of the second quarter, finishing on an 8-0 run that was the basketball equivalent of a lightning-quick combination from your favorite pugilist.
Just like that, the Warriors had earned hard-to-come-by breathing room with a 57-49 edge.