Thunder see losses to Warriors as teachable moments
The Oklahoma City Thunder’s fact-finding mission continues Thursday at Oracle Arena, where they’ll face the defending NBA champion Golden State Warriors for the third time in 26 days.
Win or lose, the Thunder’s final regular-season matchup against the 54-5 Warriors is their last chance to gather the kind of hoops intel that could aid their cause come playoff time. If you can’t beat ’em, in other words, learn from ’ em. Or, to be more specific, learn about them.
“Gathering some more information (on the Warriors) is a good thing,” Thunder coach Billy Donovan said this week. “It’s been two games. We’re there.”
The Warriors have 43 consecutive regular-season wins at Oracle Arena, one shy of the league record for home wins was set by the 1995-96 Chicago Bulls. They remain on pace to break that Bulls team’s record for regular-season wins. (The Bulls were 72-10.)
Despite recently falling twice to the Warriors, Oklahoma City has reason to feel good about the prospect of facing Golden State in the playoffs. Not only were both games close — a 116-108 decision at Oracle on Feb. 6 and a 121-118 overtime game in Oklahoma City on Saturday — but there also are specific matchups that bode well for the Thunder.
Above all else, versatile Thunder forward Serge Ibaka has slowed Warriors forward Dray- mond Green when it comes to scoring. In the two games, Green, whose frustration boiled over in the locker room at halftime Saturday, has scored a combined 11 points on 3-for-17 shooting.
And while Green filled the box score in other areas, Donovan sees it as one of the many recent signs that the Thunder’s defense is headed in the right direction. The Thunder’s defense has been mediocre this season; they’re ranked 14th in defensive rating (102.8 points allowed per 100 possessions).
“We defended at a really high level (in the last game vs. the Warriors), and we did a really good job on Draymond Green,” said Donovan, whose team couldn’t slow point guard Stephen Curry in that game (46 points on 14-for-24 shooting; 12-for-16 on three-pointers).
“(But) are we going to bring (a good defensive effort) out of ourselves? And that’s, I think, the key: Can we create that consistency, not only from one game to the next, but can we do it by possession by possession? ... We’re capable. We’ve shown we can do it. We just have to show we can do it consistently.”