Behind 33 points from Kevin Durant and 30 by Russell Westbrook, the Oklahoma City Thunder humbled defending NBA champions Golden State 133-105 Sunday to seize the lead in their play-off series.
The Thunder grabbed a 2-1 lead in the best-of-seven Western Conference finals and captured momentum with the lopsided blowout, making Tuesday’s fourth game at Oklahoma City crucial for both teams.
“We have got to keep the same intensity, same attack mode,” Westbrook said. “They didn’t have the best record in the NBA for nothing. We’ve got to come back with the same mindset and play with the same intensity.”
Golden State, who set an NBA record with 73 regular-season wins, have not lost two games in a row all season but will have to quickly bounce back.
Either the Thunder, who have won 10 best-of-seven series in a row when going up 2-1, or the Warriors, will face the Eastern Conference winners, the Toronto Raptors or Cleveland Cavaliers, in next month’s NBA Finals.
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In addition to sparking the highest-scoring performance by any team in any NBA play-off game this year, Westbrook and Durant each added eight rebounds and blocked two shots while Westbrook also contributed 12 assists.
“We’ve got a physical team, an athletic team and we tried to use that to the best of our ability,” Westbrook said. “Our guys do a great job of putting in the work every day. My job is to put the ball in their hands.”
Stephen Curry led Golden State with 24 points and Klay Thompson added 18, but Curry hit only 7-of-17 shots from the floor, Thompson shot 8-of-19 and Draymond Green was 1-of-9. The Warriors were also outrebounded 52-38.
“Come Game 4, we have to grind them out,” Thompson said. “We can’t have Westbrook and Durant combine to shoot 60 per cent.”
Durant scored 23 in the first half while Westbrook added 16 as the Thunder leapt ahead in the second quarter and piled on more punishment in the second half, stretching the lead to 117-80 after three quarters and went on to match a club play-off scoring record.
“Frustrating way to end the quarter,” Curry said. “It was a bad flow out there. We couldn’t stop it. That six minutes decided the game. That’s something we have to take care of in Game 4.”
Golden State lost their three prior play-off defeats in the past month by a total of 19 points, nine fewer than they lost by in Game 3.
The Warriors, who hit only 19-of-55 shots from the floor in the first half (34 per cent), faced their largest half-time deficit of the season.
“We stopped moving the ball,” Kerr said. “We took quick shots. It wasn’t so much turnovers as bad shots, quick shots, no movement. We weren’t forcing them to defend at all and that’s death here. We were playing right into their transition game.
“We didn’t compete hard enough to stay in the game.”
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