Throughout the NBA play-offs, The National's resident NBA dudes Jonathan Raymond and Kevin Jeffers will be breaking down the key talking points of the night before, plus looking around the scope of the league. Here are our NBA Play-off takeaways.
• Catch up with all of The National's play-off coverage
Wednesday’s score
Golden State Warriors 118, Oklahoma City Thunder 91 (Series tied 1-1)
Course correction
How is this series going to go? After two games of this second round series, we have seen two very, very different outcomes.
But maybe not so much different games.
For the first half of Game 1 and second of Game 2, we saw Stephen Curry and Golden State at their most merry, dexterous ease.
In the intervening periods, we saw Kevin Durant, Russell Westbrook and Oklahoma City grinding on defence, mucking things up and maintaining control of the tempo.
Both contests featured spurts of the styles that advantage one side or the other. Both flipped just before and after half-time.
So – which way will the scales tip?
As Stephen Curry went berserk in the third quarter on Wednesday night, it was probably a good indication of the answer to that question.
About five minutes into the frame, Oklahoma City pulled back within seven. The MVP then proceeded to hit his next four shots (with four free throws and a steal for good measure) in a 15-point two-minute span to turn it into a 20-point lead.
It was so quick, so instantaneously devastating.
It is the kind of implausible outburst Curry has somehow made his signature. And for all of Oklahoma City’s defensive nous and solidarity, it is simply something they can’t fully control. Maybe in a contest or two, but not over the course of a whole seven-game series.
The Thunder’s containment of the point guard was exemplary in the opener of this series, particularly the ball-denial that rendered Curry near-invisible in the fourth quarter.
But as Matthew Dellavedova and the 2015 Cavaliers can attest, that typically only works for so long.
Game 2 was also, as Curry so ruthlessly swung things Golden State’s way, illustrative of a bit of a conundrum facing Oklahoma City. They too like explosive basketball, and with the talents of Durant and Westbrook thrive in a shootout. Well, a shootout with anybody else.
So if the Thunder are going to make defence their emphasis in this series – and this probably is their only good option – it appears to be coming at the cost of any normal offensive rhythm.
In the two games so far they have scored at a rate of just 99.3 points per 100 possessions. That was 109.9 per 100 in the regular season and 111.3 per 100 in the first two rounds of the play-offs, against the San Antonio Spurs and Dallas Mavericks. Durant and Westbrook were just 17-of-51 combined shooting in Game 1, and in Game 2 Westbrook put in a flat 5-of-14 effort as Durant picked it up (11-of-18).
Oklahoma City can keep doing what they’re doing – focusing on stunting Curry at great risk of failure – or they can turn the attack back on at great risk of being outgunned.
Game 2 was not a sign that the Thunder are going to get run out of the series. They have shown they are too good for that.
But it was a sign that their path to victory over the rest of this series is still pretty narrow.
Follow us on Twitter @NatSportUAE
Like us on Facebook at facebook.com/TheNationalSport
