Golden State Warriors: 5 Takeaways From Game 1 vs. Thunder

5. The Thunder Are For Real

This shouldn’t come as a surprise to anyone. Though OKC won 18 fewer games than the Dubs during the regular season, a 55-win team is no joke — especially one coming off a six-game series victory over the Spurs.

That series saw the Thunder beat the Spurs in three straight games after San Antonio only lost back-to-back games once in the regular season. It also saw the Spurs suffer defeat twice at home after only dropping a single home game during the regular season.

Even in a matchup against the Warriors, it’s worth remembering that in all three regular season meetings, the Thunder led at one point during the fourth quarter. This OKC team was counted out in the last series and entering this series, but they’re for real.

The Thunder proved that in Game 1, despite Kevin Durant and Russell Westbrook struggling with their shooting on a combined 17-of-51 from the floor. Despite that, despite 10 missed free throws and despite trailing by as many as 14 on the road, OKC still prevailed.

Russ was sensational despite going 7-for-21 from the field, finishing with 27 points, 12 assists, seven steals, six rebounds and only three turnovers.

He got to the line 14 times and made 11 of them, his playmaking was intrinsic to OKC’s offense and his 19-point third quarter helped the Thunder chop a 13-point halftime deficit to three heading into the fourth quarter.

Durant had a much rougher night, going 10-for-30 from the field. But despite missing seven straight shots in the fourth quarter, he finally got a big one to fall when he put OKC up five with 30 seconds to play on a 17-foot dagger.

Head coach Billy Donovan has been tremendous over the last two series in making adjustments on the fly, Dion Waiters and Enes Kanter continued their strong play off the bench and 22-year-old Steven Adams was the ultimate X-factor, putting up 16 points, 12 rebounds and two blocks to finish with a game-high +19.

In the first half, the Thunder were getting beat on the boards, they were careless with their turnovers and the Warriors had put up 60 points. Thanks to Donovan’s halftime adjustments, OKC rallied, crashing the offensive boards, committing only two turnovers and holding the Warriors’ mighty offense to 42 points in the second half.

For one of the league’s worst executing teams in close games during the regular season, the Thunder continued to exorcise those late-game demons, moving to 5-2 in these playoffs in contests with a five-point point differential in the last five minutes of the game.

Everyone should’ve realized this after the Spurs series, but the Oklahoma City Thunder are a legitimate threat to knock off the Warriors in the conference finals.

Next: No. 4