Golden State Warriors: 5 Takeaways From Game 1 vs. Thunder
1. No Need To Panic Yet
Despite falling into an 0-1 hole in the series and losing home-court advantage, the Warriors don’t need to panic — yet. The Spurs were a historically great team, but this is quite possibly the best team in NBA history that we’re talking about here.
Last season during the Dubs’ championship run, they trailed 2-1 in both the Western Conference semifinals and the NBA Finals before storming back to close both series with three straight wins.
Even OKC fans should know better than most what it’s like to be sucker-punched in Game 1 only to watch their team come back and win a series, just the way the Thunder did against San Antonio.
Steph Curry: “I think it’s fun to be able to have this opportunity to come back and show what we’re made of, show our resiliency.”
— J.A. Adande (@jadande) May 17, 2016
This series is far from over, and even with the pressure on in Game 2, let’s not forget that the Warriors have yet to lose back-to-back games in the entire 2015-16 campaign. For a team with an 81-12 record so far, it’s still hard to see any team beating them four times in seven games.
The Thunder’s two stars have a lot of room for improvement after Game 1, but so do the Warriors’. Despite finishing with 26 points, 10 rebounds and seven assists, Curry also had seven turnovers, went just 9-for-22 from the floor and only went 1-for-6 in the fourth quarter. It’s hard to see that all happening again.
In the fourth quarter: Stephen Curry, Klay Thompson and Draymond Green combined to go 3-for-14 from the floor.
— Tim Bontemps (@TimBontemps) May 17, 2016
Klay Thompson was a flamethrower in the first half with 19 points on 8-of-15 shooting from the field and 3-of-5 shooting from deep. Unfortunately he all but disappeared in the second half, putting up just six points on 3-of-10 shooting.
Draymond Green may have finished with 20 points on 9-of-20 shooting, but he missed all four of his three-pointers, missed four free throws and only had five rebounds and four assists. He took too many tough, out-of-character isolation shots as well, preventing the Warriors’ high-powered offense from getting a better look on a few key possessions late in the game.
Overall, the passing was uncharacteristically sloppy in the second half and the Dubs had 14 fourth quarter points on 26 percent shooting from the field and 10 percent shooting from three-point range.
9 of 10 times, the Warriors’ sloppy passing, which is a constant, doesn’t hurt them. This is just the 1.
— Hardwood Paroxysm (@HPbasketball) May 17, 2016
The defense was surprisingly poor in the second half as well, with the Thunder actually enjoying 10 more uncontested looks than the Warriors for the game.
Give credit to the Thunder’s vastly improved playoff defense for being the difference in Game 1, but when are all of those things going to happen in the same game again?
Durant and Westbrook are going to be better in this series, but so will Golden State as a whole. Can anyone on the Dubs really say they had a good Game 1 from start to finish?
More hoops habit: Golden State Warriors: 5 Keys To Beating The Thunder
The Dubs have their backs against the wall and took a shot to the face in the series opener. But that’s the great thing about this Golden State Warriors team: They never seem to be fazed when they take a lick and they always seem to rise to the occasion.