Written by Eric Freeman at YahooSports.com
The early analysis of the Western Conference Finals between the Golden State Warriors andOklahoma City Thunder cast the matchup primarily in terms of tactical advantages and disadvantages. Monday’s Game 1 served as a reminder that a team can appear to lose the majority of those matchups and come out ahead thanks to bursts of excellence and the avoidance of huge mistakes. Sometimes tactics don’t matter nearly as much as a more obvious factor — which team makes more game-winning plays.
Down 60-47 at the half and by as many as 14 points early in the third quarter, the Thunder stormed back to lead for all but 90 seconds of the final period on their way to a 108-102 victoryat Oracle Arena. The star of the night was Russell Westbrook, who followed a three-point, 1-of-8 first half to score 19 of OKC’s Warriors season-worst 38 points in the third quarter. Finishing with a game-high 27 points, 12 assists, seven steals, and six rebounds, Westbrook helped to carry the Thunder when they needed a big performance. Thanks to his star turn, OKC has now beaten San Antonio and Golden State three times on their home floors in the past two weeks — as many home losses as those teams combined for all regular season.
Westbrook’s big second half helped cover for co-star Kevin Durant’s current cold streak. After putting up a somewhat disengaged 13 points on 5-of-11 shooting in the first half, KD went just 5-of-19 in the second, including an 0-of-8 streak in the fourth quarter. Yet he ended that drought with his biggest shot of the night — a dagger pull-up over the hand of Andre Iguodala that put OKC up 105-100 with 30.7 seconds on the clock:
Durant had far from his best night — he shot just 10-of-30 from the field, committed five turnovers, and looked gassed after playing 46 minutes, including the entire second half. However, his clutch jumper sums up much of what went right for the Thunder in this huge series-opening victory. They managed to make enough plays to win even when they appeared at a disadvantage or made the kinds of mistakes that often lose ballgames.
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