OKC Thunder come back vs. Warriors to capture first road win of season – player grades
The knowledge gained via all those clutch time losses paid dividends as the OKC Thunder finally get a road win. Player grades serve up the highlights and details.
Preseason when the OKC Thunder schedule came out there were more than a few shudders throughout the fanbase upon observing the first 20 games on the itinerary. Not only did OKC have a brutal start to the season they would face the Golden State Warriors three times in that schedule segment.
As it turned out based on free agent exits and injuries the Warriors became arguably the easiest team OKC would face in those 20 games. To that end, the Thunder took the two meetings in OKC and arrived at the swanky Chase Center for the first of two meetings they’ll undertake in Oakland this season.
Given how the Thunder has battled tough teams this season losing match after match in the final minutes to elite teams you’ll pardon me if state this game was one that most expected would be of the easier variety. The problem with that thinking was this match served as the perfect example of how no team can be taken for granted and any club can win on any given night.
149. 97. 41. Final. 100
Never mind the Warriors only had eight players in jerseys or that none of these players were on the court last season for the Dubs. Or that only three of the players dressed had any substantive experience with varsity teams – Alec Burks, Willie Cauley-Stein, and Glenn Robinson III. The rest is a mish-mash of G-League players, rookies, and guys who couldn’t break through to garner varsity minutes on their original teams. But, these eight Warriors came to the Chase Center with winning on their minds.
Initially, the OKC Thunder jumped on Golden State building a 13-4 lead, but Steve Kerr called a time out and from that point forward the Dubs were a different team. By 4:18 of the first quarter the Dubs had tied the game and by quarter end they led 28-25.
It was more of the same in the second quarter with the Warriors playing the aggressors and with 35 seconds remaining they had ballooned the lead by 12 points. The saving grace was the Thunder captain, Chris Paul refused to accept what was happening as he nailed back to back 3-pointers in those final 30 seconds to cut the deficit to six points (53-59) as the teams exited for the lockers.
Even though the Thunder made runs in the second half each time they narrowed the gap the Dubs would drop a 3-point shot (or several) and reestablish their lead. The other commonality was each time that happened Chris Paul would make a play to keep his charges invested at chipping away at the lead.
Finally, with time ticking down in the final frame and the lead back to 14 the Thunder locked in behind CP3’s leadership going on a 22 to 5 run to finish the game.
Suffice to say, the Thunder found a way to put all that knowledge gained from those copious clutch time losses into action.
With the win, the team gets the monkey off their back if you will because they’ve finally won on the road an issue which was beginning to become a psychological problem given the Thunder and Magic were the only winless road teams entering tonight’s matches.
It wasn’t pretty or a game the OKC Thunder can be proud of especially through three quarters but they did what was necessary in clutch time to get the victory. With that, let’s dive into the player grades.