OKC Thunder grades: Steph Curry stays hot in beatdown at the Peake

The OKC Thunder aren’t looking to win, which is an odd thing to say about any professional sports team. But wins hurt a team in the hunt for a top lottery pick, and while the Thunder players certainly don’t want to lose, doing so sets them up well in the draft.

So it’s a complicated game they play as the players, instinctually, want to win while the coaches and team executives see the bright side of the losses.

However, on Wednesday, it didn’t look like the Thunder had much of a choice.

The Warriors dominated the Thunder for much of the game, but it was a 50-point third-quarter performance that allowed the Warriors to create a large enough separation to coast for the remainder of the game.

Even without the big third quarter, the Warriors erupted in the first half for 75 points while holding the Thunder to 54. That lead continued to balloon in the third quarter when the Warriors tightened up on defense and kept rolling on offense.

Stephen Curry had a big part in that as he scored 42 points in 29 minutes, thanks to him catching fire from deep, hitting 11 of his 16 3-point attempts.

No other Warrior player scored over 17 points, but with Curry doing what he did, they didn’t need to do much else.

The Thunder didn’t have a terrible night on the court, especially where the starters are concerned. But beyond Darius Bazley, no Thunder player scored more than 18 points.

If you erase Curry’s big night, the Thunder are in the game with an opportunity to win. But that’s not how any sport works.

With that being said, let’s dive into player grades from the beat down at the Peake.