Oklahoma City (1-0) at Golden State (0-1)
When: Wednesday, May 18th 2016
Where: Oracle Arena, Oakland, CA
Time: 9:05 ET | TV: TNT
The Oklahoma City will look to make it two-straight when they visit the Golden State Warriors for Game 2 of the Western Conference Finals on Wednesday night. The Thunder have now won three straight road games against teams that only lost three times combined during the entire regular season (79-3). Oklahoma City faced a 13-point halftime deficit after committing 10 turnovers and struggling to defend Stephen Curry and Klay Thompson in the first half. The Thunder cut that number to two turnovers after the break and outscored the Warriors 23-14 in the final period en route to a 108-102 Game 1 victory. The Thunder used a big lineup all game with Steven Adams and Serge Ibaka combining for 27 points and 23 rebounds. Russell Westbrook and Kevin Durant again led the Thunder in scoring with 27 and 26 respectively. Westbrook exploded for 19 points in the third quarter to pull the Thunder within 88-85 and Durant broke out of a shooting slump with a jumper off the dribble from the top of the key with 30.7 seconds left that put the game away.
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The Warriors went 6-of-23 from the floor in the fourth quarter, including 1-of-10 from 3-point range, and got a combined three points from Curry and Thompson in the decisive period. Curry finished with a team-high 26 points and has now hit at least one three-pointer in 45 consecutive postseason games. Center Andrew Bogut (hip) started and played 17 minutes in Game 1 but did not see the floor in the fourth quarter and finished with zero points. Festus Ezeli and Shaun Livingston were supposed to pick up for Bogut, but finished a combined 3-for-9 from the floor and seven points. Golden State will look to rebound like it has done all year by not losing two in a row this season. Warriors forward Draymond Green told reporters, “I think our defensive game plan was pretty good – really good. Offensively we sucked, so we know that’s something that we know what was the cause of it and that we can improve on, but our preparation won’t change.”
Golden State should bounce back and take care of business in the second half, but this Thunder team is hot and can’t be satisfied with just a split in Oakland. I think OKC keeps it close.
Pick: Thunder +8.5
