The youngest team in the NBA had led the defending champions the entire game.
Until, with just over 10 minutes left in the contest, the Golden State Warriors tied the young Oklahoma City Thunder 108-108 when Jordan Poole drilled a 29-foot three-point jumper.
From that point forward, the Golden State Warriors took control and handed the Oklahoma City Thunder a crushing 136-125 loss at The Chase Center in San Francisco, CA on Tuesday.
This was the third consecutive loss for Oklahoma City, who is currently battling for a play in spot in the western conference.
“I just thought the execution on the defensive end wasn’t great, and then offensively they guarded us really well in the fourth, and like I said, deserve credit for the win”, said Thunder Head Coach, Mark Daigneault after the game.
This was the final home game of the regular season for the Golden State Warriors, who now currently sit at fifth place in the western conference standings. Stephen Curry scored 34 points in this contest and Poole, who came up big down the stretch for the Warriors added 30 points of his own.
The Thunder took control and led for most of the game behind the consistent scoring from their All-Star, Shai Gilgeous-Alexander. Shai finished with 32 points while shooting 11 of 17 and rookie guard, Jalen Williams added 19 points while shooting 7 of 14 from the floor.
Oklahoma City led by ten at halftime after setting the tone and shooting 60 percent from the floor in the first half. However, they were not able to shoot as well in the second half, but still finished the game shooting an efficient 47 percent overall.
The Warriors got hot in the second half and outscored the Thunder by six points in the third and then held Oklahoma City to just 19 points in the fourth quarter as they scored 34. Kevon Looney came up big for Golden State in the fourth quarter as he took advantage of Oklahoma City’s smaller lineup and pulled down multiple offensive rebounds. The Thunder’s lack of big men in the paint has been a weakness for them all season.
With the loss, Oklahoma City has put themselves in a situation where they will need to win against stiff competition in their final two games in order to secure a playoff spot. The Thunder will play in Utah against The Jazz on Thursday and then have to play the current number two seed, Memphis Grizzlies at home on Sunday.
The Thunder are currently 38-42 with the Dallas Mavericks close behind at 37-42. However, Oklahoma City does own the tiebreaker against The Mavericks if they end up with the same record after the regular season ends.
