After being defeated by the Los Angeles Clippers on Wednesday night the Oklahoma City Thunder looked to take out its frustration on the Golden State Warriors after Serge Ibaka got ejected after getting tangled up with Blake Griffin and then a shoving match with Matt Barnes who also got thrown out of the game.
Both teams shot the ball well in the first quarter with the Thunder holding on to a one point lead at the end of one. Russell Westbrook led the way with 11 points and Kevin Durant had eight and for the Warriors Klay Thompson scored nine and Stephen Curry added six. The strong shooting continued for both teams with the Thunder holding significant edge rebounding the basketball, yet Golden State took advantage of Oklahoma City turning the ball over and at halftime the score was tied at 62-62.
The game remained close until late in the third quarter and into the fourth with the Warriors opening up a 14 point lead with just over seven minutes remaining in the game. Harrison Barnes helped stretch the lead with eight of his 16 points during the run. That wasn’t enough as Reggie Jackson, Ibaka, Durant and Westbrook fueled a run of their own.
Curry who scored 22 points on the night and dished out nine assists took an ill-advised jumper with 14 seconds remaining in the game. This led to a defensive miscue by Thompson who got tasked with defending Westbrook with the game on the line. Instead of forcing him to dribble the basketball and get him away from the three-point line he played off of him allowing for an open look from well beyond the three-point line, which he buried giving the Thunder a one point lead with just 2.3 seconds remaining.
With one last chance to win the game Thompson found Andre Iguodala who lost his defender and went up for afadeaway jumper and made the shot as time expired giving the Warriors a one point victory.
For the Thunder Westbrook finished with 31 points, nine rebounds and five assists, Ibaka had 27 points and 13 rebounds and Durant had 20 points, eight rebounds and seven assists. Leading away for the Warriors Thompson had 27 points and five rebounds, David Lee added 20 points and four rebounds and Iguodala finished with 14 points and nine assists.
Here’s the clip of Westbrook’s big three:
And here’s Iguodala’s game winner: