It’s beginning to look like the defending NBA champions are hitting a major stride. As the Golden State Warriors won their third straight game on Monday night, Stephen Curry scored 38 points, had 12 assists, and grabbed eight rebounds — defeating the Oklahoma City Thunder 128-120.
Adding 28 points and six threes to Curry’s total of 12-of-20 shooting, Klay Thompson finished with 28 points and hit six threes. The Warriors are two games above .500, and this game was the first of three games on the road for them.
“This was really a key game for us on the trip,” Warriors coach Steve Kerr said. “To start out with a win puts us in a good position to get some rest tomorrow, prepare for Minnesota, go attack that game and see what happens. … So we needed this one tonight, and guys did a great job of winning and getting it. Now, we’ve got to get greedy and go get the next one.”
In the second half, Shai Gilgeous-Alexander scored 21 of his 31 points. The Thunder, which missed out on evening its season record, were led by Josh Giddey with 21 points and Jalen Williams with 19 points.
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With Curry scoring 18 points and Thompson scoring 16, the Warriors led 63-48 at halftime. Golden State had 21 assists and made 12 of 25 3-pointers. Despite having a defensive game plan, the Thunder failed to execute it early on.
“We’ve kind of got to dictate terms from the jump and make teams play how we want to play,” Giddey said. “It’s hard to beat a team like that going back and forth and trading baskets because they’ve got so many weapons.”
Mike Muscala’s 3 as time expired in the third quarter cut Golden State’s lead to 94-85.
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“I thought there was a little bit of a boogeyman there in the first quarter,” Thunder coach Mark Daigneault said. “And then, you know, once we opened the closet and realized there’s no one there, then we started playing.”
With just 2:35 remaining, Golden State pulled ahead 115-107 after Curry hit a 3-pointer. The Warriors held on from there.