Warriors’ comeback falls just short in 105-101 loss to Thunder

Without Steph Curry, the Warriors shot a season-low 35 percent and turned the ball over 13 times, yet still had a chance to win the game in the final seconds

Playing without Steph Curry and facing the NBA’s top-rated defense, the Golden State Warriors fell behind by as many as 19 points against the Oklahoma City Thunder. Someow, they still had a chance to win or tie in the final seconds, but Andrew Wiggins couldn’t make a second straight clutch shot and the Dubs fell, 105-101.

Wiggins hit a three-pointer with 11 seconds left to cut the Thunder’s lead to a single point, and when Shai Gilgeous-Alexander missed one of two free throws, Golden State had a chance to win or tie the game.

Buddy Hield fouled out sending SGA to the line, so the ball went to Wiggins, who couldn’t quite handle Draymond Gren’s pass and missed a shot falling away from the basket and Lu Dort’s defensive pressure. It was a rough quarter for Wiggins, who shot 4-for-5 from the field and had two of his shots blocked. Of course, it was a rough offensive quarter for nearly all the Warriors, who went scoreless from the 5:45 mark of the fourth until Green’s dunk with 19 seconds remaining, while the Thunder scored eight straight points.

The team came all the way back from a big deficit to take the lead early in the fourth on a Kyle Anderson three-pointer.

A few minutes later, he’d retake the lead by converting a three-point play after scoring through contact, and his eighth points of the quarter gave the Warriors their final lead with six minutes remianing.

Jonathan Kuminga, back from his illness and back in the starting lineup, led the Warriors with 19 points. But in the fourth, he missed two layups, had a three-pointer blocked, missed another nine-footer and threw the ball out of bounds. Kevon Looney had nine rebounds in only 12 minutes, but missed two tip-ins back to back after rebounding a Kuminga missed layup. The team was doing everything right except scoring when they got inside, a testament to the Thunder’s defense and the huling inside presence of Isaiah Hartenstein, who had 14 points, 14 rebounds, and two blocks.

Who was doing everything right? Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, who missed a number of shots down the stretch but hit the two that truly mattered. He was 1-for-9 from three-point range when he sank a game-tying three with 4:15 to go. Then, with OKC up by a point in the final minute, he side-stepped Brandin Podziemski to beat the shot clock buzzer with a dagger three.

SGA had 35 points on 28 shots, as the Warriors didn’t make it easy for OKC’s superstar. He also added nine boards, two blocks and a steal. The Thunder got 13 points and seven assists from Santa Clara’s Jalen Williams, who also had two steals. Warriors killer Isaiah Joe had 17 points and made four threes, and the combined 31 points from Joe and Hartenstein may be a season-high for combined points from Isaiahs. But the biggest difference-maker might have been Cason Wallace, who blocked three shots and got two steals off the bench, while shooting 4-for-5 and dishing six assists.

For the Warriors, Draymond Green had 13 rebounds to go with his 10 points and seven assists, plus two blocked shots. He also got his fifth technical foul of the season, a fact he loudly discussed with former Warriors GM Bob Myers, calling the game for ESPN. Myers did not agree to pay Green’s fine, as requested.

Once again, the Warriors’ early offense ran through Wiggins. He scored the first nine points of the game for Golden State, making two three-pointers and three free throws in the first 1:35. Then he found Draymond Green for a three-pointer for the Warriors’ next points. He’s averaging nine points in each of the last four opening quarters.

But when he stopped taking shots, the Thunder stopped missing. OKC went on a 10-0 by making four of their next five shots, and sinking two free throws. Then OKC closed the quarter on a 10-2 run to take a commanding 39-23 lead after the first.

The second quarter saw the Warriors narrow the Thunder’s lead while shooting themselves in the collective feet. Pat Spencer came in as the backup point guard to start the second quarter, and acquitted himself well, finishing with six points, three assists and a plus-minus of +9. But he got no respect from the referees, and after two hard fouls from the Thunder, only one of which was called, he got a technical for complaining. In his defense, Steve Kerr took a timeout immediately afterward so he and Steph Curry, wearing street clothes, could yell at the same official for a few more minutes.

Two minutes later, after eight straight OKC points, Green was whistled for an offensive foul and got T’d up. After the Spencer technical, it was an 11-0 Thunder run containing two Warriors timeouts, five missed shots and two turnovers, and resulted in a 19-point lead.

But Kuminga scored 10 points in the final 3:42 of the half to get the Warriors within 12 at the half.

He also came out firing after halftime, scoring the Warriors’ first five points of the second half. Like Wiggins, Kuminga scored in bunches, but only in those limited bunches, as 14 of his 19 points came in a 5:15 stretch of the game. The same was true for Brandin Podziemski, who seemingly broke out of his season-long slump in the third quarter. He scored eight of his 12 points in a two-minute period, and also dished three of his five assists.

Before the end of the quarter, Spencer’s layup cut the lead to 84-83, in a quarter where they held OKC to 22 points. Regardless of the disappointing ending and the offensive struggles, the Warriors’ defense came back in a big way after the first quarter, holding the Thunder to 23, 22, and 21 points in the next three quarters.

Buddy Hield had 17 points and shot 5-for-8, all three-pointers. He passed Dirk Nowitzki for 18th place on the NBA’s all-time three-pointers list. Hield is now one triple behind Dallas Mavericks coach Jason Kidd, and we expect that when he passes J-Kidd, he’ll spill a soda on the court in celebration.

Ultimately, this was a feel-good loss against a very good team against whom the Warriors match up surprisingly well. After two feel-bad losses, this game is a reminder that this year’s Warriors team can be very good, especially on defense. Just so long as they don’t take massive third-quarter leads.