But the way OKC played last night, they might've given their chance away for trip to the Finals
The Golden State Warriors played like who they are: Defending champions. The Warriors showed me and the rest of the world that they're not only defending champs, but they have the hearts of a champion.
They were basically trailing throughout this whole game six; they weren't trailing by a lot, but every time they got close, the Thunder would come right back. But the Warriors kept the score close and stood composed. Golden State did not panic. They just kept doing what they've been doing all year and that's play defense, pass the ball and shoot three-pointers. The Warriors basically said: You know what, if we're gonna lose and get eliminated, we're gonna go out the way we've been doing it all year.
Golden State was getting outworked in the paint. They had no bigs to defend the OKC's bigs of Serge Ibaka and Steven Adams. They had no answer for Adams; throughout this series he's been grabbing rebounds like he was playing against jr. high school players.
But what did the Warriors do when they couldn't find answers in the paint? They shot the ball from three. What they do when Stephen Curry and Klay Thompson kept missing threes in the first half? Attempted more threes in the second half. And those threes in the second half, went in.
The difference between Curry and Durant last night? Efficiency. While Curry kept shooting the ball, at the same time he was making the players around him better. Unlike Durant, Curry knew he couldn't do it all by himself. Then in the 4th quarter, when he saw OKC couldn't find that clutch shot to put the Warriors away, Curry saw an opening to make his shot and take his team to game seven.
As for Durant, it was the complete opposite. And during the TNT halftime, Charles Barkley nailed it, when he said Durant is trying to become the hero, when he saw him shoot the ball in almost every possession OKC had. Listen, how great Durant has looked in this series and the superstar he is, I don't mind it. But when it's not working, why sacrifice your home court advantage. Win the game!
I can't believe I'm saying this, but Durant was the reason why OKC lost. When the Thunder went away from iso-Durant, they scored the basketball. They played more team ball when we're just giving it to Durant; things went wall when every Thunder touched the ball. And when he's 1-for-8 from three-point range, which he was last night, they CANNOT continue doing same thing when it's not working.
Durant was taking shots, off balanced, when three Warrior defenders are on him. He cannot continue to take shots like that.
The Thunder struggled from three-point ranger, last night. They were 3-for-23 from three; if they were 5-for-25, they probably in the NBA Finals.
CAN THE THUNDER STILL WIN GAME 7?
Yes. I like their tough, 'never give up' mentality. The Thunder can go into game seven feeling no pressure because no one had them going to a gave seven in the Western Conference Finals. This was really unexpected for them. Yea, the Warriors are going back home for a game seven but they still have to win or they're eliminated. If you're OKC, you just keep doing what you're doing, but Durant has be efficient and the Thunder as a team has to play team ball.
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