Golden State Warriors: Recapping the Last 5 Games
December 18, 2014; Oakland, CA, USA; Golden State Warriors guard Stephen Curry (30) celebrates against the Oklahoma City Thunder during the second quarter at Oracle Arena. The Warriors defeated the Thunder 114-109. Mandatory Credit: Kyle Terada-USA TODAY Sports
Game 4
After their first loss in more than a month, the Warriors were back on their home court with another tough task at hand. The Oklahoma City Thunder were in town, and with Kevin Durant again healthy, they were rolling.
Rolling might be an understatement for how Durant started off in this one. He scored 16 in the first quarter alone, knocking down three straight three-pointers during his hot start.
Thanks to Durant’s surge, the Warriors at one point took a commanding 30-13 lead in the quarter. Points came by easy for the Warriors from then on though, as they ended the period trailing by just eight points, 40-32.
Durant picked up right where he left off, adding 14 more points in the second quarter before landing on Speights’ ankle near the end of the half. Durant would not return to the game.
Outside of that, it was all Warriors.
Curry put forth an MVP performance, tallying 34 points, nine assists, seven rebounds and four steals. He knocked down 5-of-12 three-point attempts to help lead all players in scoring.
Russell Westbrook finished with 33 points on the night and did his best to keep the team alive with Durant out of the game, but shooting 11-of-30 from the field didn’t get the job done.
Golden State would go on to win the game 114-109, ending the Thunder’s seven-game win streak.
If Durant had played the entire game, this one probably would have been a different story. Kerr knew this, and joked about it after the game.
"“I thought we did a tremendous job on him in the second half. I didn’t even notice him in the second half,” Kerr joked. “We completely stopped him.”"