Be Careful, OKC Thunder, You Have the Tiger by the Tail

Getting the Golden State Warriors’ full attention is the mother of all mixed blessings.

For better and worse, the Oklahoma City Thunder have done it.

OKC’s truly impressive 108-102 Game 1 victory—marked by attentive defense, resiliency, shrewd lineup decisions and a Russell Westbrook explosion—forced the Warriors to briefly consider their own mortality. That’s not something that happens often, but the prospect of an 0-2 series hole galvanized the Dubs, resulted in swift, thorough, terrible-to-behold retribution.

Golden State buried the Thunder in Game 2 by a final score of 118-91, running its record after losses to an unfathomable 12-0 this season.

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And there’s the root of what should be some seriously conflicted Oklahoma City emotions heading into Sunday’s Game 3 at home: The Warriors, with a 100 percent success rate, respond to defeats with overwhelming victories. And more broadly, the more severe the failure, the more focused and complete the subsequent triumph.

Let’s unpack this.

The Thunder have a lot to be happy about.

Their Game 1 effort proved the defense that defined an easy elimination of the San Antonio Spurs was real. Oklahoma City forced Stephen Curry and Klay Thompson into rushed second-half shots, switched liberally, produced turnovers and ultimately held the best offense in the league to 14 fourth-quarter points.

Though Game 2 played out differently, the Thunder must still be encouraged by the fact that they’re in good position despite not getting simultaneous strong performances from Westbrook and Kevin Durant. The former was terrific Monday but struggled Wednesday. The latter scored efficiently in Game 2 but turned the ball over far too often.

Westbrook and Durant are going to play well in the same game (for the whole game) eventually; Golden State is like everyone else in this specific regard: It can’t keep both superstars under wraps for an entire series.

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