Three takeaways from Oklahoma City's 147-109 beatdown at the hands of the Golden State Warriors
The Oklahoma City Thunder returned home to host the Golden State Warriors inside the Chesapeake Energy Arena on the second night of a back-to-back.
Again playing shorthanded, OKC was unable to snap their current losing streak as it extended to eight straight games in their 147-109 loss to the Warriors.
Steph Curry continued his hot scoring streak, as he entered Oklahoma City fresh off a 53-point scoring performance against the Denver Nuggets. But the former unanimous MVP didn’t even have to shoot lights out to power his Warriors past the Thunder.
Here are three quick takes from OKC’s loss:
Warriors torment the Thunder from deep
In the first half, Golden State shot an eye-popping 52-percent from beyond the arc. As the game wore on, the Warriors maintained their barrage. Golden State finished shooting 24-of-47 (51 percent) from deep, but the first half explosion sent the visitors from the West Coast to the locker rooms up 21 points at halftime and essentially iced the contest.
Over the prior seven losses before Wednesday night, the Thunder have been the sixth worst team in the NBA defending the 3-point line, allowing opponents to convert 38.5 percent of their attempts from deep.
Darius Bazley led Thunder scorers with 22 points
Alonzo Adams / USA TODAY Sports
Naturally, playing without Shai Gilgeous-Alexander and Luguentz Dort will deal a massive blow to OKC’s perimeter defense, and the Warriors ball movement made the young Thunder pay. Golden State whizzed the ball around with ease, creating 39 assists.
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Losing streak bordering on historic
No franchise ever wants to drop eight straight contests, but a streak of such magnitude is especially rare for the Thunder.
One of the winningest franchises in all of American professional sports since their arrival in OKC, the Thunder haven’t lost this many games in a row since they dropped 14 straight in their inaugural season in 2008.
The skid has seen Mark Daigneault’s team tumble down the standings, as they now hold the fifth worst record in the NBA.
There is a silver lining, as each loss that stacks up improves the Thunder’s chances of landing one of the coveted top five picks in the 2021 NBA Draft, but in the present, the team has suffered from the large amount of games missed by their best players.
Curry vs. Dort postponed again
One of the league’s most prolific scorers has yet to meet one of the young defensive stalwarts in the NBA, and fans will be forced to wait a while longer.
Curry and Dort have yet to match up since Dort’s emergence late last year. Dort’s 42-point performance against the Jazz Tuesday night was promptly followed by the former Arizona State guard getting scratched from the lineup due to left shoulder soreness.
The Warriors defense also caused plenty of problems for OKC, forcing 21 Thunder turnovers
Alonzo Adams / USA TODAY Sports
In a blowout as ugly as Wednesday night’s contest, no one player could have turned the tide, but the on-ball battle between Curry and Dort would be a fun watch.
Dort burst onto the national scene with his performances against James Harden in last summer’s Bubble playoffs, and the matchup against one of the best pure shooters in the history of the NBA would give the second-year guard another chance to prove he’s already one of the best defenders in the NBA.
The Thunder now hit the road for a four game road trip, starting on Friday when Oklahoma City matches up with the Detroit Pistons. Tip-off from the Motor City is slated for 6 p.m. central time on Friday evening.
