Thunder struck in game 3 as Oklahoma City held down their homecourt and did some damage to the Golden State Warriors. Kevin Durant scored 33, Russell Westbrook dropped 30 and the Thunder decimated the defending NBA champions 133-105 in their game 3 win to take a 2-1 series lead in the 2016 Western Conference Finals.
The last time Golden State’s Stephen Curry had played in Oklahoma City, he scored 46 points, dueled Kevin Durant, tied an NBA record with 12 made 3-pointers and hit an insane, game-winning, 37-footer. This time, the reigning two-time league MVP finished with 24 points on 7-for-17 shooting. Klay Thompson added 18 points on 8-for-19 shooting.
Golden State’s Draymond Green kicked Oklahoma City’s big man Steven Adams in the groin and instantly became Thunder fans’ public enemy number 1, prompting the fans to chant ‘kick him out, kick him out’ after his low blow to Adams. Green struggled to get anything going on both ends of the floor and finished with just six points on 1-for-9 shooting while the Warriors were outscored by 43 points when he was in the game.
Draymond Green kicks Steven Adams right in his…#thundervswarriors
Via @clippittvpic.twitter.com/Gpw7FcqVCv— NBA On Def Pen (@NBAOnDefPen) May 23, 2016
Kevin Durant’s 33 points came on 10-15 shooting with eight rebounds and shot a perfect 12-12 from the free throw line. Russell Westbrook had 30 points on 10-19 shooting with 12 assists and eight rebounds on the night. Serge Ibaka added 14 points and eight rebounds for the Thunder, who matched a franchise record for most points scored in a playoff game coming off a game 2 beatdown at the hands of the Dubs.
Oklahoma City returned to dominating form on the glass, outrebounding Golden State 52-38. The Warriors made just 6 of 23 3-pointers in the first half and 10 of 33 overall and Never led by more than two points. Golden State set an NBA record with 73 victories but they looked far from the best team in NBA history trailing by 41 points, their largest deficit of the season.
Game 4 will be Tuesday in Oklahoma City starting at 9:00 PM ET on TNT
