Hopefully, it’s known by now that the Oklahoma City Thunder won Game 4 of the Western Conference Finals to go up 3-1 over the defending champion, Golden State Warriors. Game 5 will be Thursday in Oakland at 8 p.m. CT. Here are some facts following Game 4 that you may not be aware of.
- In their 95th and 96th games of the season, the Warriors lost consecutively for the first time, suffering back to back defeats for the first time since dropping Games 2 and 3 of the NBA Finals against the Cavaliers. Golden State is now 12-1 in games following a loss this season (3-1 in the playoffs).
- The Warriors lost a game when trailing in a playoff series for the first time since losing Game 6 of the 2013 Western Conference Semifinals against the Spurs (they had won their previous five such games).
- Oklahoma City scored 72 first-half points for the second consecutive game, matching a franchise first-half record and the most points scored on the Warriors in a half this season.
- The Warriors lost consecutive playoff games by at least 20 points for the first time since falling in Games 2 and 3 of the 1972 Western Conference Semifinals to the Milwaukee Bucks by 25 and 28 points, respectively.
- Oklahoma City used a 16-0 run from 8:04 to 5:29 in the first quarter to jump out to a 22-8 first-quarter lead and never trailed again.
- Klay Thompson scored 19 of his team-high 26 points in the third quarter, tied for the most in a single quarter by a Warrior this postseason.
- Stephen Curry finished with 19 points and hit two three-pointers to extend his NBA record streak to 48-straight postseason games with at least one three (every playoff game in which he has appeared).
- Russell Westbrook secured the first postseason triple-double by a Western Conference player against the Warriors since Magic Johnson in 1991, tallying 36 points, 11 assists, and 11 rebounds. LeBron James is the last player in any conference to post a triple-double against the Warriors, tallying a pair of triple-doubles in the NBA Finals.
Who’s the real MVP?
Well, Stephen Curry won the season’s MVP award, but he hasn’t shown up in this crucial series. The MVP looks like Russell Westbrook. It’s not luck at this point either, you can’t be lucky four-straight games.
Russell Westbrook vs. Steph Curry in the Western Conference Finals.
Russell: 27.3 points, (42 percent from FG), 11.8 assists, 6.5 rebounds, 3.8 steals per game.
Steph: 24.3 points, (41.9 percent from FG), 4.5 assists, 5.5 rebounds, 2.0 steals per game.
Now we know that either Steph is indeed human, or both he and Russ are some sort of extraterrestrial being. They are both great players, but one-on-one when it matters, Steph can’t match up with Russell.
I’m convinced this is how the Thunder feel about their performance during these playoffs.
The Thunder are too lit before the game pic.twitter.com/T5ewhilNl5
— Fill Werrell (@FillWerrell) May 25, 2016
