The Thunder earned the first win of their new era, against the Golden State Warriors, one of the most “hated” opponents of the past few seasons, 120-92 the final score.
Oklahoma City started aggressive from the tip-off, diving an all loose ball, moving on offense, while making every single shot difficult for the Warriors. Golden State didn’t have an answer all game long and trailed even by forty-two points.
Here are the five facts about tonight’s win against Golden State:
UNSTOPPABLE OFFENSE
This was an incredible offensive performance by Oklahoma City. Just pretty basketball over and over again for three quarters with the ball moving, and everyone involved on that end of the floor. The Thunder shot 55.7% from the field, 46.9% from behind the arc (15-32), and 77.3% from the free-throw line. After averaging only ninety points between the first two games, today OKC scored 105 points in only three quarters, showing that the potential is there, but it will be hard to show it every night. First of all, because not all the team will play this type of bad defense as the Warriors did this afternoon, but also because most of the players will be inconsistent during the long season.
FERGUSON ARRIVED
It took him a couple of games, but finally, Terrence Ferguson showed his potential, and this time he did it on both ends of the floor. Against the Warriors, Ferguson did a good job defensively on Steph Curry and impacted the game on offense. He looked more confident, had the ball more in his hands, and he scored. Terrence finished the game with thirteen points (5-7 FG, 3-4 3PT), two rebounds, four assists, and one turnover. This is the kind of player the Thunder are expecting night in and night out during this season.
DENNIS, FINALLY
Dennis Schröder is a weird player to evaluate because he has some really bad games where he looks terrible at everything, and then he has games like today, where he is a force of nature and a luxury coming out of the bench. The German point guard led the team in points coming out from the bench, he finished with twenty-two, while shooting the ball particularly well: 9-13 FG, 1-2 3PT, 3-3 FT. Dennis also added eight rebounds, six assists, four steals, and three turnovers.
SGA CAN’T BE STOPPED
Until Shai will keep playing this way, it’s impossible to do not talk about him. After three games, he is without a doubt who’s playing better on this team. It’s just pure joy to see him run at the rim and finish on so many different, smooth, ways. The crazy part of all of it is that SGA is just starting his second year as a pro, but he moves like a veteran. It will be very interesting to see how good he will be as the season goes on.
WARRIORS ARE IN TROUBLE
Well, Golden State is not the team that rolled all over the NBA in the past few seasons. This is clear by just looking at their roster: Steph Curry is the only valid option on offense with D’Angelo Russell, while Draymond Green can’t hold down the defense alone anymore. The role players around these three stars are not that good, for sure they are gonna win games, but until Klay returns (probably next season), the Warriors might be in big trouble to miss the playoffs.
