Warriors at Thunder
The Oklahoma City Thunder are digging themselves a deeper hole than they need in the loaded Western Conference. The Golden State Warriors will try to take advantage of the ailing Thunder when they visit Oklahoma City on Sunday. The Thunder are just trying to stay close enough to contention so that they will be able to make a push when Kevin Durant and Russell Westbrook return, but a five-game slide has them in last place in the Western Conference.
The Warriors have won four straight and looking like legitimate contenders with a balanced offense and a defense near the top of the league in opponent’s field-goal percentage (41.5). Golden State throttled the Utah Jazz on Friday, holding them to 57 points through three quarters before letting off the gas in a 101-88 victory. The Thunder are the lowest-scoring team in the West at an average of 89.9 points and have dropped three in a row at home after falling to the Brooklyn Nets 94-92 on Friday.
TV: 7 p.m. ET, CSN Bay Area (Golden State), FSN Oklahoma
ABOUT THE WARRIORS (9-2): Golden State is off to its best start since the 1972-73 season, and the supporting cast got a boost when Andre Iguodala came off the bench to score a season-high 17 points on Friday. “Andre was great. We knew it was coming,” Warriors coach Steve Kerr told reporters. “I think, more than anything, it was the adjustment of coming off the bench. It’s a hard thing to do when you’ve started literally every game of your career.” Iguodala is 11-of-14 from the field in the last two games after going 3-of-18 in the previous four.
ABOUT THE THUNDER (3-11): Oklahoma City collapsed down the stretch against the Nets and Reggie Jackson was off the mark on a game-winning 3-point attempt. Jackson is the most reliable scorer left on the Thunder and is averaging 19.9 points but is just 1-of-13 from 3-point range over the last four games while shooting 33.3 percent from the field in that span. “We’ve been battling with everybody and been close in every game,” Jackson told reporters. “It’s only a matter of time. If we keep believing we’ll get over this hump.”
BUZZER BEATERS
1. The Thunder took two of the three meetings last season while averaging 118.3 points.
2. Golden State G Stephen Curry is averaging 11.3 assists in the last three games.
3. Oklahoma City F Serge Ibaka has back-to-back double-doubles and three in the last five games.