Warriors at Thunder
The Golden State Warriors managed to keep their historic season alive for at least one more game but will have to win in an arena that wasn’t very friendly earlier in the series if they want to force a seventh game. The Warriors, who lost games 3 and 4 by an average of 26 points, will try to pick off the Thunder in Oklahoma City and even the series when they visit for Game 6 on Saturday.
Golden State, which notched a record 73 wins during the regular season, was down 3-1 in the series before squeezing out a 120-111 victory at home in Game 5 on Thursday. “We’re the reigning champs,” backup point guard Shaun Livingston told the San Francisco Chronicle. “We’ve done this before, and we have to remember that and stay confident, regardless of if they go on a run. It’ll be a lot harder at their place, but we can do it.” The Thunder would prefer to close out the series at home in Game 6 and avoid having to go back to Golden State for a potential Game 7. "Oh, we know we're going back home," star forward Kevin Durant told reporters. "But we can't relax. We've got to keep our foot on the gas, and we've got to play much better. I thought we played extremely hard (Thursday). They didn't outplay us. They didn't outwork us. I thought both teams were in a slugfest (Thursday). So we've got to bring that energy back home.”
TV: 9 p.m. ET, TNT
ABOUT THE WARRIORS: Golden State needs the Draymond Green that delivered 11 points, 13 rebounds, four blocks and only two turnovers in Game 5 to make the trip back to Oklahoma City with the team. The Warriors emotional leader was off his game in the two big losses at the Thunder, combining to go 2-of-16 from the field and commit 10 turnovers. “The one thing I can control is how I go out there and fight and battle,” Green told reporters. “That was my mind-set (Thursday): I was coming to a fight. That’s it. I’m going to go out there and do that. If all else fails, I’m going to fight. That’s what I did, and that’ll be my mind-set for the rest of the series.”
ABOUT THE THUNDER: Durant scored 40 points in Thursday’s loss and Russell Westbrook added 31 but the two could not get enough help from anyone else to close out the series. Oklahoma City received a combined 30 points from Andre Roberson and 23 from Dion Waiters in Games 3 and 4 but watched the pair of guards put up a total of six points (all from Roberson) in Game 5. "It's a series right now," Thunder coach Billy Donovan told reporters. "…Travel back, again, try to continually evolve and get better from this. Find ways that we need to improve, things that we need to do, and then get ready to play again for this next one. Get ready to play Game 6."
BUZZER BEATERS
1. Warriors C Andrew Bogut scored a postseason career-high 15 points to go with 14 rebounds on Thursday.
2. Oklahoma City G Anthony Morrow recorded a 2016 playoff high with 10 points on 4-of-4 shooting in Game 5.
3. Golden State needs one more win to surpass last season’s franchise-record total of 83 (regular and postseason).