Thunder at Warriors
The Golden State Warriors' offense didn't show any rust in the first game after the All-Star break, leaving the team cautiously optimistic that some of the trouble that plagued it early this month was in the process of being fixed. The Oklahoma City Thunder, who visit the Warriors on Saturday, pulled some momentum through the break as well thanks to point guard Russell Westbrook.
Defending champion Golden State dropped four of eight heading into the break, including a 125-105 home loss to the Thunder on Feb. 6, while getting off to slow starts but it outscored the Clippers 34-23 in the first quarter on Thursday en route to a 134-127 win. "It was a good step in the right direction," Warriors coach Steve Kerr told reporters. "I think we did a lot of good things, but you can tell, it's not like we're going to wave a magic wand and be on top of our game again. But I liked our start. We got off to a better start." The Thunder got off to a good start as well, outscoring the Sacramento Kings 44-21 in the first quarter, but still needed a last-second 3-pointer from Westbrook to pull out the 110-107 road victory Thursday night. "We came out and established our tempo and established our dominance," Oklahoma City All-Star forward Paul George told reporters. "We gave up the lead but we didn't try to make home run plays and try to get the lead right away. We understood we were down and had to get back into the game. We did that. We took care of it. We got the shots we wanted and we finished down the stretch."
TV: 8:30 p.m. ET, ABC
ABOUT THE THUNDER (34-26): Westbrook, who got a chance to play with former Oklahoma City teammate and current Golden State star Kevin Durant during Sunday's All-Star Game, was just 4-of-14 from the floor and 1-of-6 from 3-point range on Monday, but the lone make from beyond the arc turned out to be the most important shot of the contest. "I gotta find a way to get space, obviously with one second left and kind of run him off of Steven (Adams). Coach drew up a great play," Westbrook told reporters. "They thought I was going for a lob. I just read the defender and tried to pop back and get some space." The Thunder need every win they can get while sitting in a jam-packed West in which teams No. 3-10 are within 4 1/2 games of each other entering play on Friday.
ABOUT THE WARRIORS (45-14): Stephen Curry served as an All-Star Game captain on Sunday and showed off his All-Star credentials while scoring 44 points on 14-of-19 shooting, including 8-of-11 from 3-point range, to go with 10 assists and six rebounds on Thursday. The highlight of the performance came at the end of the first quarter, when Curry flicked up a shot from 37 feet with a pair of defenders in his face and watched it splash through the net as the buzzer sounded. "You sling them up and try to get it off in time and see what happens," Curry told reporters of the shot. "But when it does happen, it's a good vibe to end the quarter, end the half and not really worry about shooting percentage. Just chuck it and see what happens."
BUZZER BEATERS
1. The Warriors changed up their rotation on Thursday by moving JaVale McGee into the starting lineup at center and plan to use the same arrangement on Saturday.
2. Thunder F Carmelo Anthony matched a season high with seven 3-pointers on Thursday.
3. Oklahoma City took the first two meetings by an average of 18.5 points.