Thunder drop 133 on Warriors to take 2-1 series lead
OKLAHOMA CITY - Kevin Durant scored 33 points, Russell Westbrook had 30 points, 12 assists and eight rebounds, and the Oklahoma City Thunder rolled past the Golden State Warriors, 133-105, on Sunday night to take a 2-1 lead in the Western Conference finals.
Serge Ibaka added 14 points and eight rebounds for the Thunder, who matched a franchise record for most points scored in a playoff game. Oklahoma City reasserted its dominance on the glass, out-rebounding Golden State, 52-38.
Related: Thunder steamroll Warriors in historic 1st half
The last time Golden State's Stephen Curry had played in Oklahoma City, he scored 46 points, tied an NBA record with 12 3-pointers, and hit a game-winning, 37-footer. This time, the league MVP finished with 24 points on 7-for-17 shooting. Klay Thompson added 18 points on 8-for-19 shooting.
Related: Green receives flagrant-1 for kicking Adams in groin
Game 4 will be Tuesday in Oklahoma City.
The Warriors, who set an NBA record with 73 victories, trailed by 41 points at one point, their largest deficit this season.
Golden State's Draymond Green, who kicked Oklahoma City's Steven Adams in the groin and has become Thunder fans' No. 1 target because of some questionable tactics, struggled on both ends of the floor, finishing with six points on 1-for-9 shooting. The Warriors were outscored by 43 points when he was in the game.
With 5:57 left in the second quarter, Green kicked Adams after a foul. It was the second time in the series Green hit Adams there. The crowd chanted ''Kick him out! Kick him out!'' but Green was issued a flagrant foul and remained in the game.
Seemingly energized, the Thunder outscored the Warriors 24-7 the rest of the half, with many of the baskets coming against Green. In a play that summarized the second quarter perfectly, Green went in for a layup and got it blocked by Durant, then Durant made a 3-pointer on the other end to give the Thunder a 64-47 lead.
Green fouled Westbrook on a long 3-pointer with 1.3 seconds left in the first half. Westbrook made all three free throws to put the Thunder up 72-47 at the break.
The Thunder continued the onslaught by making 17 of 22 shots in the third quarter.