The return of Stephen Curry from injury on Saturday night couldn’t prevent a sixth straight defeat for the Golden State Warriors, as the Oklahoma City Thunder beat them 130-123 in overtime. After the contest, Curry was asked about the level of urgency to turn things around and he kept it real.
“(A) losing streak like this, there’s urgency for sure,” Curry said. “… Anytime you’re at this many in a row, it’s a problem that you got to fix and you don’t want to develop a losing mentality at all at any stretch in the season. That’s a stink in the locker room you don’t really want to have in there.”
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Amid all their struggles in the regular season in 2022-23, the Warriors had never lost six in a row at any point. Their offense has been the biggest issue during this losing streak, as their offensive rating of 107.7 in that time, as per the NBA, would rank 27th in the league this season.
Now, not having Curry and Draymond Green for some of those games plays a role in it, but for the offense to completely fall apart like this is concerning. The offense has never really been an issue during this dynastic run and they need to rediscover some of that old magic. This loss has now dropped them to 6-8 and they take on the Houston Rockets next.
As for Curry’s play in this one, the two-time MVP wasn’t quite at his best. The 35-year-old finished with 25 points, 7 rebounds, and 3 assists while shooting 8-21 from the field. I won’t be too concerned about him, though, as Curry should be just fine moving forward.
Klay Thompson’s Struggles Continued Here
To say Klay Thompson has struggled in this 2023-24 season might be an understatement. In this game against the Thunder, he actually started fairly well, hitting five of his first seven shots, but lost his way after that.
Klay finished the night with 16 points, 2 rebounds, 4 assists, and a block while shooting 5-13 from the field and 3-9 from beyond the arc. For the season, he is now averaging 14.0 points, 3.3 rebounds, 2.1 assists, 0.4 steals, and 0.5 blocks per game.
Kendrick Perkins urged the Warriors to move on from Thompson right away, as he believes not getting an extension has something to do with his poor play. Whatever the case, if this keeps up, it’s hard to see the Warriors giving him the kind of deal he’d want when he enters free agency in 2024.
The Thunder Are On A Roll
While the Warriors are slumping, their opponents on the night are surging. This was a fourth win in a row for the Thunder, who have now improved to 9-4. There were a lot of expectations on their young core coming into this season, and boy did they deliver in this one.
Shai Gilgeous-Alexander had 40 points, 7 rebounds, 6 assists, 2 steals, and 2 blocks, and hit some big shots to guide the team to victory in overtime. Chet Holmgren, meanwhile, had the best game of his short NBA career, finishing with 36 points, 10 rebounds, 5 assists, 2 steals, and 2 blocks.
He hit the three-pointer at the buzzer to send the game to overtime in what was a very special performance. There is a lot of talk about the future when it comes to the Thunder, but they want to win now.
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