The Golden State Warriors can’t dwell on Game 5 of the Western Conference Finals. Their attention must turn to Game 6 on Saturday against the Oklahoma City Thunder. If they don’t win Game 6, the value of Game 5 will vanish. The memory of Thursday night’s win will recede into the mists of history.
I’m just as eager as the Warriors — and you — to see what happens in Game 6. No matter what happens, Saturday’s event offers a fitting challenge to a team which rewrote the NBA record book during the regular season. Everyone knows how big Saturday is — the moment will get its due.
Just not in this column.
Maybe this was a product of all the blowouts which have littered the playoffs. Maybe this was the result of the Warriors winning their first elimination game under Steve Kerr. Nevertheless, when Game 5 ended, I felt that a look-ahead to Game 6 would have been premature. It was — and is — important to pause before the trip to Oklahoma and savor what we saw in Oracle Arena.
Game 5 wasn’t merely a close and exciting game until the final few seconds; it was a well-played and well-fought game the whole way. Some games are close just because both teams are mediocre, but on Thursday in Oracle, the Warriors and the Thunder pushed each other to a higher plateau.
Game 5 contained maximum effort on both sides. The energy put forth by both teams could not have been greater. The ferocity of combat was impossible to miss, because both teams — not just one — competed to the fullest extent of their capacities. The Thunder — the aggressors in this series with the exception of Game 2 — were finally matched and then exceeded by the Warriors in battles for 50-50 balls. This incarnation of Kerr’s team bore scant resemblance to the group that had been shelled in Oklahoma City. Even then, however, the Thunder stayed close with their effort and defense, which is why the evening became so breathlessly exciting.
For Warrior fans, it almost became too exciting. Almost.
OKC won Game 1 in Oracle despite 34 missed field goals from Kevin Durant and Russell Westbrook. In Game 5, Durant and Westbrook missed a combined total of 36 field goals (23-of-59 from the field). The Thunder didn’t win, but they challenged the Warriors even when their stars weren’t very accurate. (Durant finished 12-of-31, Westbrook 11-of-28.)
No one needs to ask why the Thunder are able to remain competitive in Oracle even when their stars miss a lot of shots. Oklahoma City’s length has made it harder for Kerr’s “Death Lineup” to run wild. Golden State needed plenty from its stars, but it needed something extra from its role players. This, in many ways, is why the West Finals — and the Dubs’ season — haven’t ended.
In Game 5, the Warriors got contributions from players up and down the lineup. Andrew Bogut, called out in the media by head coach Steve Kerr, didn’t commit a foul until 1:33 remained in the first half, which was astounding. This allowed the big Aussie to play 29 minutes, a number that had not reached in this postseason and one he had surpassed only once in the season’s last 24 games.
Not being in foul trouble wasn’t the only reason Bogut was on the floor, though, He was as active and effective as he’d been in quite a while, and outside of the usual Steph Curry/Klay Thompson/Draymond Green contributions, he’s the guy who most helped them win on Thursday.
Game 5 wasn’t a fabulous advertisement for the NBA solely because of the effort level. It was also fascinating because of the adjustments and lineup combinations made in both directions. Oklahoma City’s Billy Donovan squeezed a noticeable amount of production out of Anthony Morrow, pushing another button correctly in this series. Kerr needed a counter-move, and he found it in Bogut.
Golden State hadn’t succeeded with a smaller lineup, so Kerr tried to match Oklahoma City’s length in the paint. When Bogut stayed on the floor, the Warriors became better on defense and on the glass. That benefit carried to the offensive end, where Bogut’s passing created flow and continuity for the Warriors. Bogut enables the Warriors to maintain good ball movement to an extent Festus Ezeli can’t match. This chess move — and Bogut’s ability to make it look good — enhanced everything that was part of a wild and wonderful Game 5.
*
What also made the difference for the W’s on Thursday? Defending without fouling. Golden State scored 11 more points at the free throw line (31-20), earning 10 more foul shots (34-24). This is not a revelation; it’s been a frequent conversation point between Kerr and his players. They might have been at home, where they got a better whistle, but they still did manage to demonstrate better technique, as shown on Steph Curry’s late steals which robbed the Thunder of crucial possessions.
Another crucial aspect of the Warriors’ winning performance in Game 5 was Steph’s ability to finish more (or perhaps miss less) near the rim. The 3-point stroke isn’t there, but as long as Curry makes layups and floaters in the paint, the Warriors create enough successful possessions to shrink Oklahoma City’s margins.
Consider all the times in this series when the Thunder have run the floor after a missed Curry layup. The Curry miss hurts in itself, but since the Thunder have usually won the battle on the backboard over the past week and a half, they’re often able to generate fast-break opportunities; score; and ultimately create a pace which — while beneficial to the Warriors against every other opponent in the league — does not help against OKC.
Curry, merely by making close-range twos, adds a lot of value to Golden State’s offense… and transition defense. That’s the kind of detail which I’ll discuss more in a Game 6 preview on Saturday morning.
What concluding thoughts are worth taking from this game, as a bridge to Game 6? Let’s acknowledge the bad news for the Warriors: While it was nice to see the Dubs, especially Curry, resemble themselves again, it’s pretty clear that they’re going to have to take another step (leap?) forward to win game 6 in Oklahoma City.
Why? The Warriors played well, the Thunder didn’t, and Kevin Durant was still staring down the barrel of a 3-point shot that would have cut the Warrior lead to three with about 35 seconds to play.
Just as it was important to give the Thunder credit for how they made the Warriors look like newcomers to the sport in Games 3 and 4, I want to make sure the Warrior defense gets credit for how poorly the Thunder played in Game 5. Bogut and Draymond were very active inside, but as we mentioned, they didn’t foul nearly as often as in previous games. Durant and Westbrook got their points, more than 70 between them, but they got no support from their role players.
Most importantly, the Thunder never got on one of those rolls that made Warrior fans feel like their team had gone from being the Harlem Globetrotters to playing the Harlem Globetrotters. They had only eight steals, which isn’t a bad number, but it’s just half of what they collected in Game 4. The Warriors did a good job on the boards, holding the Thunder to 11 offensive rebounds, almost half of which came in the first quarter.
Even in the face of all these positive shifts, Golden State was still sweating in the final minute.
That level of sweat might be nothing compared to Saturday.
The good news for the Warriors: at least they get to play a Game 6.
Game 5 might not save this team’s season, but for at least 48 hours, it has given the Golden State Warriors the chance to do so in Oklahoma City.
