Oklahoma City Holds on against Golden State

The Thunder built a 23-point lead, but still had to hit last-second free throws to top the Warriors.

Thursday, May 26th 2011, 12:05 pm

By: News On 6

Oklahoma City Holds on against Golden State

Originally Published: Dec 5, 2010 7:16 PM CDT

Gerald Goodridge
Oklahoma Sports Staff Writer

OKLAHOMA CITY -- The Oklahoma City Thunder jumped out to a huge lead early, but had to hold off a late-game push to top the Golden State Warriors 114-109 Sunday.

The Thunder led by 20 points at the start of the fourth quarter, but the high-powered Golden State Warriors proved why they are a threat no matter the deficit.

With seven minutes left to play and trailing 100-84, the Warriors went on a 13-4 run, including seven from Reggie Williams, to cut the lead to 105-96, the first single-digit deficit since the first quarter.

Golden State would continue to push, scoring 11 points in the closing 90 seconds, while Oklahoma City managed to hit six of its eight free throws to close the game and come away with the win.

Oklahoma City came out of the gate firing, scoring six points in less than two minutes – capped off by a steal and dunk by shooting guard Thabo Sefolosha to force an early timeout.

The Thunder didn’t slow down and a Kevin Durant 3-pointer expanded that opening run to an 18-2 lead five minutes into the game.

That massive run ballooned to a 28-9 lead with three minutes left to play in the first quarter.

Oklahoma City continued to enjoy a comfortable lead for the majority of the second quarter, but the Warriors potent offense closed the gap in the closing minutes of the first half.

Golden State went into halftime riding an 11-2 run – including nine consecutive points – to go into halftime trailing 54-42 after being behind 23 points just five minutes earlier.

Durant – in his first game back after missing back-to-back games with an injury – finished the game with 28 points and seven rebounds, while Russell Westbrook scored 19 and dished out 13 assists. Serge Ibaka did his part coming off of the bench, scoring 19 points, grabbing eight rebounds and blocking three shots.

Golden State’s Stephen Curry led all scorers with 39 points and six assists, but turned the ball over five times. Monta Ellis scored 29 points, while Dorell Wright recorded 12 points and 11 rebounds.

Oklahoma City will be back in action at 7 p.m. Monday night in Chicago against the Bulls.