Expert
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Golden State Warriors vs Oklahoma City Thunder |
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2016/17 NBA Championship, 3 November 2016 |
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Oracle Arena, Oakland | ||
Golden State Warriors | Oklahoma City Thunder | |
122 | SCORE | 96 |
31 | Q1 | 32 |
37 | Q2 | 11 |
30 | Q3 | 27 |
24 | Q4 | 26 |
Kevin Durant gets his first chance to take on his former teammates when the Golden State Warriors host Russell Westbrook and the undefeated Oklahoma City Thunder at the Oracle Arena. Join The Roar for live scores and coverage from 1:30pm (AEDT).
The drama that dominated the talk of the off-season gets its first chance to play out on the court here, but the start of the season hasn’t been quite what was expected for either of these sides.
The Golden State Warriors, after clocking a season record of 73-9 and winning their first 24 games last season, have been incredibly slow out of the gate.
After a 29-point opening day loss to the San Antonio Spurs, they were pushed to the wire by both the New Orleans Pelicans and Phoenix Suns and even though they were both on the road, they should have done a much better job in putting those sides away.
Stephen Curry and Kevin Durant finally got things going in the Warriors’ last game as they picked up an important 23-point win on the road against the Portland Trail Blazers.
Even if Curry and Durant do click and combine with Klay Thompson and Draymond Green, the Warriors are incredibly weak off the bench, and their presence on the boards and inside the paint has been weak so far.
The Thunder, on the other hand, have shocked everyone by coming out and winning every game so far.
As was expected to be the case, though, there has been little else on attack than what Russell Westbrook has been able to provide, with the star clocking up some crazy numbers, including averaging 38 points a game.
What must be noted about the Thunder, though, is they got an easy start to the season with their opening matches against the Philadelphia 76ers, Phoenix Suns and Los Angeles Lakers.
In each of those they struggled before Westbrook found a way to get them over the line. Their match yesterday though saw them take on the Los Angeles Clippers away from home and they held their nerve at the end of the match to pull off a two-point victory.
There is no doubt there will be some feeling in this match, with the battle between Durant and Westbrook, but it’s tough to forget their conference finals series last year, won by the Warriors.
Prediction
At home, the Warriors just have too much offensive power to not win this one. Should be a cracking game, though.
Warriors by 6.
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Follow Scott on Twitter @sk_pryde