Final thoughts
@HunterFelt Top 2 players on either side were poor. Warriors got it done. Underwhelming,but I assume they don't care.Big game from Bogut.
— Joe Sullivan (@magilljs) May 27, 2016
Yes, the Warriors season won’t end at home, but as Joe points out: It wasn’t particularly pretty. Despite everything, the Thunder had a shot even there in the game’s final minute. Now the challenge will get even tougher for the Warriors: they have to win in Oklahoma City, something they haven’t done this series. Golden State are going to have go full on Golden State if there’s gonna be Game 7. That’s still a big if.
We will continue to cover the Western Conference Finals here at the Guardian, but this will conclude our live coverage for today. Thank you to everybody who followed along with us for what ended up being a rather exciting Game 5! Ciao!
The Golden State Warriors have beaten the Oklahoma City Thunder and have forced a Game 6! The Western Conference Finals will continue in Oklahoma City on Saturday! I’ll have my final thoughts here shortly.
Warriors win!
Thunder 111-120 Warriors, FINAL
Westbrook misses a three. Draymond Green gets fouled, makes two more free throws. Thunder take a 20 second timeout, probably just to co-ordinate their plans to return to Oklahoma City for Game 6…. Oh and Morrow hits a crazy shot from 27 feet. Hahaha. About twenty seconds earlier in this game, that might have mattered. Thompson gets fouled, adds two more free throws to the final total and that will do it! The Warriors win!
Thunder 108-116 Warriors, :33, 4th quarter
And its dicey for the Warriors. Durant gets fouled shooting a three pointer, makes all three. Westbrook gets a steal and hits a shot to cut it down to 6 points and draws the foul. He misses the free throw, but geets the offensive rebound… which he gets to Kevin Durant who misses a three.
Barnes gets the rebound, gets the ball to Curry who is promptly fouled by Steven Adams. He calmly sinks down both free throws and the danger passes.
Thunder 103-114 Warriors, :50, 4th quarter
And there’s a technical foul on the Thunder. Curry makes the free throw.
Kevin Durant makes a dunk. Which is nice for him.
Klay Thompson gets fouled immediately, he makes both free throws.
Thunder 101-111 Warriors, 1:01, 4th quarter
CURRY WITH THE STEAL! AND MAYBE THE DAGGER! IT’S A 10 POINT LEAD WITH 61 seconds left!
Thunder 101-109 Warriors, 1:36, 4th quarter
Roberson fouls out of the game, which isn’t real a huge loss of OKC the game he’s been having. Curry gets on the line and makes both free throws. This one is not iced, not with this Thunder offense, but it’s getting close.
Thunder 101-107 Warriors, 2:04, 4th quarter
For instance, here’s Russell Westbrook on the line now and he… makes one of two. Not ideal for OKC here.
Thunder 100-107 Warriors, 2:55, 4th quarter
Bogut gets fouled, and makes one of two. There’s gonna be a lot more free throws here from here on out, everybody.
Thunder 100-106 Warriors, 3:57, 4th quarter
Ibaka… to Durant for the three! Man oh man, Ibaka’s playmaking is keeping the Thunder afloat and putting Warriors fans on edge.
Thankfully for them, Curry makes a layup and gets an “and one” on top of it.
And then Green fouls Durant. The clock stops and the Thunder cut the lead back down to six points courtesy of two freebies made by Durant.
Thunder 95-103 Warriors, 4:54, 4th quarter
Ibaka with a three! Yet again! Warriors can’t buy a basket on their end and then Durant gets on the line, he hits his first free throw. Warriors call a timeout. Lead is back down into single-digits.
And Durant hits the second free throw.
Thunder 90-103 Warriors, 5:41, 4th quarter
Ibaka with a three! The Thunder needed that!
But Thompson answers it with a three of his own. The Thunder needed that… not to happen. Westbrook hits a jumper, but…. now they’re getting into a matching buckets contest at the absolute wrong time.
But Curry misses a three. Andre Roberson fouls him and Curry makes two free throws to increase the Warriors lead.
Thunder 85-98 Warriors, 7:16, 4th quarter
The Warriors could use the clock to their advantage here. Oh, except Green gets called for a foul on Westbrook, so that stops the clock and gives Westbrook the chance to hit two points without any time coming off that clock.
Bogut hits a shot on the other end though.
Thunder 83-96 Warriors, 7:46, 4th quarter
Westbrook hits one falling away, nothing Thompson could do there.
Oh hey, there’s Speights again. He makes a layup AND the officials call a foul on the play. He makes the “and one.” He’s got 14 points on the night.
AND GREEN WITH A BLOCK ON WESTBROOK ON THE OTHER END!
Thunder 81-93 Warriors, 8:48, 4th quarter
Thompson is back in the game for Leandro Barbosa. Livingston is still in for Curry. And now Speights on the line. Mo Speights, mo’ buckets. He hits both.
Thunder 81-91 Warriors, 9:00, 4th quarter
Thunder are gonna hang around though. Westbrook cuts it down to a 10 point lead and the Warriors take a full timeout.
Thunder 79-91 Warriors, 9:37, 4th quarter
Durant makes it look easy with a 13-footer… but Livingston hits a degree of difficulty shot on the other end. The crowd is now getting LOUD here at Oracle. It feels like there’s been an exhale here
Thunder 77-89 Warriors, 10:33, 4th quarter
Well, the Thunder have been really good at regrouping after timeouts, maybe Billy Donovan knows what he’s doing in the NBA after all. Hey, look it’s Morrow back in the lineup. I say: run the offense through Morrow. Oh, and Ibaka is in for Kanter, after he was MIA to start the fourth defensively.
Livingston gets called for a foul, but Dion Waiters misses for Thunder. Livingston gets the rebound and Barnes gets the ball and he hits a three pointer! Double digit lead for Golden State!
Thunder 77-86 Warriors, 11:02, 4th quarter
Shaun Livingston with a two-pointer, Andre Iguodala with a three pointer and if the Warriors could just keep doing that, maybe they won’t have to worry about that last minute. Thunder call a timeout.
It really, really feels like the Thunder are just waiting around to steal this game. This has the feel of having a super-deflating ending for Golden State. The end of the third quarter feels like a preview for how the Warriors are going to let this game slip away in the final minutes.
Thunder 77-81 Warriors, end of the 3rd quarter
Ezeli’s on the line. He hits two free throws. Then Curry robs poor Randy Foye… Except the Warriors can’t cash it in on the other side of the ball.
Oh, and then Curry loses the ball, which leads to a Durant basket. And then Iguodala gets called for a foul with three seconds left in the quarter. Foye manages to get of a shot, but it’s blocked by Leandro Barbosa. That got really, really stupid there.
Thunder 75-79 Warriors, 1:16, 3rd quarter
And Durant instantly calms things down with a three pointer of his own. Warriors lead down to four points again.
Thunder 72-79 Warriors, 1:36, 3rd quarter
Well, not if Andre Iguodala has anything to say about it. He hits a layup, it’s a two possession game.
Make that a three possession game. Steph Curry hits a three-pointer!
Thunder 72-74 Warriors, 2:59, 3rd quarter
Festus Ezeli cameo! He makes a defensive rebound… but Curry misses a jumper. Westbrook hits a shot on the other end. It’s back to a 2 point game. Oh my stars, it’s going to be like this for the rest of the game, isn’t it?
Thunder 70-74 Warriors, 3:47, 3rd quarter
Oh hey, Draymond Green doing good things! He actually gets the ball into the net thingy!
But here comes Adams to cut the lead down to 2 points with a dunk, set up by Dion Waiters (who is also here, although he’s been flickering out of visibility).
And it’s Green again, with a rebound off of wayward Thompson three and a layup that forces the Thunder to call a 20 second timeout.
Thunder 68-69 Warriors, 5:52, 3rd quarter
The Warriors get a brief, brief, respite when Curry gives them a bread for all of 12 seconds. Westbrook responds with a three pointer that gives the Thunder a one-point lead.
But what’s this? Thompson gets fouled and gets the Warriors the lead back on the free throw line!
Tie game!
Thunder 65-65 Warriors, 6:20, 3rd quarter
Aaaaaaaand Durant’s shot falls in. Tied game. Inevitable.
Thunder 63-65 Warriors, 7:31, 3rd quarter
Aaand Adams hits a jumper out of the timeout.
Thunder 61-65 Warriors, 7:43, 3rd quarter
Lots of near misses on both sides before Westbrook with a killer crossover knocks down a shot from about 16 feet. Warriors respond with some beautiful moves of their own, Curry gets the ball to Thompson at the basket, who goes in for the layup.
Westbrook misses a three pointer, Green with the rebound… but Westbrook gets the steal and he gets fouled by Thompson. Thunder take a timeout.
Thunder 59-63 Warriors, 10:02, 3rd quarter
Curry with the ball, the Warriors desperately need something from him… and he delivers with a triple.
Thunder 59-63 Warriors, 10:02, 3rd quarter
Curry with the ball, the Warriors desperately need something from him… and he delivers with a triple.
Thunder 59-60 Warriors, 10:23, 3rd quarter
Oh hey, Ibaka makes a jumper and almost instantly the Warriors cushion is cut down to a single point. Yet again. Warriors take a timeout. HERE BE DRAGONS, Golden State.
Thunder 57-60 Warriors, 11:10, 3rd quarter
Bogut makes a layup to push back the Warriors lead. HOWEVER, Draymond Green has his blow up of the game. He gets called on a foul on Durant who will go to the line for three free throws, Green starts to make his case and gets pegged for a technic a foul. Durant makes the three free throws and the one technical.
Second half starts!
Thunder 53-58 Warriors, 11:26, 3rd quarter
Make that a five point lead for the Thunder as Ibaka starts off the second half with a three-pointer.
Death lineup update
Still have not entered the game. The Warriors are staying big, it’s working so far.
Important Anthony Morrow correction: He actually has seven points this game, I apparently gave Enes Kanter credit for a shot he hit at some point here. I say this mostly to emphasize the fact that the Warriors defense could very well allow Morrow to score in the double-digits this game.
Halftime thoughts
It feels like the Warriors should be up way more than 8 points. The Thunder have had a pretty disastrous first half offense-wise, yet they’ve continually cut the lead back down to single digits. They’ve been right there. All that’s holding them back is poor shot selection and that’s something they could easily adjust. Looks like we’re going to get a close one here. (Waits to see prediction go to heck.)
Your thought? As always you can shoot out an email (to Hunter.Felt@theguardian.com) or tweet them to @HunterFelt.
Halftime thoughts coming shortly!
End of the first half!
Thunder 50-58 Warriors, end of the first half
Oh boy it’s all happening here. Klay Thompson with a three pointer! And a steal… and a missed Green layup. Westbrook gets the ball and makes a shot! 6 point Thunder lead!
No make that 8 point Warriors lead, Bogut tips in a Curry miss! Durant misses a three on the other end! That’s the end of the first half! We have halftime
Thunder 48-53 Warriors, 1:32, 2nd quarter
Bogut blocks Westbrook... But it’s a foul! Westbrook on the line with a chance to chip into the Warriors lead. He makes the first.
Warriors take a 20 second timeout here. That’ll give me a chance to.... (whistle blows) misjudge how long 20 seconds is. Westbrook misses free throw number two.
Thunder 47-53 Warriors, 2:19, 2nd quarter
Warriors can’t keep control of the ball and Thompson gets called for a foul on the other end though. That puts Westbrook on the line. He hits two free throws.
Thunder 45-53 Warriors, 2:55, 2nd quarter
Lots of back and forth action here, with the officials letting things go. Iguodala finds Bogut for an all-Aussie bucket. Westbrook finds Durant for a Thunder response. Iggy finds Thompson… and then Iggy finds a Durant pass which he gets to Draymond Green, who finally makes a layup. Then there’s a dust up and the officials have to call something… and it’s a foul on Westbrook.
The Thunder take another timeout.
Thunder 43-47 Warriors, 4:43, 2nd quarter
Two quick scores by Durant and Westbrook cut it back to a 4 point lead just like that. Solid timeout there.
Thunder 39-47 Warriors, 5:24, 2nd quarter
Oh, THERE ARE THE WARRIORS. Klay Thompson starts the Warriors off with a basket to extend Golden State’s lead to four, but Westbrook immediately trims it to one point with a three.
Curry then makes his NEXT THREE SHOTS, and that’s 7 straight points in a blink of an eye. The Thunder take a timeout.
Thunder 36-38 Warriors, 8:53, 2nd quarter
Adams with a dunk. Warriors fans didn’t want to see that. Bogut responds with a dunk of his own.
Now it’s a duel. Adams with a layup AND gets fouled. He misses the free throw though.
Thunder 32-36 Warriors, 8:53, 2nd quarter
Mo Buckets. Speights hits a three pointer out of the timeout.
Thunder 32-33 Warriors, 9:03, 2nd quarter
Speights with another three point play gives the Warriors a bit of a cushion.
EXCEPT THAT MORROW HITS A THREE-POINTER. If the Warriors can’t contain Morrow, the one’s over tonight. They take a timeout.
Thunder 29-30 Warriors, 10:00, 2nd quarter
But the Thunder go on a run. Durant makes a three pointer.
Livingston knocks down a shot for the Warriors but Enes Kanter completes an old fashioned three point play of his own. Anthony Morrow (who?) then cuts the Golden State lead to one with a basket.
Thunder 21-28 Warriors, 11:19, 2nd quarter
It’s Marreese Speights who scores the first points of the second quarter, getting fouled in the process of a layup and nailing the “and one” free throw.
Thunder 21-25 Warriors, end of the 1st quarter
Thompson makes a layup. Foye responds with a shot of his own and then Durant cuts the Warriors lead down to four by making the last basket of the first quarter. Could have been worse for OKC.
Thunder 17-23 Warriors, 1:16, 1st quarter
Waiters foul Thompson, man the Thunder just keep putting the Warriors on the line. It doesn’t hurt them this time, Thompson misses both.
Finally, the Thunder get a guy on the line as Thompson fouls Durant, who makes two free throws.
Thunder 12-22 Warriors, 1:50, 1st quarter
Foye fouls Iguodala who misses the first free throw and makes the second.
Thunder 12-21 Warriors, 2:50, 1st quarter
OKC’s Randy Foye and Golden State’s Shaun Livingstone both make their first appearances as both teams go to their benches.
Klay Thompson gets to the line after being fouled, makes both free throws to expand the Warriors lead.
Not the best offensive start by the Thunder:
KD & Russ have both shot the ball completely over the backboard.
— Michael Lee (@MrMichaelLee) May 27, 2016
Thunder 12-19 Warriors, 3:29, 1st quarter
Green taps in a missed Curry layup. It’s a 9-0 Warriors run... that Kevin Durant promptly ends. The Warriors decide that’s a good time to take a timeout.
Thunder 10-17 Warriors, 4:22, 1st quarter
Thunder are shooting 21%, the Golden State defense is looking like its old self early on.
And Iguodala scores over Durant
Thunder 10-15 Warriors, 5:01, 1st quarter
Westbrook hits a three. Then an offensive foul on him takes away a basket for OKC. Curry assists Bogut on a basket and Golden State extend the lead. Not a bad mini-swing there.
Thunder 7-13 Warriors, 7:01, 1st quarter
Durant misses a jumper out of timeout. Roberson gets a rebound, misses a three. Green misses a three, Ibaka gets a rebound. Waiters misses a layup
This is the opposite of a clinic right here. This is an anti-clinic. Finally Thompson’s shot goes down.
Thunder 7-11 Warriors, 8:14, 1st quarter
And Curry adds to that lead and OKC take the first timeout of the game.
Thunder 7-9 Warriors, 8:45, 1st quarter
Andrew Bogut unties things with a basket of his own but Ibaka is awarded a layup after a defensive goaltending call on Green. His not-so-fun series continues.
But Thompson makes a shot and Westbrook makes a bad jumper, Warriors regain the lead.
Thunder 5-5 Warriors, 9:33, 1st quarter
Andre Roberson three-pointer ties things up!
But in less good news for the Thunder, Adams gets called for his second foul. Dion Waiters is in the game.
Thunder 2-5 Warriors, 9:42, 1st quarter
Steph Curry gets to the line for two free throws, the foul is on Andre Roberson.
Thunder 2-3 Warriors, 10:40, 1st quarter
Westbrook gets the rebound off of missed Klay Thompson three-pointer, gets the ball to Durant who gets the Thunder on the board.
Opening tip
Thunder 0-3 Warriors, 11:17, 1st quarter
Steph Curry gets the ball. He’s guarded by Westbrook, FYI. Draymond Green gets the ball to Harrison Barnes who hits a three pointer to get the scoring started.
Okay I’m this close to waxing poetically about the Wade/Shaq era Heat so THANKFULLY for all of you, we’re getting close to opening tip here.
Updated
.@HunterFelt As a Detroit fan I didn't find it as a boring as most people. End result aside.
— Neil Zimmerman (@victoryinmelb) May 27, 2016
THAT was a GREAT Eastern Conference Finals though. Heat/Pistons. I kinda would rather watch reruns of that than Game 6 tomorrow.
Oklahoma City Thunder starting lineup
Kevin Durant, F
Serge Ibaka, F
Steven Adams, C
Andre Roberson, G
Russell Westbrook, G
No changes for either team. Obviously, no real reason for the Thunder to change anything right now.
Golden State Warriors starting lineup
Harrison Barnes, F
Draymond Green, F
Andrew Bogut, C
Klay Thompson, G
Stephen Curry, G
Bill Simmons picking the Thunder NOW is so Bill Simmons.
— RUSS BENGT$ON (@russbengtson) May 27, 2016
Never mind, going to stick with the Warriors winning tonight. This seals it.
Russ & Ibaka pic.twitter.com/aq4NvHQh6O
— Steve Noah (@Steve_OS) May 27, 2016
Um. Is it too late to change my prediction?
.@HunterFelt These blowouts remind a little of the 2005 finals between Detroit and San Antonio, the first four games in particular.
— Neil Zimmerman (@victoryinmelb) May 27, 2016
Oh man I forgot about those first four games. Like I had blocked them out completely. I’m pretty sure that was a HUGE factor in the “Spurs are boring meme” of the 00s.
Russell Westbrook Fashion Update
Russell Westbrook wears all black to potential Warriors elimination game (video) https://t.co/kuCCk4f7FE
— Kurt Helin (@basketballtalk) May 27, 2016
Okay I guess that’s bulletin board material maybe? But maybe he’s just in his goth phase after his punk rock phase?
Russell Westbrook arrives in #NBAStyle for Game 2! pic.twitter.com/ZMfDcnEfV1
— NBA.com (@NBAcom) May 2, 2016
Craig Sager Alert
Two of my favorite people, TNT legend Craig Sager and Hall of Famer Bill Walton, before tipoff at Oracle Arena pic.twitter.com/s27oYJl0Qo
— Ailene Voisin (@ailene_voisin) May 26, 2016
It’s been absolutely great seeing Sager keep working this series despite his cancer diagnosis. There’s few people more liked and well-regarded in the industry.
Predictions
Okay, I know that I said last time that there’s no way that the Warriors lose Game 4. Obviously, that proved to be the exactly the opposite of what went down. This time around, I’m convinced that while the Warriors probably lose this series, they can’t lose it like this… can they? Warriors, by double-digits. That’s the hill I’m dying on.
You’ve got a different take? Honestly, that’s probably the go to move here considering my predictions of late. Send them off here via email (to Hunter.Felt@theguardian.com) or via Twitter (@HunterFelt). We’ll include them here.
Eastern Conference Finals
Okay, do we really have to talk about the Eastern Conference Finals? The Cleveland Cavaliers utterly destroyed the Toronto Raptors at home, the final score was 116-78. No, I was quite okay with not liveblogging that particular game. This was a game after the Raptors pulled off back-to-back wins to tie the series up.
It fees like the Eastern Conference Finals is going to be the first seven game series that’s nothing but uninteresting home court wins. Game 4 got interesting in the end but you have not been hallucinating, there’s also been a lot of blowouts these last few weeks and its honestly hurting the sport. This should feel a lot more exciting than it does. So, yeah Game 6 is at Oklahoma City, so expect the Thunder to win it and push things to the most anti-climactic Game 7 in Conference Finals history.
Preamble
Okay. I’ll be the first admit that I wasn’t expecting the Golden State Warriors to be facing an elimination game. Not just this early, but during any point during this postseason. I certainly didn’t see them dropping two games in a row because, well, until Tuesday they hadn’t done it a single time this entire season.
I absolutely didn’t expect them to play as terribly as they did on Tuesday’s Game 4 where the Oklahoma City Thunder absolutely had their way with them. It’s certainly not surprising that Oklahoma City are good, but not even they could have expected to be this good. Kevin Durant and Russell Westbrook are playing at the top of their abilities, which is a frightening proposition for any team, even Golden State. Plus, Serge Ibaka is actually an offensive factor and not a disappointment to be frowned upon. Dion Waiters is making good decisions off the bench. ANDRE ROBERSON IS IN THE STARTING LINEUP ON A TEAM A WIN AWAY FROM THE FINALS. No, I don’t understand what’s going on here either.
I especially don’t understand how exactly Draymond Green started to become a net negative for the Warriors almost immediately after the Groin Kick That Changed Everything. Golden State has looked nothing like the team that apparently broken the entire sport just a few weeks ago when they had set the best win-loss record in NBA history. It’s to the point where we’re all coming up with conspiracy theories to explain Steph Curry’s suddenly cold shooting (this is all elaborate promo for “Space Jam 2,” the work of the dastardly Monstars, that’s the one I just invented. Warner Brothers and Nike pull all the strings in the NBA.)
So, will the Thunder provide a shockingly early end the Warriors’ magical season or will Golden State regroup here at home and extend there season by at least one more game? Follow along with us tonight! Also: Hey you can contribute to the liveblog too! Just tweet at us (or to @HunterFelt, specifically) or email us if you’re into that “more than 140 characters” thing (you can email Hunter.Felt@theguardian.com). It’s the Oklahoma City Thunder vs the Golden State Warriors at Oracle Arena for Game 5 of the Western Conference Finals. Opening tip will be sometime after 9pm EST, but we’ll be back to bug you way before then when predictions, starting lineups and maybe even some stuff about that other playoff series going on (spoiler alert: it hasn’t been all that exciting).
Hunter will be here shortly, in the meantime here’s Les Carpenter on Steph Curry’s recent struggles:
On the afternoon before the Western Conference finals began Steph Curry was in the Golden State Warriors downtown Oakland practice facility doing what he does after every session has finished. Shooting jump shots. Up went the dancing one-foot three-pointers. Up went the fadeaways from 26 feet. Up went the shot from just inside half-court.
To those watching on the side it was just Curry being Curry; the NBA’s first unanimous MVP playing his usual games of Basketball Golf and Beat the Ogre – vanquishing imaginary foes before retreating to the shower. His head bobbed. His feet danced. His wrists flicked. And the ball kept flying through the basket in gentle splashes of leather against net.
“The only bad thing about today is that Steph made 82 instead of 90 [out of 100 shots], the Warriors shooting coach, Bruce Fraser, later said, rolling his eyes.
