Even as Oklahoma City stumbles into the All-Star break, Kevin Durant insists it’s far too soon for the Thunder to worry. That, says Durant, would only complicate things.
“We can’t panic at all,” said Durant after scoring 29 points in a 100-94 loss to the Golden State Warriors on Sunday night. “If we do that, then that’s when we’ll really start to go downhill. We have to keep it positive, continue to keep working every day and learn from our mistakes.”
The Thunder made plenty of mistakes against the Warriors, a growing concern for a team that went into the night as the No. 3 seed in the Western Conference behind the Spurs and Lakers.
Five days after an overtime home loss to Memphis and one night after having to hold off lowly Sacramento 99-97, Oklahoma City committed 20 turnovers, had only two offensive rebounds to 20 for Golden State and were outscored in the paint 44-28.
That wound up being the difference as the Warriors led the entire fourth quarter and responded nicely following their 24-point loss to Phoenix on Thursday.
“We knew we had to rebound … to have a chance,” Golden State coach Keith Smart said. “We couldn’t give up second-chance points. Our guys did a great job of going to the glass early.”
Monta Ellis had 32 points, David Lee added 23 points and a season-high 19 rebounds and Stephen Curry scored 23 points and had a season-high 13 assists to lead the Warriors to their sixth win in seven games.
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Oklahoma City, the NBA’s fifth highest-scoring team going in, failed to reach 100 points for the second consecutive night after hitting triple digits in its previous seven games.
The Thunder’s 20 turnovers, three shy of their season-high, led to 20 points for the Warriors.
