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Warriors Too Much For Thunder

The Warriors stretched their winning streak to four games with a 111-95 road victory over the Oklahoma City Thunder on Monday night. Klay Thompson and Stephen Curry combined for a scintillating shooting display, leading all scorers with 34 and 23 points, respectively. Both Splash Brothers notched seven three-pointers apiece, marking the third time in their careers that they’ve done so in the same game. With the victory, Golden State improves to 56-14 on the season.

GAME LEADERS

Monday’s matchup between the Warriors and Thunder in Oklahoma City represented their fourth and final meeting of the 2016-17 regular season. Golden State had won each of the previous three encounters by at least 16 points, and by the time Monday’s contest was over, they’d secure their fourth such victory.

Stephen Curry sank a three-pointer on his first shot attempt of the night and would go on to score Golden State’s first eight points of the game. After a Zaza Pachulia score, Curry would convert another trey to give the Warriors an early 13-12 lead before handing the reins over to his backcourt mate for another individual scoring burst. Klay Thompson would single-handedly go on a 6-0 run to extend the advantage to 19-14, which Golden State would build to 25-22 at the end of the first quarter.

Samaj Christon converted a three-pointer 37 seconds into the second frame to tie the score, but Draymond Green split free throws on the ensuing possession and the Warriors would go on to lead for the remainder of the night. Russell Westbrook scored three-straight points to pull the Thunder within 35-29 with exactly seven minutes remaining in the first half, but Thompson responded with a three-pointer on the next possession to ignite a 7-0 Golden State burst that would push the lead into double-digits for the rest of the contest. After the Dubs had built an advantage as large as 19 points, Oklahoma City cut it by two in the final minute, but things unraveled for the Thunder just prior to the halftime buzzer. Andre Iguodala blocked Taj Gibson’s shot with five seconds remaining to force a jump ball, which Thompson would eventually retain possession of before finding a wide-open Curry on the other end of the court, who promptly drained a buzzer-beating three-pointer before running into the locker room in celebration.

After Thompson increased Golden State’s advantage to 64-43 with another three-pointer at the 10:43 mark, Oklahoma City ripped off nine-straight points to make it a 12-point game, but they’d get no closer. After the two sides alternated 5-0 runs, Thompson followed Curry’s three-pointer with another two of his own in succession to snuff out the Thunder’s momentum and put the game out of reach.

Curry, just as he had at the end of the second, sank his seventh and final three-pointer of the night with one second left in the third quarter to give the Warriors a commanding 92-66 lead into the fourth and final frame.

After winning their previous two games by 30 and 25 points, respectively, Steve Kerr was able to rest Curry for the entire duration of the fourth quarter for the third consecutive game. Golden State would take their largest lead of the night on Matt Barnes’ driving layup at the 9:03 mark that made the score 98-71. The Dubs would match that advantage three more times through the remainder of the contest, as the reserves finished off the eventual 111-95 victory.

With the win, Golden State sweeps the season series with Oklahoma City and improves to 56-14 on the season. Next up, they’ll travel to Dallas to face the Mavericks on Tuesday night in the second game of a road back-to-back sequence.