The Warriors’ overtime loss to the Oklahoma City Thunder on Friday night comes down to one big number: 29 turnovers.
Those 29 turnovers are not only a single-game season-high by five, not only an all-time high in the Steve Kerr era by three, but the most any Golden State team has committed in a single game since the organizational dark days, Feb. 2002 against the Denver Nuggets, according to Elias Sports Bureau.
Oklahoma City scored 35 points off those 29 turnovers, helping them take the reins of a game the Warriors had some control of otherwise down the stretch. Steph Curry’s go-ahead 3-pointer over Lu Dort’s head with 18 seconds remaining should have been game. But Draymond Green’s foul-up-three on Chet Holmgren beyond the arc was a split second too late as the Thunder center was rewarded, and sunk, three free throws to send the game into overtime.
“I (expletive) that off,” Green told reporters in Oklahoma City. “That’s a mistake a young guy should make, not a guy in his 12th year.”
Shai Gilgeous-Alexander took over and the Warriors lost 138-136, moving to 10-12 on the year still committing coach Steve Kerr’s cardinal sin.
“We have enough to win a championship. I believe that,” Kerr told reporters in Oklahoma City. “But if we are just going to throw the ball to the other team and foul over and over, then we’re going to lose.”
Like snowflakes, no Warriors turnover is the same. Some are pure sloppiness and offensive fouls, but against the Thunder, most seemed a product of the motion offense. A long and quick Thunder team were all over the Warriors’ favorite passing lanes, disrupting cuts and cross-court passes.
Cory Joseph was the only Warrior without a turnover and eight of the 10 Warriors who saw the court had at least one turnover. Andrew Wiggins had six, Klay Thompson and Green had four each — the latter two mainly committed their turnovers off passes disrupted by Thunder defense.
With that, the Warriors dropped their fifth straight road game, not having won away from home since Nov. 6 against the Detroit Pistons. They’re also 0-2 in overtime games, both coming against the Thunder. In the previous against OT loss, Kerr decided against fouling up three and Holmgren hit the game-tying 3 in the final second of regulation.
On Friday, Curry finished with a team-high 34 points shooting 10-of-20 from the field and 6-of-12 from 3. Jonathan Kuminga played 29 minutes off the bench and played nearly the entire fourth quarter and most of overtime until he fouled out late. He had had 24 points and 12 rebounds. Klay Thompson had a strong scoring night, shooting 8-for-15 and 4-for-9 from 3 with 22 points.
Chris Paul, known to limit the turnovers, missed Friday’s game with an undisclosed illness. The Warriors’ road trip moves to Phoenix where they’ll take on old friend Kevin Durant and the Suns on Tuesday. Then they’ll take on the Clippers for a third time in two weeks on Thursday in Los Angeles.