Coming off a nice victory over the Portland Trailblazers in their last time out, the Golden State Warriors will face another tough test at Oracle as the Western Conference leading Oklahoma City Thunder come to town Friday night.
This will be the stoutest test out of the West the Warriors (6-11) have faced thus far, and having won only one game agains the West all season, this will be a nice litmus test for the W’s as the Thunder (15-3) begin a three-game roadie in Oakland.
Stephen Curry awoke for a season-high 32 against the Blazers on Wednesday, while averaging 30.5 in the last meetings with KD and Co. Not to be outdone, Durant has averaged 30.9 average in 14 career meetings with Golden State is his second best against any team.
Durant dropped 39 points to lead Oklahoma City to a 115-114 overtime win in last March 29, with a pair Russell Westbrook’s free throws with 11 seconds to ice it.
One matchup to keep an eye on is Russell Westbrook vs. Monta Ellis. Ellis played the facilitator role against Portland and it seemed to work, but the W’s will likely need more offense from him tonight if they want to get a W, while (likely along with Curry) will have the task of trying to slow Westbrook down defensively as well. Westbrook went 4-14 from the field along with a season high-tying seven turnovers in in last game, so he likely will want to hav a rebound game tonight.
One item of note, The W’s have won 3 of the last 4 at home against Oklahoma City.
Tip-off is set for 7:30 pm PT with coverage on NBA TV.
For more on the W’s head over to Golden State of Mind.