Thunder vs. Warriors takeaways: OKC falters late as Jordan Poole rallies Golden State

SAN FRANCISCO — The Thunder led the Warriors for the first 39 minutes and 30 seconds of the game Tuesday night before things unraveled for the young Thunder.

Warriors guard Jordan Poole went nuclear. Thunder coach Mark Daigneault went nuclear on the referees (more on that later).

Golden State beat Oklahoma City 136-125 thanks to a fourth-quarter rout.

The Warriors outscored the Thunder 34-19 in the final frame. Heck, Poole almost outscored the Thunder by himself. Poole scored 18 of his 30 points in 10 fourth-quarter minutes. A Poole 3-pointer tied the game with 10 minutes left, and a Poole free throw gave the Warriors their first lead of the game.

“We weren’t quite on point there,” Daigneault said of the Thunder’s fourth-quarter defense, “but I thought our competitiveness and our poise was there tonight. I just thought the execution on the defensive end wasn’t great.”

The Thunder (38-42) has lost four of its last five and has a half-game lead on the Mavericks (37-42) for the last West play-in spot.

“These types of games are great for us,” Thunder guard Josh Giddey said. “(The Warriors) are playing for position, we’re playing to try and keep our season going and we understand what’s at stake.”

The Thunder can finish no higher than 10th, which means an elimination game on the road for the Thunder if it makes the play-in. According to playoffstatus.com, the Thunder has a 66% chance of making the play-in at No. 10, and a 34% chance of missing the play-in.

OKC has two games left: Thursday at Utah and Sunday vs. Memphis. OKC’s magic number is two. It can clinch the No. 10 spot with two wins, or any combination of Thunder wins/Mavericks losses that add up to two.

Dallas has three games left, all at home: vs. Sacramento on Wednesday, vs. Chicago on Friday and vs. San Antonio on Sunday.

“It’s awesome,” Daigneault said of being in this meaningful position. “You look out on the court, you’ve got rookie players, you’ve got second-and third-year guys. Everybody at this point is playing the most minutes they’ve ever played in an NBA season, for the most part, and having to grind through in games that have some weight, not only for us, but for our opponents.

“These are games where we’re getting peoples’ best shot. I thought we got their best shot tonight, and that’s great for our growth. I love it for our guys.”

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Officials admit error on dead ball blunder

When the Thunder threw the ball out of bounds with 6:05 left in the game, a turnover that resulted in a dead ball, Thunder guard Jalen Williams was at the scorer’s table ready to check in.

Warriors forward Draymond Green, sensing the oncoming substitution, rushed a referee into giving him the ball for the inbounds pass. The Warriors basically quick-pitched the Thunder, with J-Dub raising his hands in disbelief.

The Warriors’ possession ended in an easy layup, with one of the Thunder’s best defenders in Williams still standing at the scorer’s table.

Daigneault went berserk.

Daigneault called timeout and chewed out the three officials — Courtney Kirkland, Karl Lane and Nate Green — one by one. At one point, Daigneault had to be held back by assistant coach Mike Wilks and a team security guard.

Daigneault was assessed a technical. At the time, the Warriors led by three points, and the technical free throw increased their lead to four. Golden State cruised from there.

“When there’s a dead ball like that, the official has discretion on how quickly to inbound the ball,” Daigneault said after the game. “Players in the league, (Draymond) Green was the inbounder there, have figured that out, and they go over there and compel the official, basically like, ‘Give me the ball, give me the ball.’ And with some players in the NBA, clearly Green being one of them, they just throw the ball in.”

Daigneault likened the blunder to “an umpire walking a guy on three pitches.”

“And now I have to call a timeout to get the sub in,” Daigneault said. “They scored on the ensuing possession, I was getting one of our better defenders in the game, and I get a technical. That oversight by them cost us three points and a timeout.”

The officials owned up to the mistake.

“We did not recognize that Jalen Williams was at the scorer’s table when the ball went out of bounds,” Kirkland, the crew chief, said in a pool report. “Because he was at the scorer’s table he should have been allowed to come into the game, but we did not recognize that he was there. It was our error, and he should have been allowed to enter the game.”

Daigneault said the Thunder tried to pull a similar stunt on a third quarter out of bounds play.

“Lu Dort’s the inbounder, same official, Lu Dort’s begging for the ball, doesn’t give it to him,” Daigneault said. “Same situation. That’s why I lost my mind, because that’s in front of our bench and that to me is something that we feel regularly as the youngest team in the league, but that (Warriors) one, for a sub to be up and for the ball to be inbounded so quickly that they don’t see the sub, I was beside myself on that, obviously.

“With that being said, credit to Golden State. It’s not what lost the game.”

High flying first half

Jalen Williams passed to Jaylin Williams, who passed back to Jalen Williams, who drained a 3-pointer to beat the second-quarter buzzer.

The Thunder jogged off the court with a 79-69 lead.

It tied OKC’s highest-scoring half of the season. The Thunder shot 60% from the floor, including 57% (8-of-14) from 3-point range.

The Thunder withstood a 24-point first half from Steph Curry, who went 4-of-8 from 3-point range. The Warriors shot 11-of-22 from three in the first half and still trailed by 10 points.

Through two quarters, Curry was the only Warrior in double digits. Meanwhile, four Thunder players were in double digits, led by Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, who scored 21 first-half points on 7-of-10 shooting.

Jalen Williams and Isaiah Joe had 14 points in the first half. Lu Dort had 11 points.

SGA, Steph Curry superstar showcase

SGA crossed over Warriors center Kevon Looney in the second quarter and drained a stepback jumper. Gilgeous-Alexander drew “how did he do that?” murmurs from the Warriors crowd.

SGA had a lot of those moments Tuesday night.

So did Stephen Curry.

Gilgeous-Alexander and Curry, two players with entirely different offensive games, put on a stunning show for the Chase Center crowd.

The two players combined for 45 points in the first half on 16-of-26 shooting.

Heck, SGA even did his best Curry impression — at least for a moment. Gilgeous-Alexander shot 2-of-2 from 3-point range in the first quarter. It was just the second time this season that SGA made two or more 3-pointers in a quarter.

Curry averages 12 3-point attempts per game. Gilgeous-Alexander averages 2.5.

Curry drew a charge against SGA at the eight-minute mark in the third quarter. It was SGA’s fourth foul of the game, but he stayed in.

Curry scored a game-high 34 points on 11-of-25 shooting. He shot 6-of-13 from 3-point range. Curry had six assists and five rebounds.

Gilgeous-Alexander led the Thunder with 32 points on 11-of-17 shooting. He had seven assists and five rebounds.

“We were aggressive, weren’t scared, we were confident,” SGA said after the game. “I think we were just ourselves and I think that’s what you try to get done in a pressure situation — just try to be who you are and not stray.”

Ousmane Dieng gets physical

Ousmane Dieng, at least for now, has emerged as the Thunder’s ninth man.

The rookie forward logged eight solid minutes Tuesday night.

Dieng drove and finished an and-one layup in the second quarter. The Warriors unsuccessfully challenged the call.

“He continues to get better,” Daigneault said. “He continues to get more comfortable. I thought he was in his spots defensively.

“It’s a great environment, both where we are in the season and also on the road against a team like Golden State, not only for him, but for everybody.”

Thunder tip-ins

- Mark Daigneault watched the national title game Monday night as his UConn Huskies beat San Diego State. Daigneault was a student manager at UConn from 2003-07. The Huskies won the national title in Daigneault’s freshman year. “To win every game in the tournament by double digits is so hard,” Daigneault said. “I haven’t been there in a while, but I’ve been there enough to know how hard it is in that tournament to play that well.”

- Warriors guard Klay Thompson (lower back soreness) was ruled out a half-hour before tip-off.

- Aleksej Pokusevski (left knee contusion) was a late scratch for the Thunder.

- Andrew Wiggins has returned to the Warriors after missing the last 21 games due to personal reasons. Wiggins didn’t suit up against the Thunder, but it looks like the Warriors will have him back for the postseason.

- The Thunder hasn’t won in San Francisco since Nov. 25, 2019 — a losing streak of five games at the Warriors.

- The Warriors improved to 33-8 at home. The Warriors are 9-30 on the road. Only the Rockets and Spurs have a worse road record among West teams. “You have to take them extremely seriously at home,” Daigneault said. “They’re a great home team. They have been for years.”

- The Warriors won the season series 3-1.

- Lu Dort scored the first bucket of the game, a driving layup through contact. Dort finished better at the rim, an area of his game that’s been lacking. He finished with 17 points.

- Isaiah Joe led the Thunder’s bench with 14 points and five rebounds. He shot 2-of-3 from behind the arc.

- Rookie guard Jalen Williams had 19 points on 50% shooting.

- Guard Josh Giddey had 15 points, six rebounds and five assists.

- A Jaylin Williams 3-pointer put the Thunder up 17-9 in the first quarter. Steve Kerr called timeout. All five Thunder starters were already on the scoreboard.

- SGA picked up his third foul four minutes before halftime. He picked up his fourth foul early in the third quarter. He still played 34 minutes, though.

- Jaylin Williams drew his 41st charge in his 48th game. No other player in the NBA has drawn more than 30 charges.

- Thunder forward Dario Saric was whistled for a technical after the third-quarter buzzer. OKC led by four going into the fourth, but the Warriors slashed the lead to three after the technical free throw.

- Mark Daigneault emptied his bench with the Thunder down 13 points. Jared Butler, Tre Mann and Olivier Sarr played the final three minutes.

- Golden State outrebounded OKC 54-38. The Warriors had 19 offensive rebounds, which led to a 25-9 Warriors advantage in second-chance points.

- The Thunder shot 3-of-18 from three in the second half.

NBA Western Conference playoff picture

The top six teams advance to NBA Playoffs, while the seventh- through 10th-place teams advance to a play-in tournament. The winner of the No. 7-vs.-No. 8 game will be the No. 7 seed in the playoff. The winner of the No. 9-vs.-No. 10 game will face the 7-8 loser for the No. 8 seed.

Standings after games played on Tuesday, April 4:

1. y-Denver Nuggets (52-27)

2. y-Memphis Grizzlies (50-29)

3. y-Sacramento Kings (48-31)

4. x-Phoenix Suns (44-35)

5. Golden State Warriors (42-38)

6. Los Angeles Clippers (41-38)

7. Los Angeles Lakers (41-38) -- Clippers own tiebreaker based on head-to-head record

8. New Orleans Pelicans (40-39)

9. Minnesota Timberwolves (40-40)

10. Oklahoma City Thunder (38-42)

11. Dallas Mavericks (37-42)

12. Utah Jazz (36-43)

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This article originally appeared on Oklahoman: OKC Thunder falters late vs. Jordan Poole, Golden State Warriors