The Oklahoma City Thunder have a new weapon to unleash when they try to avenge a loss to the Golden State Warriors in a meeting between two Western Conference powerhouses on Wednesday night in San Francisco.
Stephen Curry hit seven 3-pointers to account for the majority of his 36 points when the Warriors found some extra energy at the end of a five-game road trip to thump the host Thunder 127-116 earlier this month.
Two things figure to be different about the rematch 17 days later.
Making his first start as a Warrior, De’Anthony Melton contributed 19 points and 10 rebounds, but Melton suffered a knee injury in his next game and likely won’t play again this season.
Meanwhile, the Thunder were playing their 10th game of 15 consecutive without big man Isaiah Hartenstein, a key offseason acquisition who began the season with a broken left hand. He made his Oklahoma City debut on Nov. 20 against the Portland Trail Blazers and has recorded double-doubles in a pair of Thunder wins, averaging 15.0 points and 12.0 rebounds.
The emergence of Hartenstein is a welcome addition for the Thunder, who are currently without Chet Holmgren, out with a pelvic fracture that occurred just over five minutes into the earlier Golden State game.
“We knew as a group and the world kinda knew there was a hole in us as a team last year,” Oklahoma City star Shai Gilgeous-Alexander said of the need for a powerful interior force to complement the young Holmgren. “I think Isaiah fills that hole very well. (General manager) Sam (Presti) did a good job filling it.”
Gilgeous-Alexander (65 points) and Jalen Williams (58) have joined with Hartenstein to lead the way during the two-game winning streak. They totaled only 44 points in the loss to the Warriors back on Nov. 10.
Golden State enters Wednesday saddled with its first losing streak of the season. The Warriors blew a 17-point lead in a 104-94 loss against the San Antonio Spurs on Saturday, then watched an 18-point advantage slip away in a 128-120 home defeat at the hands of the Brooklyn Nets on Monday.
The Warriors haven’t won since clinching a quarterfinal berth in the NBA Cup with a win over the New Orleans Pelicans on Friday.
Golden State coach Steve Kerr acknowledged after Monday’s loss that his team could use a break, one it will get when getting Thanksgiving and Friday off before a short trip to Phoenix on Saturday.
“It’s just, you can feel it,” Kerr said. “You can tell we had a lot more energy a couple weeks ago, so maybe it’s just the schedule catching up to us a little bit. We know we got to find that energy again.”
Both teams could be without key reserves for Wednesday’s game. The Thunder’s Alex Caruso has already been ruled out due to an ailing hip, while the Warriors’ Jonathan Kuminga is questionable because of an illness.
