Defending champion Warriors stave off elimination

OAKLAND - Stephen Curry got hot. Draymond Green played with abandon. Andrew Bogut swatted shots in the paint, and the home team picked up loose balls and outran the opponent.

In other words, the Warriors became the Warriors again, and not a moment too soon.

The defending NBA champions dipped into their pool of resolve, sorted out some of the issues that had vexed them in Oklahoma City and upended the Thunder 120-111 Oracle Arena, cutting their deficit in the Western Conference Finals to 3-2.

Now comes the hard part, of course. The Warriors must return to Chesapeake Energy Arena, where they were destroyed in Games 3 and 4, and steal a victory on the road. Golden State is attempting to become just the 10th NBA team to fight back from a 3-1 deficit to win a best-of-seven postseason series. It’s a huge order, but at least they’re alive and presented with the opportunity.

“We played like we were really stressed in OKC and it showed,” said Curry, who led the Warriors with 31 points in Game 5. “Kind of let loose (Thursday), be ourselves, have fun, enjoy what we were doing. It was a good feeling out there to obviously perform at a high level. So got to bottle up that joy and take it with us on the plane (Friday) to OKC and be ready on Saturday.”

It won’t be easy. Heck, this one wasn’t easy. Every time the Warriors gained a little cushion, the relentless Thunder made a counterattack. Golden State went up by 10 late in the first quarter. Oklahoma City cut it to one just a couple minutes into the second. The Warriors pushed their advantage to eight at halftime; the Thunder made a charge and got their first lead, 68-67, at 6:06 of the third quarter.

After three quarters the Warriors were up 81-77. And they made an important 8-0 run to start the fourth, keyed by the second team.

“That was a huge moment to keep the momentum on our side,” Curry said. “In OKC, those are the kind of moments that can decide a game when you’re closing in, or maybe on a comeback, or have a small lead and you can try to create separation. You have to keep attacking, and every lineup has to do their job.”

The Warriors pushed it to 103-90 with 5:26 left, and still the Thunder weren’t done. Less than a minute later, after they kicked it around the arc and Kevin Durant swished a 3-pointer, the score was 103-98. Finally the Warriors stiffened and closed out the win.

“I liked our will, I liked our fight,” coach Steve Kerr said. “We were embarrassed in OKC the last couple games. We fought hard tonight, and that’s half the battle. It’s just competing and fighting. I thought the Thunder played extremely hard and very well. We had to play a good game to fend them off, and we did.”

Effort might be half the battle, but it was the other half that carried the Warriors on Thursday. In Oklahoma City, the Thunder killed Golden State on the boards; in Game 5, the rebounding was dead even at 45 each. At OKC, it was the Thunder who got all the free throws; in Oakland, the Warriors shot 34 (and made 31) while Oklahoma City shot 24 (making 20).

Most of all, the turnovers told a much different story. They were the Warriors’ downfall on the road in Games 3 and 4. The champions looked harried and uncertain in those games, and Durant and his long-limbed teammates seemed to get a finger on every other pass.

The Warriors weren’t perfect with the ball Thursday. But they had fewer turnovers (15) than the Thunder (17) and, more important, until late in the game not many of them resulted in fast-break points for OKC.

Golden State’s stars stepped up, too.

It took Curry a while to heat up - he had just four points in the first quarter - but he keyed a 7-0 run late in the second. His 3-pointer at the 5:59 mark of the second quarter finally got the crowd enlivened. And a moment later he raced past guard Dion Waiters and center Steven Adams for an aggressive layup to give the Warriors a 47-39 lead.

The Warriors were much steadier in this game, and one of the big reasons was Bogut. The Aussie 7-footer had been plagued by fouls through the first four games of the series, and hadn’t really asserted himself against Oklahoma City center Adams. “He’s got to be smarter with his fouls,” Kerr said of Bogut on Wednesday. “We need him out there.”

Bogut responded with a huge game. He scored 15 points, grabbed 14 rebounds and influenced shots in the paint. He didn’t pick up his first foul until 1:33 remained in the half.

“I thought Boges was phenomenal,” Kerr said. “He rebounded, he scored, he was aggressive. … Obviously, rebounding has been an issue. It’s an issue for everybody against Oklahoma City. So when he can play and rebound the ball like that, it just gives us a much better chance to win the game.”

Green was much improved, too. He scored just 11 points but grabbed 13 rebounds and blocked four shots, woofing at the Thunder every time he did.

Green remains an unpredictable force on the court, though. With two flagrant fouls in the playoffs, he was already one flagrant short of a suspension. And now he’s two technical fouls away from a similar punishment. He was hit with a late foul on Durant early in the third quarter, and was slapped with a technical for being too demonstrative after the call. It only made him better.

“After that it was just like, all right, if I’m gonna try not to get a tech and I’m going to still get a tech, then I’m just going to be me,” Green said. “I’m not going to worry about all the rest of the stuff that’s going on. I’m not going to worry about trying to be sensitive to this or sensitive to that.”

Klay Thompson scored 27 points for Golden State and Marreese Speights had an important 14 off the bench. Durant (40 points) and Russell Westbrook (31) continued to control the offense for Oklahoma City.

All of them will ready to tee it up again Saturday - and who knows, maybe even in a decisive Game 7 on Monday if the Warriors can win on the road.

“I mean, none of us want to go home,” Thompson said. “We’re having too much fun out there.”

And so are the viewers.

You can reach Press Democrat staff writer Phil Barber at ?phil.barber@pressdemocrat.com. ?On Twitter: @Skinny_Post.