Warriors bully Thunder in testy 111-95 victory at Oklahoma City

OKLAHOMA CITY - Klay Thompson scored 34 points to help the Golden State Warriors beat the Oklahoma City Thunder 111-95 on Monday night in a heated matchup filled with trash talking, physical play and technical fouls.

It was Golden State’s second visit to Oklahoma City since former Thunder star Kevin Durant signed a free agent contract with the rival Warriors last summer. Durant has been out since February with a left knee injury and sat on the bench with his team.

Even with Durant out, the negative energy from the first meeting was still there. Stephen Curry exchanged shoves with Oklahoma City’s Semaj Christon just before halftime, and both were issued technical fouls. Oklahoma City’s Russell Westbrook and Golden State’s Draymond Green also got technical for their roles in the skirmish.

The Warriors were overpowering in this one, leading by as many as 27 points while completing a sweep of the four-game season series.

Curry scored 23 points for the Warriors, who won their fourth in a row and halted Oklahoma City’s win streak at five games.

Westbrook scored 47 points the last time the teams met in Oklahoma City.

This time, he had 15 points on 4-of-16 shooting.

The Warriors took control in the second quarter, outscoring the Thunder 34-17 to go up 20 at the break.

Westbrook scored eight points in just over three minutes at the start of the third quarter to help the Thunder trim Golden State’s lead to 12, but the Warriors bounced back and pushed their lead to 78-55 with just under five minutes left in the period. Westbrook didn’t score again after his early third quarter surge.

WARRIORS TO CHINA

The Warriors and Minnesota Timberwolves will play two preseason games in China in October.

The league said Monday the games will be in Shenzhen on Oct. 5 and Shanghai on Oct. 8 as part of the NBA’s Global Games China series.

The Warriors are an excellent draw and should help the league in its effort to further grow the game in China, where basketball already enjoys great popularity.

The Timberwolves feature young, marketable stars in Karl-Anthony Towns, Andrew Wiggins and Zach LaVine, a group that has made summer trips to China.

The team also has the NBA’s first Chinese minority owner. Shanghai sports marketing executive Lizhang Jiang joined Wolves owner Glen Taylor’s ownership group last summer.

KERR RAPS REPORT

ESPN released a late Sunday night report claiming that the Warriors were “furious” and “bewildered” by the Thunder organization’s treatment of Kevin Durant during his initial Oklahoma City homecoming, citing sources within the organization that felt “someone from (Thunder) ownership or management should have addressed the media on Durant’s behalf to help ease the tension upon his return.”

Speaking after Golden State’s Monday morning shootaround in OKC, Steve Kerr disputed the report.

“I don’t agree,” Kerr said. “(Thunder GM) Sam Presti’s a friend of mine. I know (Thunder owner) Clay Bennett. It’s a class organization all the way, so I don’t really pay any attention to a story like that unless there’s an actual name that’s put on it. I assume it’s just sources. Is it ‘sources’? I don’t know who that is. It’s nobody with the Warriors. We have great respect for them.Sam’s been a friend of mine forever. They’re first-class, so I don’t know where that comes from.”

NOTES

Curry hit a 3-pointer at the end of the first half just after the shoving skirmish and ran down the tunnel to the locker room with the Warriors up 59-39.

Green’s technical was his 13th of the season.

Matt Barnes was called for a flagrant foul in the third quarter.

Westbrook’s technical was his 15th of the season. He’ll be suspended for a game if he gets another.

It was the first loss for the Thunder with Taj Gibson as a starter.