Thunder @ Golden State Warriors preview (Game 22 of 82)

  • Oklahoma City Thunder (20-1, 1st in the West) @ Golden State Warriors (11-10, 8th in the West)
  • When: Tuesday, 02 December 2025 at 10:00pm CST
  • Where: Chase Center, San Francisco, CA
  • Offensive Rating: GSW: 113.0 (23rd) / OKC: 118.9 (5th)
  • Defensive Rating: GSW: 111.8 (7th) / OKC: 103.6 (1st)
  • Net Rating: GSW: 1.3 (16th) / OKC: 15.3 (1st)

The Set-Up

Four years ago today, the Oklahoma City Thunder traveled to Memphis to face the Grizzlies, who were going to be without Ja Morant. The Thunder were also going to be without two of their best players in Shai Gilgeous-Alexander and Josh Giddey. The Grizzlies were favored to win, as the Thunder were in the midst of a rebuild. As they say, there are professionals on both teams. The outcome of the game, though, was anything but professional. The Thunder came out flat, dug themselves in a hole, got tossed some shovels, and kept on digging. To the tune of a record 73-point drubbing, 152-79. SGA, Aaron Wiggins, and Kenrich Williams saw that game from the sidelines. Lu Dort played in that game and was the leading scorer for OKC. Four years later, the Thunder (and those same four players) sit on top of the basketball world with teams scared they may be in the midst of a dynastic run. As Shai’s favorite rapper, Drake, would say, “Started from the bottom, now we’re here…”

This is the 2nd of 4 meetings this season between the Thunder and Warriors. OKC won the first game in resounding fashion, 126-102, in a game that saw Stephen Curry and Jimmy Butler combine to score just 23 points on 38% shooting from the field and 17% shooting from 3. For the Thunder, Shai Gilgeous-Alexander scored 28 points and dished out 11 assists, while Chet Holmgren tallied 23 points to go along with 11 rebounds.

Betting Info, presented by FanDuel

  • Line: OKC -12
  • O/U: 222.5

Injury Report

OKC

  • Alex Caruso – OUT (quad)
  • Lu Dort – OUT (adductor strain)
  • Isaiah Hartenstein – OUT (calf strain)
  • Thomas Sorber – OFS (knee/ACL)
  • Nikola Topic – OUT (cancer treatment)

GSW

  • Jimmy Butler – Questionable (glute)
  • Stephen Curry – OUT (quad)
  • Draymond Green – Probable (foot sprain)
  • Al Horford – OUT (back)
  • Trayce Jackson-Davis – Questionable (knee)
  • De’Anthony Melton – OUT (knee)
  • Alex Toohey – OUT (knee)

Three Big Things

  1. Causing turnovers – For as great the Warriors have been through the years on the offensive end, their Achilles heel has always been their propensity to commit turnovers. That is no different this season. Golden State turns the ball over 16.2 times a game, which is 5th worst in the league. On the other end of the spectrum, OKC creates the most turnovers and leads the league in points off turnovers.
  2. Three-Point Shooting – If I were to ask who do you think has a higher 3pt percentage between OKC and Golden State, the likely answer would be Golden State. In reality, it’s actually OKC. Not by much, but still, very surprising. The Warriors still lead the league in 3-pointers made per game. With Stephen Curry out, the onus to make threes will fall on Moses Moody (39.2% on 6.6 attempts), Brandin Podziemski (38.6% on 4.8 attempts), and Buddy Hield (30.8% on 4.3 attempts). Hield is having a down year, but can catch fire in an instant.
  3. History in the making – In his last game against the Portland Trailblazers, Shai Gilgeous-Alexander checked back into the game with 5:53 left in the 4th quarter. He had 16 points and was in jeopardy of losing his consecutive game streak of scoring 20 or more points in a game. With 4:18 left, he finally got loose for a difficult 17-foot fallaway jumper. Then with 2:30 left, SGA hit a 14-foot middy, off an assist from Jalen Williams. Whew! Crisis averted. And in sole possession of 2nd place with 93 consecutive games of scoring 20 points or more. The next target is the record of 126 games. And for anyone that wants to talk mess or downplay that consistency, just know that LeBron James currently holds the record for consecutive games scoring at least 10 points or more in NBA history with 1,297 games and counting. And during that time, LeBron has stayed in games while injured just to collect the necessary points to keep the streak going. Even last night, as the Lakers were getting blown out by the Suns, LeBron stayed in the game long enough to notch his 10th point and then was pulled a minute later late in the 4th quarter.

Thunder @ Golden State Warriors preview (Game 12 of 82)

  • Oklahoma City Thunder (7-4) @ Golden State Warriors (6-6)
  • When: Thursday, 16 November 2023 at 9:00pm CST
  • Where: Chase Center, San Francisco, CA
  • Offensive Rating – GS: 112.5 (15th) / OKC: 113.9 (9th)
  • Defensive Rating – GS: 110.5 (9th) / OKC: 109.2 (7th)
  • Net Rating – GS: 2.1 (11th) / OKC: 4.7 (6th)

The Set-Up

Catching breaks. In an 82-game season, there are times where you just catch a break. Maybe you catch a team where you are their 5th game in 7 nights. Sometimes you catch a team that is resting their (“injured”) star(s). Sometimes you just catch a team on an off-night. But there’s a duality in catching a team in a bad state. The other part to the equation is you have to come out and take advantage of the situation. When the Thunder played the Sacramento Kings nearly a week ago, they faced a Kings team that had lost 3 of their last 4 previous games and was without their star guard in De’Aaron Fox. The Thunder came out and completely laid an egg and lost, not just a regular season game, but an In-Season Tournament game.

The Thunder come into this game facing a Warriors team that is missing Steph Curry and Draymond Green. With all that said, this is still a dangerous squad. Game 6 Klay is always lurking, Andrew Wiggins used to be one of the biggest thorns in the Thunder’s side back a couple of seasons ago, and Chris Paul can always conjure up magic from time to time. The Thunder need to take advantage of the circumstances that have presented themselves and win these next two games.

Injury Report

OKC

  • None

GS

  • Steph Curry (knee) – Out
  • Draymond Green (suspension) – Out

Three Big Things

  1. Rebounding – I know this has been an issue all season. But rebounding is one of those things that can equalize a game for a team that is missing some of their key rotational pieces. Allowing a team like the Warriors extra possessions is not a recipe for success. The Thunder have done a better job of gang rebounding, but still rank near the bottom in every rebounding statistical category.
  2. SGA – Shai Gilgeous-Alexander didn’t play in the last Warriors game due to sprained knee. Even with his absence, the Thunder nearly won their last meeting against Golden State. Oklahoma City did a great job of attacking the lane and looking for the open shooter. It was almost Golden State’esque. With SGA in the line-up, the Thunder should be able to do even more damage on the interior, especially with the absence of Draymond Green.
  3. Limit the Others – This feels like the type of trap game where someone like Moses Moody or Jonathan Kuminga could go off for their career highs. Or someone like Dario Saric could have a “Wow that’s what he looked like before all the injuries” kind of game. The Thunder cannot be lulled into a false sense of security with Curry and Green out for the game.