Thompson’s 41 points, 11 3-pointers save Golden State’s season

OKLAHOMA CITY — Golden State’s Klay Thompson made a play-off-record 11 3-pointers and scored 41 points as the Warriors took out a must-win game at Oklahoma City on Saturday 108-101, sending the NBA Western Conference finals to Game 7.

Stephen Curry bounced back from a slow start to finish with 29 points, 10 rebounds and nine assists.

The Warriors, who set the league’s regular-season record with 73 wins, will host Game 7 on Monday. The winner will play Cleveland in the NBA finals.

“We’ve got a lot of belief and a lot of heart, and we’ve given ourselves a chance to win this series,” Curry said. “That’s all we could ask for. There’s obviously a lot of excitement, but we still have one job to do.”

Thompson scored 19 points in the fourth quarter to help the Warriors overcome an eight-point deficit.

“Steph told me before I went out in the fourth, ‘This is your time,’” Thompson said. “’You know, put on a show out there and have fun.’ I took those words to heart, and I just tried to be aggressive.”

The Warriors were well beaten on their previous visits to Oklahoma City in this series, but dominate from downtown in this one, making 21 of 44 3-pointers while the Thunder was a miserable 3 of 23.

“About time we had a stretch in this building where we imposed our will,” Curry said.

Kevin Durant scored 29 points and Russell Westbrook added 28 for the Thunder. But Durant made just 10 of 31 shots and Westbrook was 10 of 27.

Trying to become the 10th team to overcome a 3-1 deficit, the Warriors trailed much of the game and were behind by eight going to the fourth quarter.

Thompson kept them in it with four 3-pointers in just over seven minutes to start the period. Curry then hit two 3s, the second of which tied the game 99-99 with 2:47 to play.

Thompson’s 3 with 1:35 to play put the Warriors up 104-101.

The Thunder, who blew a number of fourth-quarter leads during the regular season, fell apart in the final minutes after Golden State had gone ahead.

“That really wasn’t — hasn’t been us in the last month and a half,” Thunder coach Billy Donovan said. “We got a little stagnant coming down the stretch.”

Westbrook lost control of the ball, and after Thompson missed a 3, Westbrook turned the ball over again. Curry’s lay-up with 14.3 seconds to play put the Warriors up by five, the Thunder turned it over again, and the Warriors were in the clear.

The Thunder led 23-20 after one quarter, then seized momentum early in the second. Steven Adams’ powerful one-handed dunk on Draymond Green drew a roar from the crowd and gave Oklahoma City a 37-28 lead. Green, who had hit Adams in the groin area twice during the series, was a constant target for the vocal Thunder fans.

Thompson opened the second half with back-to-back 3-pointers to give the Warriors a 54-53 edge, but the Thunder closed the quarter strongly and led 83-75 heading into the fourth.

The Warriors held the Thunder to 18 points in the fourth quarter to stay alive. They expect another tough battle in Game 7.

“To be in this situation — people were doubting us,” Green said. “It will be the hardest game of our lives. It will be way harder than this game. Going back home, everybody will think, ‘Oh, it’s done.’ It will be way harder. But if we come out and do what we did and stick to the game plan, we’ll be fine.”

Curry will get the chance to make up for one of the few disappointments of his career on Monday when the Golden State Warriors take on Oklahoma City Thunder in Game 7 of the Western Conference finals.

Curry, who became the first unanimous winner of the NBA’s Most Valuable Player award when he picked up the highest individual honour for a second straight season, lost his only previous appearance in a Game 7 in 2014.

The Warriors were beaten 126-121 by the Los Angeles Clippers in the first round of that year’s play-offs, with Curry scoring 33 points.

“I’ve been in one so far in my career and it didn’t turn out the way we wanted it to,” Curry said. “We have another opportunity to get the job done on Monday.”

On Saturday, Curry bagged 29 points but his performance was overshadowed by that of backcourt mate Klay Thompson, who scored 41 in the Warriors’ 108-101 win in Oklahoma City that sent the best-of-seven series to a decider.

“We’ve got a lot of belief and a lot of heart, and we’ve given ourselves a chance to win this series,” said Curry, who scored just nine in the first half.

“That’s all we could ask for. There’s obviously a lot of excitement, but we still have one job to do.”

After falling behind 3-1 in the series against the Thunder, the Warriors now have history on their side.

Home teams are 100-24 in Game 7s.

“It’s going to be a hard game,” Curry said. “If we thought tonight was hard, Game 7s going to be even tougher. Everybody on both sides of the ball is going to leave it all out on the floor. It’s win or go home.

“So we can’t expect just because we’re at home that we can just show up and win.”