There would be no miracle this time. No 38-foot shot from Stephen Curry’s hand to flip the score. No Draymond Green block to jump-start a rally. No Klay Thompson scoring binge to make up the difference. No. In Game 1 of this best-of-seven series on Monday night, the mighty Golden State Warriors dropped a rare home against the Oklahoma City Thunder and suddenly find themselves in the deficit against a legitimate threat that’s capable of ending their feel-good season. 
 
Despite holding a 14-point lead in the second half, the Warriors were undone by a scattered offensive performance down the stretch and a torrid Russell Westbrook third-quarter scoring outburst in which the dynamic point guard dropped 19 points. Perhaps Draymond Green described the Warriors’ trouble best after the game: “Offensively, we sucked.”
 
Here are 10 thoughts on the sucktastic offense and the Game 1 loss:

1) Well, that flipped in a hurry. The Warriors raced out to a commanding double-digit lead in the first half behind an excellent defensive effort with guys buzzing around the court forcing misses and turnovers, and the usual barrage of shots from beyond the arc and in the paint. But then the third quarter started and Westbrook came alive. After the Warriors had done an excellent job in the first half forcing Russ to settle for jumpers, he finally got unhinged in the third to almost single-handedly erase the Dubs’ lead (which had ballooned to 14) and keep his team in the game. To make matters worse for the Warriors, their offense hit a wall just as Westbrook got going. The ball and the players stopped zipping around the court like they had been earlier in the game; passes were scarce, and the ones that did fly were of the risky, unwarranted variety; and shots were taken a split second too fast and a few degrees off balanced. Had the Dubs slowed the offense down and probed for better looks instead of forcing low-percentage attempts, they might have been able to reverse the 6-point deficit, but for whatever reason, the precision offense we’ve seen all season could only manage a paltry 42 points in the final 24 minutes, not nearly enough to keep pace with OKC.

2) Stephen Curry scored 26 points but needed 22 shots to get there. He looked good in spurts, but the usual flurry of points where he straight embarrasses guys just wasn’t there. Maybe his knee is bothering him a little more than he’s letting on, especially when you consider that he wasn’t the primary ball handler for most of the plays down the stretch.

Klay Thompson Drives3) The Thunder just won three straight playoff road games against two teams that were a combined 79-3 at home in the regular season.

4) KD and Russ shot a combined 17-of-51 for the game, but the Thunder were still able to pull out the win. If you’re a Dubs fan, you can see that as either A) the Warriors defended the two-headed monster well and now just need to put the clamps down on the role players — they’re fine. Or B) oh, man, OKC just won at Oracle despite their two top guys having an off-night. What’s going to happen when they’re both making shots at their usual clip?

5) OKC has gotten three major non-calls to go in their favor this post-season. Once when Dion Waiters elbowed Manu Ginobili during an inbounds; another when the refs didn’t call a blatant foul on Kawhi Leonard to send Russ to the line in Game 5; and now on the clear travel violation by Westbrook that would’ve given the ball back to the Warriors down three with a shot to tie the game. But lamenting the non-call is pointless. The Dubs could’ve used the possession, sure, but they also could’ve taken better care of the ball during fourth quarter and taken fewer shots off the dribble. Bad calls are going to happen. Bad passes and shots don’t need to.

6) Steph and Klay shot 1-of-10 in the fourth quarter and the team scored 14 points total. That’s the ball game right there.

7) Festus Ezeli is probably better equipped to play center since he’s mobile enough to stay with the ball-handler in pick and rolls, and he can match Steven Adams’ physicality with his own brute strength. But man, his complete inability to catch the ball really hurt the Warriors. Not only did the Dubs lose possession when Ezeli dropped the rock, but they were usually also at a disadvantage because he and the passer were behind the play while OKC raced down the court 5-on-3.

Stephen Curry Mouthpiece8) Adams was a real problem for the Warriors down low. He beasted Andew Bogut during the regular season and had no problems continuing that theme in this game against a still-hobbled Bogut, Draymond, Speights and Ezeli. Adams not only scored an efficient 16 points on eight shots, but he also pulled 12 rebounds while doing a yeoman’s job down low protecting the rim (2 blocks). It wasn’t the Thunder’s double-big lineup that hurt the Warriors, but just Adams and whoever else at the four. Somehow even with Serge Ibaka in the lineup, Adams is probably the third most important player for the Warriors to game plan for. The New Zealand native was a game-high plus-19.

9) There were so many breathtaking plays in this game. With both teams able to trade baskets at a point-per-second pace, and Westbrook’s speed down the court, and Steph shooting from the beyond deep, and Draymond blocking dudes from nowhere, this series is not going to be lacking for quality Vine highlights.

10) We’ve seen this Warriors team face a deficit before; they were down 1-2 against both the Grizzlies and Cavs in last season’s playoffs. But these Warriors have always played their best when the situation looked most dire. True, they’ve never had to battle a foe as formidable as this KD-Westbrook Thunder before, but I don’t expect the Warriors to suddenly fold now. Even down 0-1, I wouldn’t bet against this Warriors squad from doing something great. This lost just made this series a whole lot more interesting.