The OKC Thunder are accustomed to winning, but Kevin Durant and company haven’t had a two-game road win streak like this before. The tiny two-game road streak makes it four playoff wins in a row for the Thunder — and the last two may be the most important back-to-back victories in OKC hoops history. After upsetting the Spurs by winning game 6 in San Antonio (where the Spurs lost ONCE all season), the fast and furious Thunder was like lightning in the 4th quarter of Game 1 against the defending champion Warriors at Golden State, winning 108-102 after an exhilarating 14-point rally.
The Warriors went 39-2 at Oracle Arena during the regular season, virtually as effective as the Spurs at defending their house. And they hadn’t lost there during the playoffs until OKC hit town. The Thunder are neither impressed nor intimidated. Not only did they steal the win, with Russell Westbrook getting 24 of his 27 points in the second half, they did it as if they were the home team — erasing the kind of double-digit lead that usually needs some crowd support to disappear. It’s the first OKC Conference Finals appearance in six years. Durant is a free agent at the season’s end. The Thunder are playing with the passion of champions. And they are on a very unlikely — and hugely important — four-game win streak. Momentum is all Thunder.
