OAKLAND, Calif. — Stephen Curry, Draymond Green and Klay Thompson were their normal selves for the Warriors in Game 5 of the Western Conference Finals.
Kevin Durant and Russell Westbrook combined for their customary boatload of points, 71 this time.
But it turned out the “other guys” helped make Game 5 a real game, and now they are counted upon to do the same in Game 6 on Saturday.
Starter Andrew Bogut, who had been pretty much a nonentity through four games, arose at both ends for the Warriors. And be honest, before Game 5, how many times on your morning subway rides did you nudge your fellow commuter and ask, “Hey, how about Marreese Speights, Leandro Barbosa and Andre Iguodala for the Warriors last night? And that Anthony Morrow for the Thunder …?”
Right, about as frequently as he or she asked you, “So who was Millard Fillmore’s Secretary of the Treasury?”
“We need that boost from different guys and in one playoff series like this — as you saw [in Game 3] with them from [Andre] Roberson, different guys have to step up different games. That’s how you’re going to win the series,” said Bogut, who responded to his four “crappy” [his word] games and turned in an outcome-affecting, two-way effort with 15 points, 14 rebounds and lots of rim protection.
“[Bogut] was phenomenal. He rebounded, he scored, he was aggressive,” said Warriors coach Steve Kerr, who had called for more from Bogut on Wednesday then got it Thursday.
The Warriors got a lot more, too. Speights (“Mo Buckets”) scored 14 points in nine minutes. Iguodala, the Finals MVP last year, gave the defending champs eight points and eight assists. Barbosa was big both ways as well.
And because of that, “The series isn’t over,” Speights said.
The Thunder, meanwhile, saw struggles from their small-ball guys, Roberson and a foul-plagued Dion Waiters, two guys who so affected the Games 3 and 4 victories. Roberson had six points, Waiters was scoreless.
But Oklahoma City got a huge lift from Morrow, the former Warrior who also did a tour with the Nets. Morrow scored 10 points, hitting a couple of 3-pointers, in just 7:29. With Bogut protecting inside, the Thunder looked to open up the perimeter, and Morrow responded.
“We kind of moved pieces around,” Thunder coach Billy Donovan said. “Wanted to create a little more spacing. I felt like with the way they were converging on the paint that we could maybe space it and generate a couple shots for Anthony.”
Roberson, who had a personal-playoff-best 17 points and 12 rebounds in Game 4, thinks the change of venue back to Oklahoma City will make a big difference.
“They came out, hit us first,” Roberson said. “Down the stretch we just missed a couple key plays, they hit a lot of tough shots. We look forward to go home and take care of business.”