The Golden State Warriors secured a crucial 116-109 win over the Oklahoma City Thunder, improving to a 25-24 record on the season, despite still being outside the Play-In picture. Following the victory, team leader Stephen Curry explained what he believes was the key to their success.
At halftime, the Thunder were ahead by 10 points, with Shai Gilgeous-Alexander putting up a career-high 31 points in the first half. Meanwhile, Curry had struggled, scoring just two points after missing his first five shots and going 1-for-7 from the field. It seemed like the Warriors might not have the firepower to mount a comeback. But they did.
In the third quarter, Golden State came out strong and managed to tie the game by the end of the period. Curry pointed to that pivotal stretch as the reason they were able to pull off the win against a tough opponent like the Thunder.
“It’s why we won the game,” Curry said about the third quarter after the game, via NBC Sports. “There’s a decision: Are you going to go lay down and just wave the white flag? We came out and gave ourselves life in that first six minutes. Just to grab a lead and look up like, ‘Oh, we got some momentum’”.

Stephen Curry #30 of the Golden State Warriors reacts after a play in the fourth quarter against the Oklahoma City Thunder at Chase Center. (Lachlan Cunningham/Getty Images)
“That’s huge for the morale of the team, the fact that we could answer every run that they had,” he continued. “It gave us a chance, and then down the stretch we controlled the last 4-5 minutes of the game, which has not been our strong suit. It was a good feeling”.

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Kevon Looney on the importance of the third quarter
The third quarter proved to be crucial for the Warriors, as they exploded for 36 points to tie the game at 84 heading into the final period. Kevon Looney, who was the Warriors’ third-leading scorer with 18 points, recognized just how important that quarter was to keep them in the game.
“It was huge (the third quarter),” Looney admitted. “We got off to a slow start and we kind of got in a hole. That’s a great team over there, so we know we needed to come out [after halftime], punch first and get our crowd behind us if we want any chance to win that game. We responded in that third, and we kept the momentum”.
Curry makes NBA history against the Thunder
In addition to leading his team to victory, four-time NBA champion Curry made history during the game against the Thunder. He passed Ray Allen to become the 27th-highest scorer in NBA history.
After the game, Curry reflected on the significance of this milestone in his career. “The names, AI (Allen Iverson) a couple of weeks ago, Ray today, like guys that I grew up watching, my generation, who inspired me to love the game the way I do,” Curry said. “So, definitely special. Shoutout to Ray”.