Thunder Upset Warriors

The Oklahoma City Thunder didn’t get enough credit for eliminating the San Antonio Spurs from the playoffs while beating them twice in their own building, in which the Spurs almost never lose. So they went out and did the same thing to the Golden State Warriors on Monday night.

The Thunder came from 14 points down, held the Warriors to 14 points in the fourth quarter and won 108-102 in Game 1 of the Western Conference finals. And what are news reports saying? That the Thunder “stole” the game and the difference was their 22 points at the free-throw line to the Warriors’ 11, as if that doesn’t count (the Warriors missed six free throws).

Fine. Give no credit to the Thunder for winning in Oakland for the first time since 2013 or their defensive chops late in the game or that they are the first team this season to trail the Warriors by double digits at halftime and win. But do not expect any of this to sail blithely over the heads of the Cleveland Cavaliers, the presumptive Eastern Conference champions, who play on Tuesday night against the Toronto Raptors.

The Raptors are not nearly as dangerous as the Thunder. They went to seven games against a Miami Heat team with almost no weapons or height. Now they’re going up against rugged Kevin Love inside and LeBron James everywhere else. But they’re feisty and they’ve got a hot hand in Kyle Lowry.

The Cavaliers are 8-0 in the playoffs – in two rounds. The Raptors played almost that many games against the Heat alone. You can bet the Cavs are well-rested and might even be a little rusty at the outset.

You can also be sure that, after last night’s Thunder win, they will not be overconfident.

Post By: Larry Weisman, a longtime sportswriter for USA TODAY, blogs for Twistity.com. Follow him on Twitter @MrLarryWeisman