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OAKLAND, Calif. - Billy Donovan talked about the power of emotion at the Thunder shootaround Monday morning. He understands the Golden State Warriors are going to make shots; they won an NBA-record 73 games in the regular shooting because of their ability to hit shots at a high level.

"They’re a hard team to guard," he said.

Donovan challenged the Thunder players to control their emotions come game time, saying "a 3-point shot can feel like a 10-point play at some points. You have to control your emotions … you can’t let it effect the next play."

The Thunder took those words to heart on Monday and in doing so, posted a 108-102 victory in Game 1 of the Western Conference Finals. Game 2 will take place Wednesday (8 p.m. Central, TNT) at Oracle Arena.

On a night when the Thunder faced challenges shooting the ball from the field (39 of 89), the free-throw line (22 of 32) and early turnovers (10 in the first half), the team – behind the force of its leaders, Kevin Durant and Russell Westbrook -- underscored its resiliency and stayed together. They did so by staying locked in on defense on focusing on the next possession.

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"We miss shots, that's going to happen, and that's part of being who we are as leaders of this team," Durant said. "But we just stayed with it on the defensive end, and I think when we got the shots late in the game, we were able to focus in and knock them down."
Time and again throughout the first half, the Warriors hit 3-pointers or found uncontested paths to the basket via the pass, squashing temporary Thunder runs or threatening to blow the game open or worse.

The Thunder didn’t cave when calls didn’t go their way or when shots wouldn’t fall. The team didn’t panic when deficits reached double digits.

"Our guys just kept fighting and battling," Donovan said.
The team didn’t hang its head when the Warriors’ Stephen Curry drained what Donovan termed an "incredible" 3-pointer at the first-half buzzer that had the Thunder down, 60-47, and the 19,596 fans clad in yellow chanting "M-V-P … M-V-P."

"We're a resilient group and we just keep fighting to the end," Durant said. "That's all we can do.
"We were down early. We didn't give up. They hit a tough three going into the half. We didn't hang our heads," he added. "When they hit tough shots, we just kept playing. We just kept coming at them on both ends of the floor."
The Thunder returned for the second half ready for battle. There was no need to dwell on the first 24 minutes. The Thunder stayed together.

"I've said this before, we're not a perfect team, but these guys really, really battle and fight and they compete," Donovan said.
Westbrook notched his 10th assist of the game with 8:25 remaining in the quarter, setting up Andre Roberson for a reverse at the rim that pulled the Thunder within 10. The Warriors immediately called timeout, but Westbrook was just getting started.

He drained a 3 with 6:57 remaining in the period to make it 68-61. Westbrook was just 1-for-10 before that shot, but his confidence never wavered. He would hit another to cap a 19-8 run that pulled the Thunder within two, 68-66.

"I just tried to stay aggressive and find ways to impact the game," Westbrook said. "For me, my job is not just to score the basketball. My job is to get guys open, defend, rebound, whatever it is that's needed at the time to help us win games."
By the time the period was over, Westbrook had scored 19 of his team’s 38 points and the Thunder trailed only 88-85 heading into the final 12 minutes.

"Russell was the catalyst, getting to the rim, finishing. We just followed that lead and played hard on the defensive end," Durant said, adding: "(We) withstood a couple of leads they had and just kept playing through it and were able to get some stops in the fourth."

A Durant 3-pointer to open the fourth quarter tied the game at 88-all, but it wasn’t a sign of things to come. Durant would miss eight consecutive shots before he hit one of the biggest – a 17-foot jumper over Andre Iguodala that put the Thunder up 105-100 with 30.7 seconds to play.

Like Westbrook, Durant stayed confident despite the misses and impacted the game with his rebounding, defense and leadership. He and Westbrook found open teammates and they delivered, from Dion Waiters’ corner 3 that put the Thunder up 93-89 to Steven Adams’ short hook in the lane for a 101-93 lead.

"The belief, the competitiveness, the ability to come back with resolve and continue to battle and fight, I mean, (Westbrook) played an exceptional second half in every facet," Donovan said. "He scored for us, he created opportunities for other guys. He played very, very well.

"I give Kevin the same credit as well. He had some good looks that didn't go down for him, and he hung there with it and made a big shot late."

The Thunder stayed together, controlled their emotions and in doing so, posted their third consecutive playoff road victory on two courts – San Antonio and Golden State – where the rest of the NBA won a combined three games in the regular season.

"Our guys, I think they understand what they're walking into," Donovan said, later adding: "The first thing is to embrace the fact that it's going to be hard. That's the first thing. It's not going to be easy, and it was a struggle tonight. It was. It was a struggle for us. But I thought we had some resiliency and resolve and we kind of pushed through."

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Thunder Keeps Emotions in Check While Staying Together

The Thunder returned to work on Saturday, going through the intensity of a full practice for only the second time since the Feb. 19 NBA trade deadline that brought four new players in to the program.

Sure, there have been shoot-arounds during that stretch that included eight games. But between travel, recovery days, film days and the other necessities that take place during the course of the season, Head Coach Scott Brooks was eager to get his group in the film room and, just as important, the practice floor Saturday at the INTEGRIS Thunder Development Center.

For the Thunder, this is a key stretch in the 82-game grind that is the NBA schedule. The team is home for eight of its next nine games, beginning Sunday night when it takes on the Toronto Raptors. Game time is 6 p.m. at Chesapeake Energy Arena and will air live on FOX Sports Oklahoma and the 12-station Thunder Radio Network.

"On a lot of fronts, it's really a good time for us," Brooks said of the extended home stay. "We get to practice. You know, we haven't had many practices throughout the year and this is our second practice with the new group of guys. They have to get familiar with our building, familiar with the city, so this gives them an opportunity to settle down a little bit."

In addition to continuing to integrate newcomers Enes Kanter, Kyle Singler, D.J. Augustin and Steve Novak into the system, the Thunder also is getting closer to seeing second-year center Steven Adams return to the lineup. Adams practiced again Saturday -- "He didn't do every rep, but most of practice," Brooks said -- though his status for Sunday remains unknown.

"I have to wait and see how I feel tomorrow," said Adams, who has been sidelined with a fourth metacarpal fracture on his right hand since Feb. 8. "I went through practice today and it seems to be doing well, but I could wake up and it not be right. We'll have to see how it goes."

Brooks described Saturday's practice as "really good," triggered by a productive film session that set the tone.

"We had to clean up some things. Our defense hasn't been up to par," he said. "We take a lot of pride in the defensive end, but we've given up too many points in the last few games by just relaxing and not locking in defensively and just trying to make it a scoring game. We can score with a lot of teams in this league, but we want to make sure that when we do score, we're scoring off a defensive mentality.

"We want to continue to build our habits and get back to the basics of defend the ball, defend the pick-and-roll, keep the ball out of the paint and make sure we're boxing out and rebounding the basketball."

The fact the Thunder is playing in front of its 18,203 faithful at Chesapeake Energy Arena certainly will help in that mission.

"We take a lot of pride in our home court," he said. "We have great fans, great support and they come out every night no matter what the situation is.

"Our guys know we have a great place to play. It doesn't guarantee a win, but it puts us in a position to win every night, our crowd. There's been a handful of games this year where we weren't as sharp as we want to be, but our crowd picked us up going into that second half and going into the fourth quarter. It's important for us to establish a good home court."

Added swingman Anthony Morrow: "I love playing at home. Great energy, great crowd....We're looking forward to this stretch of home games. We've got to take advantage of this opportunity."

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Thunder Aims to Capitalize on Extended Home Stay

MEMPHIS -- The Thunder understands the challenge it faces heading into Game 4 of its first-round playoff series with the Memphis Grizzlies.

Yes, it trails the best-of-seven matchup, 2-1. Yes, the FedEx Forum will once again be loud and lively Saturday night, it always is. But the Thunder has been here before -- literally and figuratively. It has emerged victorious from 0-2 and 1-2 holes in its playoff past, including in 2011, when the Thunder fell in overtime in Game 3 in Memphis yet bounced back with a three-overtime victory in Game 4 to send the series back to Oklahoma City even at two games apiece.

"We've been through a lot of battles together," Thunder Head Coach Scott Brooks said. "We understand that being on the road is a tough environment. You have to stick together, that's all you have. You have no other choice. If you want to win basketball games in this league, you've got to stick together; you've got to to do it for one another. We've always been that way, it's not going to change now. We have to do that once again Saturday night.

"We know it's going to be a physical game, a tough game. We'll be ready for the challenge."

"That team over there is very, very talented," Memphis Head Coach Dave Joerger said. "I expect they will be very business-like on Saturday. As talented as they are, and as many big games as they have won, there will be very little talk after this. They're going to come in and be very focused on Saturday. Saturday is going to be a heck of a game."

Brooks, like his players, is using game film in his search for answers to correct a two-game shooting slide that has seen the Thunder shoot just 39.4 percent from the field (71-for-180) and 24.1 from behind the 3-point line (14-58).

"We've got to make some shots," he said, looking at the boxscore from Game 3 Thursday night. "We are a shot-making team. We've been a high field-goal percentage team all season long and I expect the guys to come out Saturday shooting with confidence and be ready to step up and make the next one.

"There's no question, they're a good defensive team just like we are. It's hard to score on either team. We have to figure out how we can get better looks for us."

Despite the recent shooting struggles, the Thunder has put itself in position to win each of the two games it lost in overtime. This series remains a first-to-four-wins matchup, with Saturday night looming large for both teams.

"We knew going into this series it was going to be a very physical series, it was going to be a very play-hard series and it hasn't let anybody down," Brooks said. "Both teams are playing hard; they've made a few more plays than us.

"One of the things I do believe, I believe in our guys, I believe in our team," he said. "We have a good group of guys that are committed to each other and they're going to play much better. They're going to get an opportunity Saturday night. They missed some shots, there's no question. They're not going out there trying to miss shots. Sometimes the ball doesn't fall. It's been two games. Hopefully the tide changes Saturday night."

Added Kevin Durant: "We're down 2-1, we don't want to go into a bigger hole than that. We'll come out, play with a little more sense of urgency and hopefully our shots go down. We've just got to believe in each other and stick together."

On Friday, the Thunder had a chance to watch film and hold a brief practice session to focus in on what it needs to do in Game 4 to even up the seven-game series at two apiece.

Head Coach Scott Brooks' club recognizes its current position down 2-1 in the series isn't exactly where it wants to be, but it has only been a possession away in each of the last two losses, both of which came in overtime. The Thunder has been right there in all three games, and it's just a matter of making plays in crunch time and stringing together multiple stops and scores. If the Thunder can build a rhythm and play its style of basketball in Game 4, it will feel good about its chances to head back to Oklahoma City all tied up.

"We're just focused on winning one game," Brooks said. "If we win one game, it becomes a best-of-three series with two games in our building. That's the only thing we're worried about, doing a better job to win one game tomorrow night."

Perhaps the best part of the Thunder's Friday film session was looking at the crucial 17-0 run late in the fourth quarter that allowed Brooks' squad to tie Game 3 and send it into overtime. It all started on the defensive end, when the Thunder impacted the ball and forced the Grizzlies to take difficult shots or turn the ball over.

"We were a little bit more aggressive than in the first quarter," forward Serge Ibaka said. "We were a little more aggressive pressuring the ball. Thabo did a great job pressuring Conley at the top. I learned and did a better job to stay home when Perk was playing one-on-one with Zach so we could get the defensive rebound and run."

Those defensive stops allowed the Thunder to get out into space on offense, creating driving lanes and simple passes to open teammates. In the halfcourt, the Thunder attacked before Memphis' defense was set and found open teammates through precise movement with and without the ball.

"We played with a little bit more pace," Brooks said. "Pace doesn't mean just running up the courut and playing wild. Pace means we played with more urgency in the halfcourt. we did a better job of setting up, coming off screens and passing the ball when the pass was there. we have to be able to sustain that for 48 minutes."

Looking at the film of that stretch displayed a potential blueprint for how the Thunder hopes to play for the entire 48 minutes in Game 4. When guard Russell Westbrook was asked if that momentum from the well-played fourth quarter can be carried over, his response was emphatic.

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Thunder Turns to Video in Preparation for Game 4

OKLAHOMA CITY, January 7, 2014 – The Oklahoma City Thunder acquired a pair of conditional second-round draft picks from the Memphis Grizzlies as part of a three-team deal, it was announced today by Executive Vice President and General Manager Sam Presti. Included in the trade, the Thunder sent forward Ryan Gomes to the Boston Celtics and cash considerations to the Grizzlies.

Oklahoma City acquired the 2014 Philadelphia 76ers’ second-round pick (conditional), which was owned by the Grizzlies. Additionally, the Thunder acquired the Grizzlies’ 2017 second-round draft selection (conditional).

As part of the three-team trade, the Grizzlies acquired guard Courtney Lee and a 2016 second-round draft pick from the Celtics in exchange for guard Jerryd Bayless.

During the 2013-14 season, Gomes appeared in five games for the Thunder and averaged 1.2 points in 6.9 minutes per game.

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Thunder Acquires Two Second-Round Draft Picks

OKLAHOMA CITY, December 27, 2013 – Oklahoma City Thunder guard Russell Westbrook underwent successful arthroscopic surgery on his right knee earlier today, Thunder Executive Vice President and General Manager Sam Presti announced.

“Russell has been playing pain free, but recently had experienced increased swelling. After consultation and consideration by his surgeon in Los Angeles, a plan was established to monitor the swelling that included a series of scheduled MRIs,” said Presti. “On the most recent MRI it was determined by the surgeon that there was an area of concern that had not previously existed, nor was detectable in the previous procedures, and it was necessary to evaluate Russell further. The consulting physician determined that arthroscopic surgery was necessary to address the swelling that was taking place. We know that Russell’s work ethic and commitment will help him return to the level of play that we have all come to appreciate.”

Westbrook is expected to return post All-Star break.

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Westbrook Undergoes Successful Arthroscopic Knee Surgery

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Second Look at Second-Half Comeback

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Thunder Helps Habitat Rebuild in Moore

WICHITA -- From the Northwest panhandle all the way to Hugo, from Altus to Bartlesville and everywhere in between, Oklahomans bleed Thunder blue.

The Thunder organization is cultivating an ethos that aligns with the personality of those in the Oklahoma community. The identity of the team was formed with great emphasis on cultural values and norms that define the spirit of Oklahomans, which has allowed the team to serve as a mirror to the community at large.

Over the past five seasons, the Thunder has built a strong fan base that cares deeply about the team. Every game night, fans cheer with passion for their team, earning Oklahoma City and the Chesapeake Energy Arena the reputation of being among the most difficult places for road teams to play. As the organization continues to perform at a high level on the court and in the community, Thunder pride has gradually grown into new communities throughout Oklahoma and is extending into the Midwest region as a whole.

Every day, players, coaches and staffers are excited to see a wide variety of people wearing Thunder gear, and the entire state representing the team in full force. The Thunder will always support its Oklahoma community first and foremost, even while finding unique ways to expand the brand’s reach and bring new fans into the Thunder family.

Entering its sixth season, the organization is also noticing a larger regional and national following, which is also both flattering and humbling. More and more people are proudly displaying the Thunder logo and cheering on the team both in arenas nationwide and from home, which only further inspires the organization to work diligently and perform at its highest possible levels on and off the court.

“We take a lot of pride in what that logo stands for and ultimately what we want it to stand for,” General Manager Sam Presti said. “It’s one of the things that gets us motivated each year.”

The team and city’s unified rise into a contender has helped build regional, national and international appeal, which is why the Thunder has spent a portion of this preseason continuing to display itself to new markets. The organization and the team gained great value from the first two preseason games of the year, which took place in Istanbul, Turkey, and Manchester, England. The week-long trip was another opportunity to embrace special opportunities and showcase Oklahoma City and the state in a dynamic platform.

A week and a half after that trip, the Thunder hosted a sold-out preseason game in Tulsa, part of an important annual fan connection effort that is an extension into the Thunder’s closest regional market. Tulsa has always been an essential part of the Thunder’s fan base, especially considering it is the home of the 66ers, the Thunder’s D-League team. In addition, the Thunder has continually hosted watch parties, community events and camps in Tulsa to maintain ties with the community.

Tonight, the Thunder will play its final “home” game of the preseason at the INTRUST Bank Arena in Wichita, Kan., in yet another effort to link up with Thunder fans in the region and make inroads with basketball fans throughout the Midwest. When the Thunder tips off against the Chicago Bulls in Wednesday night’s nationally-televised game (8:30 p.m. ESPN and the Thunder Radio Network), it will be proud to play in front of a crowd full of passionate Thunder fans in a part of the country where increasingly more people are cheering for the team.

In Wichita, the Thunder has found a rabid fan base borne out of generations of cultural connectivity to Oklahoma City, which has led to overwhelming support for the Thunder.

“We feel that Wichita has great fans,” Head Coach Scott Brooks said. “Last year we had a great experience there. We’re looking forward to going back there and seeing the atmosphere. It was good for all of our players last year.”

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Thunder Making a Visit to Wichita

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