Warriors vs. Thunder 2 Preview: Just do it again

It wasn’t the cleanest performance, but the Golden State Warriors made short work of the Oklahoma City Thunder on Thursday, as they should have and needed to do.

And now they get to run it back, in their same home arena, against the same bad, tanking team.

If they don’t run back the same result, it will be a massive disappointment.

The deets

Who: Golden State Warriors (34-33) vs. Oklahoma City Thunder (21-46)

When: 7:00 p.m. PT

Where: Chase Center, San Francisco, California

TV: NBC Sports Bay Area (available on fuboTV)

Projected starting lineups:

Warriors: Stephen Curry, Kent Bazemore, Andrew Wiggins, Draymond Green, Kevon Looney
Thunder: Luguentz Dort, Théo Maledon, Darius Bazley, Isaiah Roby, Moses Brown

Last results:

Warriors: Beat the Thunder 118-97 — 3-2 in their last 5 games
Thunder: Lost to the Warriors 118-97 — 0-5 in their last 5 games

Team ratings (garbage-time adjusted, per Cleaning The Glass):

Warriors: 110.1 offense (24th), 110.5 defense (5th), -0.5 net (19th)
Thunder: 104.1 offense (30th), 114.2 defense (24th), -10.2 net (30th)

The story

What do you want me to say here? The Warriors are facing a bad team at home. Thanks to the Memphis Grizzlies shocking loss on Thursday, the Dubs occupy the No. 8 spot in the West, meaning they’d only have to win one of two play-in games to advance to the playoffs. All they have to do is handle their business.

This is handling their business. So handle it.

Players to watch

Warrior to watch: Stephen Curry.

Curry’s two games against the Thunder this year: 42 points in fewer than 30 minutes of action, and 34 points in under 32 minutes.

He torches the Thunder, who have poor perimeter defenders. The Warriors need to improve their team offense, but they also just need to give the ball to Steph and let him cook.

Thunder to watch: Darius Bazley.

Bazley didn’t have a great game on Thursday, but the power forward showed the Warriors an interesting look, with 13 three-point attempts and a total of 22 points.

Matchup to watch: Kevon Looney vs. Moses Brown.

If Looney can once again handle the glass against Brown, the Warriors will be in good shape.

Keys to victory

• Take a first quarter lead and don’t look back.
• Play with discipline — avoid turnovers and fouls.
• Steph Curry. That’s it, that’s the key.

Do it again, Dubs.