https://www.sfchronicle.com/sports/warriors/article/steph-curry-s-game-winner-caps-wild-warriors-18466190.php

OKLAHOMA CITY — Stephen Curry needed just a sliver of daylight on Friday night.

The game clock was winding down. His defender, Luguentz Dort, was probably expecting a long jumper from the NBA’s 3-point king. So a simple crossover is all it took for Dort to bite. And Curry’s high-arching floater over Chet Holmgren’s 7-foot-6 wingspan with 0.2 seconds left proved to be the game winner.

The Warriors’ first-ever In-Season Tournament game against the Oklahoma City Thunder at Paycom Center, a 141-139 win, certainly had the intensity and entertainment value the NBA craved. Golden State got its fifth-straight win as a result, and is now 4-0 away from Chase Center to start the season — something it has not done since 2015-16.

Curry, continuing his torrid start to the regular season, finished with a game-high 30 points. He is averaging 30.8 points through his first six games..

“Just plays here and there that were really indicative of just how wild the whole game was,” Curry said. “Back and forth, a lot of scoring, a lot of playmaking, but a lot of competitiveness, too. … The In-Season Tournament vibe and the court change just added a little extra energy to it.”

The Warriors are atop of the Group C standings following Friday’s games. They will have another road game in group play on Nov. 28 against Sacramento, and will also host Minnesota on Nov. 14 and San Antonio on Nov. 24..

Eight teams will advance to the knockout rounds out of group play, which will be single-elimination games in the quarterfinals. The semifinal and championship games will be played Dec. 7 and 9 in Las Vegas. Each player on the winning team will earn $500,000.

“It was great,” head coach Steve Kerr said. The Thunder “really took it to us the whole game. … And we did just enough defensively, because it wasn’t our best night at that end, and they made a million shots. But we did just enough down the stretch.”

Oklahoma City shot 60.2% from the field and made 15 3-pointers at a 51.7% clip.

Curry’s ninth career go-ahead bucket with five seconds or less came just two nights after Klay Thompson sunk a mid-range jumper with 0.2 seconds left to beat the Sacramento Kings at Chase Center. According to ESPN Stats and Info, this was the first time in 25 years where the Warriors have won consecutive games with a field goal in the final five seconds of each game.

Curry’s game-winner was originally called off because of basket interference from Draymond Green, but the call was overturned after officials reviewed the play. Josh Giddey pulled the net before Green tapped the ball, so it wound up being goaltending against the Thunder.

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“That’s two teams trying to win a playoff game,” Green said. “Very intense. A lot of calls could have gone either way. They got the benefit of the doubt on some of the calls. We got the benefit of the doubt on a couple of calls. But you just saw two teams competing. We talk about this In-Season Tournament and it’s (basically) a playoff game. It was a fun game to play in and the intensity level was there.”

The Warriors played 173 clutch minutes last season, which is defined as minutes when the scoring margin is within five points or fewer with five minutes left in regulation. Their record in such games in 2022-23 was 20-21, good for 10th in the NBA.

Golden State is 4-1 in clutch situations this season. While that is a small sample size, this group appears to have a much better sense of what it takes to close games, and better personnel to get it done consistently. It starts with the calming presence of Chris Paul, who had 13 assists and zero turnovers off the bench against the Thunder.

“I’m a big believer in piling up wins,” Paul said. “We’re still trying to figure out defenses and all this stuff with a short training camp and new bodies coming in and stuff like that. … So there’s certain things that we’re still putting in and sort of figuring it out, but we want to win games and figure that out at the same time.”

Kerr is not a fan of this new narrative. He believes discussions of last season’s late-game struggles need to be left in the rearview mirror. In his mind, this season’s success in that regard only confirms who the Warriors have always been.

Warriors 141, Thunder 139
GOLDEN STATE (141)

An.Wiggins 6-11 5-8 17, Green 5-11 3-3 15, Looney 1-2 2-2 4, Curry 9-15 7-7 30, Thompson 6-10 2-2 18, Kuminga 9-15 1-2 19, Saric 6-9 4-4 20, Moody 3-7 0-0 8, Paul 0-6 1-2 1, Payton II 4-6 0-0 9. Totals 49-92 25-30 141.

OKLAHOMA CITY (139)

Dort 9-12 5-7 29, Jal.Williams 8-12 2-5 18, Holmgren 7-9 8-8 24, Giddey 8-15 2-2 18, Wallace 6-10 0-0 13, Dieng 1-3 0-0 3, Jay.Williams 2-5 2-2 6, Aa.Wiggins 3-6 0-0 7, Joe 4-6 5-6 16, Micic 2-5 0-0 5. Totals 50-83 24-30 139.

Golden State 38 31 37 35 — 141
Oklahoma City 33 34 39 33 — 139
3-Point Goals_Golden State 18-40 (Curry 5-10, Thompson 4-6, Saric 4-7, Green 2-4, Moody 2-5, Payton II 1-3, An.Wiggins 0-1, Kuminga 0-2, Paul 0-2), Oklahoma City 15-29 (Dort 6-6, Joe 3-5, Holmgren 2-2, Micic 1-2, Wallace 1-2, Aa.Wiggins 1-3, Dieng 1-3, Giddey 0-3, Jay.Williams 0-3). Fouled Out_Golden State None, Oklahoma City 1 (Jal.Williams). Rebounds_Golden State 38 (Curry 8), Oklahoma City 32 (Holmgren 8). Assists_Golden State 36 (Paul 13), Oklahoma City 26 (Jal.Williams 8). Total Fouls_Golden State 25, Oklahoma City 20. A_16,827 (18,203)

“We don’t talk about last year, but it keeps getting brought up,” Kerr said. “Every year is different and the track record of this team over the last decade, this is the norm. … We’re back to who we’ve always been, but we added one of the great point guards of all time into the mix. And so we have lots of work ahead, but we feel good about our team and what our potential is.”