It should come as no surprise that the Oklahoma City Thunder defeated the Golden State Warriors 128-109 at Chase Center on Thursday, especially since they were without Draymond Green and Stephen Curry. Here are three detailed, real-time responses to the shorthanded Dubs’ fifth straight defeat.

With their renowned “death lineup,” the Warriors started the dynasty by switching between five positions. Curry continued it by mistreating the switch-heavy Boston Celtics in isolation during the 2022 NBA Finals. But, the Dubs lack a one-on-one scoring punch and advantage-creating players now that Curry is sidelined due to a knee injury. It’s not 2015 anymore.

From the first tip of Thursday’s game, the Thunder took advantage of those depressing realities, quickly going from one through five defensively and attacking Golden State for doing the same on the other end. Depending on how long Curry is out of the game, this may be the only occasion this season that you see Brandin Podziemski dribble the air out of the ball into a desperate turnaround jump shot.

Klay Thompson is accustomed to taking difficult or even forced shots. With Curry and Green out, he has to quench that thirst even more because the Thunder are a team that thrives on switching, which is a recipe for poor passes and ineffective play.

Golden State’s defensive strategies are all unlocked by Green, who serves as the skeleton key. This covers not just switching but also the kind of constant, direct communication that’s required to make that tactic work. On Thursday night, the Warriors were far too frequently a step or two slow in transitioning between direct actions and matching up in the halfcourt and transition.

Eventually, Golden State became accustomed to the Thunder’s extensive two-way switching, identifying gaps in their defense and providing more aggressive, opportunistic assistance to less dangerous shooters on the other end. However, the harm had already occurred. The Warriors fell behind by 19 points on several occasions during the second quarter, but they managed to close the gap shortly before the half thanks to some excellent shooting. In a game where both teams played a lot of isolation play because of their similar defensive strategies, it was inevitable that the more skilled team would win in the end.