How the Warriors found their mojo and flipped the Western Conference finals

The series was in the Thunder's hands. They just had to close it out.

If only it was that easy.

Oklahoma City was up seven points with a little more than five minutes remaining in an ugly, no-good, slug-it-out Game 6 of the Western Conference finals Saturday night. The Thunder were dominating in the paint, Russell Westbrook looked superhuman, and the only thing keeping the Warriors alive in an elimination game was Klay Thompson's heroics from beyond the 3-point arc.

Oklahoma City was in control. All the Thunder had to do was hold on for five more minutes and they were in the NBA Finals.

All they had to do was prove that things were different this year.

Oklahoma City was one of the worst closing teams in the NBA regular season. They were the only team to enter the postseason with a negative plus-minus rating in "clutch" situations€” because they would fall into stagnant, isolation offense late in contests. And defenses —€” especially the elite ones —€” knew exactly what was coming and could stop it.

But in these playoffs, the Thunder evolved —€” that isolation offense was replaced by ball movement.

OKC coach Billy Donovan thought the "heroball" that defined the Thunder in the Kevin Durant and Westbrook era —€” the style that made them the league's best underachievers —€” was behind them.

Game 6 told a different truth.

It's been alleged that the true genius of elite professional athletes is not their ability to jump, spike, or sprint, but rather their ability to manage their energy over the course of a grueling contest.

A championship team knows exactly how to do that. They always have something in the tank for the end.

The Warriors saved some for the end Saturday. The Thunder, running on empty, didn't know what hit them.

And it all played out in a manner you couldn't script —€” it'd be considered too cliche.

With 5:09, Durant isolated Andre Iguodala and hit a contested 15-foot jumper from the left block while falling to his left to give Oklahoma City a seven-point lead.

It was the kind of shot only Durant could hit with such perceived ease. It was the exact kind of shot the Thunder coaching staff don't want him to take in the critical moments of a closeout game —€” that kind of play was behind them.

Twelve seconds later, Thompson continued his heroics and hit a ridiculous, 28-foot, hand-in-his-face 3-pointer to cut the Thunder lead to four. It was an incredible shot, but it was only an answer for Durant's tremendous make on the other end of the court.

But what happened a minute later flipped the game, the series, and perhaps the next decade of NBA basketball.

The Thunder possessed the ball with 4:31 remaining, leading by that same four-point margin, and Durant once again isolated Iguodala on the left side of the court. He wanted that 15-foot, falling-to-the-left jumper off the left block, and he got what he wanted: But this time, he missed. The Warriors saw it coming —€” Harrison Barnes came over for a last-second double-team and he and Iguodala affected the shot.

Under the hoop, Draymond Green — playing center despite having five fouls — outmuscled 7-footer Steven Adams for position, knocking the ball off the big man to give the Warriors possession.

Stephen Curry came down the court calmly, put the Warriors in their offensive motions, and eventually ran a pick-and-roll with Iguodala off the right wing.

The Thunder had to have seen that play at least 100 times on film, and they knew exactly what to do: Trap Curry with a double-team and force him to make a deep 3-pointer or an acrobatic pass to the open roller.

Through the first five-and-a-half games of the series, Curry —€” still recovering from a sprained MCL in his right knee, and playing somewhere between 70 and "91 percent" —€” had been able to do neither. The Thunder thought they had the back-to-back MVP right where they wanted him.

Only this time, he rose up from 26 feet and made the 3 with a shot so pure it popped the net —€” the Curry trademark.

Curry's legs had looked shot all series long —€” Thunder players had blocked two of his 3-pointers this series (Curry only had one 3-pointer blocked in the regular season). Now, they€” appeared to be back.

When Iguodala stole the ball from Durant on the following possession —€” he was trying to get a 15-foot fadeaway jumper from an isolation set, this time from the right side —€” and set up another 26-foot 3-pointer from Curry, it was no longer speculation.

Whether it was the adrenaline from desperation, or an elaborate rope-a-dope, Curry had waited until the very end to start playing like Steph Curry again.

The game was tied at 99 with 2:48 seconds remaining, but the Warriors were in complete control — not only of the game, but the series as well. Golden State scored the final nine points in Saturday's game, winning 108-101 and forcing a Game 7 Monday night in Oakland.

That game is yet to be played, but the outcome is hardly in doubt. Home teams win 80 percent of Game 7s in the NBA, and the Warriors, from the throes of desperation, have rediscovered their prodigious mojo.

The Warriors' "death" lineup, with Green at center, played 11 minutes Saturday, including the final 6:33 of the contest. It posted a net rating (points per 100 possessions) of 54.

Basketball is a game of rhythm, verve, and confidence. The Thunder held the confidence advantage the through the first five games of the series — a byproduct of both winning Game 1 and Curry's suboptimal performances. But Game 6 flipped the script. Curry has rediscovered his deep 3, and that opens up the Warriors' offense.

For the first time this series, the Warriors will carry confidence into a game. It just so happens it will likely be the most-watched non-NBA Finals game in recent league history —€” a pressure cooker of a contest. Forty-eight minutes of clutch.

The exact kind of contest the Oklahoma City Thunder don't want to play.

The Thunder will spend the next 40-or-so hours breaking down what went wrong and attempting to fix it in the abstract. They'll enter Game 7 —€” their 100th game of the year —€” thinking about how they should be playing. Hoping that in the most pressure-filled game of the season, the team that doesn't perform under pressure will figure it all out.

In the meantime, Game 6 will be dissected and re-packaged in a manner that best fits the desired narrative:€ The Warriors were too reliant on the 3-pointer. The Thunder missed 20 3-pointers. Durant is too good to play that poorly. The refereeing won't skew the outcome again. But Game 7 is an entirely different beast than Saturday's contest. Everything is on the line —€” including legacy —€” and biographies don't have major plot twists on the last page.

Will Saturday prove to be Durant's final home game in Oklahoma City? The soon-to-be free agent wants to win a title, and when the Thunder went up 3-1 in this series, it looked as this year was the franchise's best chance to get it done.

A collapse from that position of power would likely signal the end of one of the NBA's most dynamic, but ultimately inscrutable and disappointing partnerships.

And if Durant leaves, the impact will be felt around the league in a manner similar to when LeBron James departed Cleveland for Miami.

That possibility wouldn't be on the line if the Thunder held on for five more minutes Saturday. But they didn't, and so it is.

Meanwhile, the Warriors have staved off elimination in two straight games, coming through at the end to ensure they'll play again. They know what they're made of in tough situations — the same situations where the Thunder historically wilt.

Will this Golden State squad, the greatest regular-season team of all time, continue their quest to drop the adjective and be considered the greatest team of all time? Will Oklahoma City shed its past, both distant and recent, and finally come through when the lights shine brightest?