{"id":82612,"date":"2025-06-07T09:13:15","date_gmt":"2025-06-07T09:13:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/82612\/"},"modified":"2025-06-07T09:13:15","modified_gmt":"2025-06-07T09:13:15","slug":"how-2024-25-thunder-similar-to-2014-15-warriors-per-draymond-green-nbc-sports-bay-area-california","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/82612\/","title":{"rendered":"How 2024-25 Thunder similar to 2014-15 Warriors, per Draymond Green \u2013 NBC Sports Bay Area &#038; California"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.basketball-reference.com\/players\/g\/greendr01.html\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Draymond Green<\/a> and <a href=\"https:\/\/www.basketball-reference.com\/players\/l\/livinsh01.html\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Shaun Livingston<\/a> noted similarities and differences between the current Oklahoma City Thunder team and <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nbcsportsbayarea.com\/nba\/golden-state-warriors\/shaun-livingston-thunder-pacers-finals\/1853721\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">the 2014-2015 Warriors<\/a> \u2013 Golden State\u2019s first title winner of the dynastic era \u2013 on Thursday night\u2019s edition of the \u201c<a href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/live\/BfVxzHQy4ZI?si=fuQyi-ArtVr3A6a9\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Draymond Green Show<\/a>\u201d podcast.<\/p>\n<p>Here\u2019s what Green had to say in the podcast, which aired soon after <a href=\"https:\/\/www.basketball-reference.com\/players\/h\/halibty01.html\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Tyrese Haliburton\u2019s<\/a> game-winner gave the Indiana Pacers a 1-0 series lead over Oklahoma City in the 2025 NBA Finals.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWhere I think they\u2019re similar is the age; young guys with a few vets, like [Isaiah] Hartenstein, but not <a href=\"https:\/\/www.basketball-reference.com\/players\/h\/holmgch01.html\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Chet [Holmgren<\/a>]; Shaun [Livingston], [<a href=\"https:\/\/www.basketball-reference.com\/players\/i\/iguodan01.html\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Andre Iguodala<\/a>], they weren\u2019t our age, so we kind of had that balance \u2013 and <a href=\"https:\/\/www.basketball-reference.com\/players\/b\/bogutan01.html\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">[Andrew] Bogut<\/a>, [<a href=\"https:\/\/www.basketball-reference.com\/players\/l\/leeda02.html\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">David] Lee<\/a>, they were (also) the older guys.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>\u201c[Alex] Caruso has been there before, right? I think they&#8217;ve got a few vets like we had that kind of settles things down for them. And they got young guys, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.basketball-reference.com\/players\/g\/gilgesh01.html\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Shai [Gilgeous-Alexander]<\/a>, [<a href=\"https:\/\/www.basketball-reference.com\/players\/w\/willija06.html\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Jalen Williams]<\/a> just kind of out there running wild doing their thing, relying on their talent, obviously thinking the game, but not to the level of the vets \u2013 because they\u2019ve just seen more.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/p>\n<p>The Thunder remind Green of the old Warriors because of their dynamics being based around seasoned veterans in their 30s and stars in their 20s.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.basketball-reference.com\/players\/c\/curryst01.html\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Steph Curry<\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.basketball-reference.com\/players\/t\/thompkl01.html\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Klay Thompson<\/a> and Green formed Golden State&#8217;s headlining trio during its 2015 NBA Finals victory over the Cleveland Cavaliers, with the support of valuable role players such as Livingston, Iguodala, Bogut and Lee, to name a few.<\/p>\n<p>Oklahoma City has a similar situation around Gilgeous-Alexander, Williams and Holmgren, for example, with a strong supportive cast of players like Caruso and Hartenstein, who have been in the league for a while, each with high floors suitable for the playoffs.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe vets see more, they help you more; they\u2019re seeing these things develop,\u201d Green added. \u201cI think [the Thunder] are [similar] in that aspect. I\u2019ve seen the playoff record, very similar. Offensive rating, I think we were number one, they\u2019re like three. Defensive rating, we\u2019re both number one. I saw those things \u2026 The end-of-season record, they [won] 68, we [won] 67.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI see all of that stuff, and I see a young team that\u2019s gone through their lumps, and seems poised to take that final step. I can see those similarities, but the style of play couldn\u2019t be further from the same.\u201d<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.nbcsportsbayarea.com\/nba\/golden-state-warriors\/steph-curry-injury-shaun-livingston\/1853675\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Livingston had a similar stance<\/a> to Green. However, his perspective is from that of a player who was a Warriors veteran in 2014-15, unlike Green, who was an up-and-coming two-way star.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIt\u2019s definitely similar. [Green] nailed all the points,\u201d Livingston said about similarities between the Warriors and Thunder. \u201cListen, they were the best team by far this season \u2013 by far. And honestly, watching them too, they did not take games off; if they were supposed to beat a team they were a lot better than, they would beat the dog sh-t out of that team. The habits they were building, that\u2019s what I watched.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Livingston noticed how today\u2019s Thunder and those past Warriors didn\u2019t take games off. But he also pointed out how both teams, despite being a force every game, encountered uncharted territory as one of the last two teams standing.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWhen I came to [the Warriors], I had come from playing with <a href=\"https:\/\/www.basketball-reference.com\/players\/g\/garneke01.html\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Kevin Garnett<\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.basketball-reference.com\/players\/p\/piercpa01.html\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Paul Pierce<\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.basketball-reference.com\/players\/j\/johnsjo02.html\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Joe Johnson<\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.basketball-reference.com\/players\/w\/willide01.html\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Deron Williams<\/a>; these guys were kind of already cemented in their careers \u2013 former champions, veterans,\u201d Livingston said about his Brooklyn Nets tenure. \u201cThey had a mindset about winning, where they expected to win.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWhen I came to Golden State, they had already tasted winning, and I felt like they wanted to win \u2026 but none of us had been to the finals, similar to OKC.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Those Warriors won in their Finals debut; it\u2019s still to be determined if the Thunder will do the same.<\/p>\n<p>Green and Livingston, though, agreed that Oklahoma City is gaining great experience right now, regardless of the series outcome.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>The Thunder undoubtedly were the best team during the 2024-25 NBA season. But they had no way of preparing for the chaos the Pacers seem to embrace, despite <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nbcsportsbayarea.com\/nba\/golden-state-warriors\/draymond-green-finals-take-knicks\/1853609\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">entering the series<\/a> with a variety of top-notch statistics and 18 more regular-season wins.<\/p>\n<p>Oklahoma City needs to win four of its next six games to truly rival the old Golden State squad. Then, if things go well, three more trophies to match the Warriors\u2019 dynasty.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/dubs-talk-a-golden-state-warriors-podcast.simplecast.com\/episodes\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener nofollow\">Download and follow the Dubs Talk Podcast<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Draymond Green and Shaun Livingston noted similarities and differences between the current Oklahoma City Thunder team and the&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":82613,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3786],"tags":[7,200,479,164,4025,4024,6,9941,255],"class_list":{"0":"post-82612","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-golden-state-warriors","8":"tag-basketball","9":"tag-draymond-green","10":"tag-golden-state","11":"tag-golden-state-warriors","12":"tag-goldenstate","13":"tag-goldenstatewarriors","14":"tag-nba","15":"tag-shaun-livingston","16":"tag-warriors"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nba\/114641318963877967","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/82612","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=82612"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/82612\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/82613"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=82612"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=82612"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=82612"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}