The Golden State Warriors entered Saturday just two days removed from perhaps their greatest win of the season — a shorthanded upset victory over the Houston Rockets at the Toyota Center that needed all 48 minutes, then an extra five in overtime, to get the job done.

They wouldn't get much time to celebrate, though, with their next matchup coming against the No. 1 team in the NBA, the Oklahoma City Thunder. With Steph Curry and others still out for the Warriors, while the Thunder were missing Jalen Williams and Chet Holmgren, it was a bit of a watered-down event. However, the Warriors did see the return of Kristaps Porzingis, playing for just the second time in a Warriors uniform after he finally got healthy from his illness.

Despite the juice that Porzingis brought and career-high 22 points from Gui Santos, the Warriors just couldn't pull off another crazy upset. Done in by a Shai Gilgeous-Alexander stepback three over Draymond Green that put the nail in the coffin, the Warriors lost, 107-94.

The Thunder were largely carried on offense by Gilgeous-Alexander, as the reigning MVP and Finals MVP created his own shots, as well as kicking it out to his fellow teammates on the wings.

The Warriors did a solid job against his shooting, holding him to 6-15 from the field and making that dagger three the only triple he made all night, but SGA still managed to rack up 27 points behind a staggering 14-15 night at the free-throw line.

After the game, Steve Kerr spoke about how difficult it is to play against Gilgeous-Alexander.

"He's incredibly clever. He knows exactly how to draw contact, and it's all within the rules. I don't have a problem with Shai. I have a problem with the rules."

Kerr went on to describe what he views as the issue and called for the NBA to change something up as players continue to find ways to make big free-throw nights like this happen within the confines of the rules.

"As a league, (there's) too much off-arm. We hardly allow the defense to do anything guarding the ball, so if you allow the offensive player to push off with the off-arm, to create space, it makes it really tough defensively. If you put your arm in, everyone around the league will do what Shai does, what James Harden does: they'll hook your arm, and it's all part of the rules, so more power to all the individual players. As a league, we need to adapt and adjust. Year after year, players take advantage of the rules. They're smart, and they know what they're doing."

Gui Santos' rising success has been well-documented this year, but he added another quality game to his 2025-26 resume, scoring a career-high 22 points to go with 11 rebounds in 37 minutes.

That's now just the sixth time in Santos' career he's played over 30 minutes in a game, and all of those instances have come in the last month. In those six games, he's averaging over 15 points, 8 rebounds, 4 assists, and nearly 2 steals per game.

Santos was joined in double figures by only Brandin Podziemski and Draymond Green, a change from the Warriors' usual norm of having a multitude of players score 10+ points. Green had 16 points, the most he's ever had in a game at Oklahoma City — a bit of a surprising stat considering this was his 22nd game in OKC.

In his first action in two and a half weeks, Porzingis managed to play 23 minutes, though he did look visibly tired at some points. He finished the game with a team-high +6 in the plus/minus category and had 9 points, 5 rebounds, and 5 assists. Though he didn't shoot well, it was a good all-around performance that gives hope for what Porzingis can bring to the team if he can remain healthy.

The Warriors have a back-to-back on the near horizon, with a game on the road on Monday against the Utah Jazz and one at home on Tuesday against the Chicago Bulls. It's a chance to pick up two rebound wins against a couple of lesser teams, and hopefully to make it through this stretch to the reward of a healthy Curry on the other side.