The moral of the story: don’t write off the Warriors' young big men too soon.



The trip to Oklahoma City was surprisingly revelatory even though these games are but a formality for the Warriors, locked in as the No. 2 seed. And it wasn’t that the defending champs sent a pretty loud message to the Thunder, should they meet in the playoffs.



Tuesday’s 111-107 win at Oklahoma City made a first-round matchup between these teams more likely but the Thunder know the Warriors can do damage to them even in OKC, where the home team cruised the last meeting. The Warriors got it done without four key players: Stephen Curry, Andre Iguodala, Shaun Livingston and Kevon Looney. The undermanned Warriors controlled the game, withstood a push from OKC and, again, reminded the Thunder of its inferiority.



But the real revelation was Damian Jones.



Against one of the toughest matchups the Warriors will face at the center position, in the Thunder’s...