After tasting the team's first back-to-back loss this season, the Golden State Warriors will host the Oklahoma City Thunder for a must-win Game Five of their best-of-seven Western Conference Finals series at the Oracle Arena on Thursday.

The reigning NBA kings are trailing behind 3-1 in the series following their 118-94 defeat in Game Four at the Chesapeake Energy Arena on Tuesday. The Warriors are on the brink of losing their grip on the NBA Championship crown if the Kevin Durant and Russell Westbrook-led Thunder prevail in Game Five.

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"Well, it's a sense of reality staring us in the face. We're down 3-1," Steve Kerr said on Wednesday. "Momentum can shift quickly in the playoffs. We've seen that the last couple years. Let's take care of business at home, get some momentum back and we've got a chance."

In the Golden State's 73 victories this season, the Warriors won 39 games at home and lost just two matches at Oakland in the regular season.  They had a 7-1 win-lose record in the Oracle in the playoffs, with the solitary defeat being handed by the Thunder in the opener of their series.

The Thunder, who had been viewed as the series underdogs, suddenly became almost impossible to beat. In their two-straight victories, they have beaten the Warriors in big margins of 20-plus points. Oklahoma City won by 28 points in Game Three (133-105) and by 24 points in Game Four (118-94).

"Every game you have a sense of urgency, it's the playoffs and you know what everybody's playing for. We've just got to come out there and be who we are," Durant said. "We can't put too much pressure on ourselves. We have to go out, play the game, and play with passion and energy. And we know the whole crowd's going to be against us and we have to stick together even more."

TagsNBA, Golden State Warriors, Oklahoma City Thunder, Stephen Curry, Kevin Durant, Russell Westbrook