SAN FRANCISCO — For most of the first half Wednesday night at Chase Center, the gap between the first- and second-place teams in the NBA’s Western Conference was so wide that you couldn’t see each other with the naked eye.

The second-ranked Warriors, deeply weakened without superstar point guard Stephen Curry, spent 20 minutes testing their physical limits but found no answers to the problems posed by conference-top seed Oklahoma City.

It wasn’t until the last four minutes of the half that the Warriors found their fury. They ended the half on a 12-5 run, and the momentum continued into the third quarter as they outscored the Thunder 20-12 in the first six minutes. They won the quarter by 11 points, energizing the sellout crowd (18,064) and restoring faith in themselves.

Defense and some high-speed play from the second unit turned a game that wasn’t into a game that was — until Golden State’s offensive deficiencies resurfaced late and were to blame for a 105-101 loss that went into the never welcome “morality” flows into the victory file.

“We were terrible in the first quarter,” coach Steve Kerr said. “But I liked everything I saw in the last three quarters. The energy, the defense, the rotations. The boys were flying around with lots of good individual contributions. This is our team. This is us.”

After trailing by as many as 19, the Warriors rode waves created by slow-mo Euros from Kyle Anderson, Pat Spencer’s guts, Draymond Green’s blocks, Brandin Podziemski’s guts, Jonathan Kuminga’s bursts and Buddy Hield’s triples.

It was Golden State’s defense that kept the Thunder from pulling away. With OKC hitting 51.1 percent in the first half but shooting just 39.5 percent in the second, there were enough open doors, alleys and streets for the Warriors to be a surprise with two or three goals down the stretch Victory could have been jogged.

But effort and good intentions are no match for a goal drought that lasts longer than five minutes. The Warriors’ comeback hopes were high when an Anderson layup with 5:45 left gave them a 96-93 lead. Hope faded when they missed their next 14 shots.

“I don’t think we made any great decisions in the last five minutes,” Kerr said. “It’s pick-and-roll time late in the game, and with Steph out, it makes it a little more difficult for our team.”

The Warriors missed 27 of 46 shots (41.3 percent) while passing. They shot 7 of 28 in the fourth quarter, including 4 of 15 in the paint. For a team so reliant on its depth — which on paper is a tangible asset — the Warriors looked remarkably unimpressive without Curry available to expand the offensive options.

Andrew Wiggins and Kuminga tried to close the scoring gap late in the game, but combined to score 1 of 8 points in the fourth quarter. Only Anderson was able to muster an effective offense with eight points on 3 of 4 shooting.

The result was a series of empty possessions, with Green pointing the finger at himself because the offense stalled. That’s brave, but not entirely accurate.

“I just need to calm down and make sure we’re on to something,” Green said. “Do a few sets. We were a little scattered and that’s on me.

“When the game gets to this point, someone has to slow the game down and get us into a set. I’m the veteran out there. I’m the one with the most experience out there. So I have to get my head out of my ass, get the ball and get us in a set. Something that would be beneficial for all of us.”

“Everyone wanted it. JK came to the hole; he wanted it. (Wiggins) got into the paint a couple of times; he wanted it. (Podziemski) did too. But our spacing wasn’t right, allowing them to collapse on the paint. And we didn’t have the right kick-outs because our spacing wasn’t right because we couldn’t get into anything. It was just guys making plays themselves.”

The Thunder (14-4) left town still in first place, while the Warriors (12-6) entered the night with their third straight loss and fell one game behind the second-place Houston Rockets to third place.

Curry, sitting out with pain in both knees, watched from the bench. Kerr is optimistic he will return to face the Suns in Phoenix on Saturday. But on this night, the absence of the NBA’s reigning clutch player of the year was too much for Golden State’s offense.

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