Missed it by thaaaaat much: Thunder comes up just short against L.A.
(AP Photo/Sue Ogrocki)
After a game like that, you tell yourself not to be sad. You tell yourself to look at the improvement. You tell yourself to look at a young, evolving team hanging with the NBA champs and taking them to the brink. You tell yourself that your team played its heart out and gave everything it had.
You tell yourself these things. But it doesn’t make you feel any better. In the end, it just sucks to lose. Especially when you’re that close to a big time win.
The Thunder took the Lakers to overtime, but came up just short, 101-98. And it’s not like the chances weren’t there. They were right there. The ball in your possession with 25 seconds left in a tie game. That’s what you want. Down one with 30 seconds left and a stud scorer waiting to take the shot. You want that. But both times, it didn’t work out for Oklahoma City.
The ball went to Kevin Durant both times and both times, KD came up with all air. It’s not like Durant was having an off night again – he scored 28 points on 10-24 shooting. He had a good night. Without him, OKC isn’t in the position it was. But what’s weird, is that Durant went 0-8 from 3. He’s actually 2-20 from deep on the season and has missed his last 13. I don’t know what the deal is, but it’s clearly a mental thing. Like I wrote in the last postgame, sometimes you just want the ball to go in so bad, that it just won’t. All you need to break out of it is to see it go through one time. Don’t worry about KD. He’ll be fine. And think about this: The Thunder’s hanging tough with their super-stud player not playing up to his potential. And we all know he will soon. So in a backwards way, this is encouraging.
One thing though: KD had 20 points at the half and only eight the rest of the way. He didn’t take a shot in the fourth until his attempted game winner. Of course you’d love the ball to go to your star and it’s a bit curious, but no complaints here. The Thunder was scoring because of hustle and ball movement. OKC didn’t need Durant to try and take the game over. It was all about scrapping and clawing and just getting the ball in the bucket. If Durant was a part of that, so be it. But I don’t think it was a matter of KD not wanting the ball or being passive or anything. It was just kind of the way it worked out.
Even if OKC had won the game and even if KD had hit the game-winner, the MVP of this game was Thabo Sefolosha. You see the box score and see Kobe went for 31 on 9-22 shooting. Maybe you’d assume Thabo just did decent work on The Mamba. But Thabo absolutely tormented Bryant tonight. He stripped him, blocked him, frustrated him, pushed him, pulled him and in general, just pissed him off. You can’t say enough good stuff about the way Thabo played tonight. He had four steals, hit two gigantic 3s and just made play after play after play. His strip of Kobe toward the end of regulation almost was the biggest moment of the night. If only KD could have knocked down a shot.
But you know what’s funny? As AWESOME as Thabo was, he finished as a minus-16 on the night. Yep, the only reason OKC was even in this thing was a big negative in plus/minus. Plus/minus has it’s value and I’ll always say that, but this kind of illustrates its flaws. Thabo was on the floor when the Lakers jumped out to an early first quarter lead and that put his plus/minus out of whack early. James Harden was in during the comeback. And while Harden made some big time shots and plays, he finished as plus-16. But in reality Thabo was far more valuable. Funny how that works.
As good as OKC played and as big a win this would have been, it’s pretty clear the Lakers weren’t at full strength. Kobe was a bit under the weather. No Pau Gasol. And in general, L.A. was just sloppy. The Lakers turned it over 24 times and made a lot of dumb plays. The Lakers outshot OKC 52 percent to 43 percent, but the Thunder got up 15 more shots than L.A. A lot of that was just because of effort.
A couple quick hits:
- Again, Etan Thomas was excellent. The big man finished with nine points and 11 rebounds and was just mean in the post. Doesn’t matter if he’s all alone on the glass – he’s swinging wildly when comes down with the ball. He had three huge blocks and did a much better job on Andrew Bynum than Nenad Krstic. I’m tempted to say he should be starting, but when Krstic is on with his jumper, he’s a huge part of the offense. Tonight, the jumper really wasn’t hitting and that’s why Thomas saw 32 minutes and Krstic just 14.
- Through four games, Jeff Green has been the most consistent player for the Thunder. He had another nice line – 18 points on 6-12 with five rebounds. And he’s doing a nice job defensively as Lamar Odom had just 13 points and eight rebounds.
- How about that charge James Harden took on Kobe? Harden read it perfectly, saw exactly where Kobe was going and stepped in and took it. Beautiful play.
- Kevin Durant finished with seven turnovers. Russell Westbrook six.
- However, Westbrook played a really nice game. His energy sparked the team down the stretch in the fourth. He had 12-6-7 on the night and while his turns aren’t awesome, he really played a big game.
- Durant logged another 45 and Green 44. I fear these minutes are catching up to these guys.
- How about Lamar Odom airballing a free throw with a chance to seal the deal in OT? I like how he looked at his hands afterward as if the ball slipped or something. Riiiiiiight Mr. Kardashian.
- Etan Thomas has played so well, he’s actually cut in to Nick Collison’s minutes. Collison only got 14 minutes and had just three boards and no points.
- You tell me OKC is 2-2 with an OT loss to the Lakers heading to Houston and I’m taking it.
A thought on the last possession of regulation: I know it wasn’t good. It wasn’t at all what you want. The ball goes to Durant with 10 seconds left at the top of the key. You want that. You want the ball in KD’s hands at the end. But he took too much time getting himself steadied and decided to launch from 30-feet. He caught all air and now it looks really bad. But the thing is, I think that’s poor design. I think you want Westbrook driving and creating there. Durant isn’t much for creating his own shot off the dribble. You want KD taking the shot, but I like him being set up rather than being relied on to make it himself. If he nails it, we all celebrate and go home happy. But he didn’t and now it looks stupid. Just the way it is.
There is much to take from this game. All you could have hoped for coming in was a chance going into the fourth. And OKC held a two-point lead. Sure, winning would have been awesome. Losing sucks. But considering where we’re at and where they’re at, I think this is something to build on. Durant will be better. Westbrook is getting better. The team is beginning to find an identity on the defensive end. They’re gelling and believing. The good times are coming and while maybe the Thunder didn’t get it done tonight, we’ll look back on this one later this year and point to it as a major step in the maturation of this squad.
Next up are the Rockets Friday night in Houston. Don’t worry kids, we’ll get ‘em next time.
As much as winning was important this year against LA this close loss is acceptable and still a confidence builder. I watched the game with 2 people who had never seen the thunder before, they liked westbrook, were frustreated by durants airballs and thought our uniforms are ugly.
Best post so far . . .
I concur . . .
If Durant is going to get all the praise when times are good, then he’s got to take the blame when he stinks it up . . .
he’s a man – he can take it –
he stunk – we know it, he knows it, he will make up for it later . . .
“The ball goes to Durant with 10 seconds left at the top of the key. You want that.”
I disagree. This is an NBA thing that I just don’t get. You put your best player at the top of the key, let him hold the ball while the defense gets set and then tell him to go 1 on 5 and force up a contested shot. This seems nuts to me, and it’s not just the Thunder who do this.
How about running Durant off a double screen on the baseline with about 5 seconds left and getting him a good look, or if the d helps pitch to the screener for a dunk. How about anything that will put pressure on the defense to guard everybody instead of setting up like a medieval castle. Call a play, execute it, get an open shot. Don’t just sit your player out there and have him jack up a terrible contested shot.
KD seemed torn up about the loss last night, and definitely blamed himself. What he needs to realize is that he can be just as valuable to our team as a passer as a scorer. If he drives the lane, 2-3 defenders are going to collapse on him EVERY TIME. Find the open man, Kevin.
And for the first time since the move to OKC, I feel good about our SG spot. Thabo has been phenomenal this season, and Harden’s perfect role is coming off the bench as a sixth man. Both knocked down shots consistently last night. SOOOOO glad we locked Thabo down before the deadline.
Let’s just hope that Russ’s recent turnover issues are the result of playing against better competition. I know we can’t expect 10+ dimes every night… But I had flashbacks to last year at times (i.e., driving into the lane without a good idea of what he’s going to do, throwing wild shots, trying to squeeze the ball between 3 defenders, etc.).
@Josh
I actually agree, I just meant that as you want the ball in Durant’s hands to finish the game. And he had his chance.
enough hasn’t been said about Thabo’s OFFENSE was awesome down the stretch!
agree with Josh – that was the WORST possession of the game, and not becuase it as the final one in regulation . . .
I can confidently say that this team has a 3-part recipe for winning:
1) Defense
2) Ball movement
3) Limit turnovers
If we can do this consistently, these close games will start falling our way.
Part of RW’s turnover total can be forgiven. Why? He’s just now turned into a willing passer. Some of his passes are off the mark. For example, sometimes he forgets to lead the passer and the pass ends up behind the receiver. Others are bounce passes at a bad angle. Sometimes he tries to pass through a narrow crease, and the defense closes in to pick it off. I can deal with those – as he continues to pass, he will get better at it, and the mistakes above will decrease.
It’s a far cry from last year’s (and in the Portland game) turnovers. IMO these are bad turnovers. Travelling, losing the ball in traffic while driving 1 on 2 or 1 on 3, getting stuffed, etc.
@kev
The most frustrating turnovers last night were KD’s in my opinion. Toward the end of regulation, he had a 12 foot jumper on the left elbow, and instead of taking the shot he tried to dump it off to Thomas. It was deflected and stolen… these kinds of wasted possessions in crunch time really cost us last night.
We need to remember, though: Russ is 20, KD is 21. In many ways, they’re WELL above the curve for their age. KD looked unstoppable in the first half last night, and Russ had some very nice drives to the basket. They still haven’t quite figured out how to close games out, but that part of their games will come, too. In time, they’ll learn what’s expected of them in different phases of the game.
right with kev on this one..
KD for one shouldn’t have shot from that far out leaving 2 ticks on the clock. I think with the shot clock he could have took it to 1…1 second difference sure..but if Thabo doesn’t get the steal…we are that much closer to a Kobe turnaround game winner.
For one I think we should have driven in and passed out…like last yr when KD could make em from anywhere…catch and shoot..not catch and dribble dribble dribble, throw up a prayer.
I want to see Etan starting, Harden stepping up more from the bench. Also either RW needs to learn now when to press it and when to hold up (like say when it’s 1 on 3…maybe set up a play?) or see Ollie in a lil more. He is a safe guy. He always makes the pass then gets open to switch the court if need be.
Say what you want about Durant last night, but that moment at the end of the fourth quarter, when he was one-on-one with Kobe at the top of the key, dribbing the clock about before taking the last shot, was intense. It gave me goosebumps.
Sure, he airballed the shot, but how many moments did we have like that last year? The crowd was up and cheering, it just seemed like an important moment.
Remember, Kobe had moments like that (in the playoffs against Utah) as a rookie where he airballed buzzer-beaters, and he has said it drove him to be a better player. I imagine it does the same to KD.
@Dylan
Last yr when KD couldn’t miss..they were almost always catch and shoot situations..from the corner, from the top of the key, heck from well beyond the 3 almost falling out of bounds…money.
KD isn’t a dribble in place for a while then shoot type of player..either catch and shoot or dribble, penatrate, and pass.
and I do hope this makes KD a better player..he seems to be very depressed after this one. Glad to see Green go right up to him after the miss though and tell him good decision and good shot..havin each others backs
Anyone mention the +/-? Look at the boxscore link to ESPN. My first take is that the starters for the Lakers outplayed OKC’s, and our bench outplayed theirs. Wouldn’t have thought Thabo had the highest – and Harden the best + . On another note–let’s hear it for defense! This is waaaaaaay ahead of where I expected this team to be defensively. This is a really good sign. And Thomas is giving everyone (fans, coaches, management, especially PLAYERS) a reminder of what it is like to have a hard-nosed, smart, and intense center on the team. We NEED a player like him, if not the man himself. He may be more valuable as a trade chip at the deadline with the way he is playing, but I hope some of him rubs off on Ibaka, White, and especially Mullens.
I certainly agree as Thabo was a huge reason why we went to OT at all. Just wish he could have hit that last open 3 to tie us up late in OT. Hard to fault him on that one though due to his play up to that point.
I haven’t seen anyone here mentioning how the refs handed the game to you guys and you STILL couldn’t win. Weird.
@CJ
I guess that would be because it didn’t happen?