Defeat may be costly for OKC

Steven Adams and the Oklahoma City Thunder have snatched defeat from the jaws of victory against the Boston Celtics.

A trio of late free-throws from Adams has not been enough for the Thunder as they lost an NBA game they should have won in Boston yesterday.

The Thunder seemed to have what would have been a crucial win in the bag when Carmelo Anthony went to the line with a 99-97 lead with just 8.4 seconds on the clock but he missed them both.

At the other end of the court, with just 1.8 seconds left on the clock, Marcus Morris hit a threepointer to put the Celtics in front 100-99.

Thunder star Russell Westbrook had a chance to win the game with a 29-foot three point jumper in the final second but his shot cannoned into the front of the rim.

Earlier, Westbrook nailed a pair of free throws to give the Thunder a 92-98 lead with just 24.7 seconds remaining but from there, things went downhill for the away team.

The two late fouls Adams drew at the offensive end should have been enough to get the Thunder home, especially considering the Celtics are still without injured stars Kyrie Irving and Jaylen Brown, but it wasn’t.

The loss takes the Thunder’s season record to 43-30. They went into the clash with plenty of momentum thanks to six straight victories.

The loss was a crippling blow to Oklahoma’s chances of finishing in the top four of the tight Western Conference.

Adams scored 14 points in his 37 minutes on court with six freethrows from 10 attempts. He drilled four from seven attempts from the floor.