Pistons fire past Thunder
OKC lost, 99-98.
Russell Westbrook motioned with two hands to “get back” after his knifing drive and score. A defensive stand later, the Thunder was locked in and had an umpteenth life with five seconds to go.
The Thunder shouldn’t have been in this position.
When Westbrook’s 3-pointer missed and he shed the sleeve from his left arm, another collapse was complete, two days after the apex of the Thunder’s season against Golden State.
In a 99-98 loss to Detroit on Friday, the Thunder saw its offense crater and its focus wane in another second half of lapses and missed opportunities.
Earlier in the day, Westbrook was asked about the momentum of the win over the Warriors. He quickly shot that down, saying that game was over.
“That’s what we do,” Westbrook said. “So for me, that’s normal. That’s just how I feel about it. It’s not like, ‘Oh, that was crazy what we did.’”
In actuality, the Thunder winning games this season in which it accumulates a double-digit leads is crazy. The Thunder led 59-49 at halftime Friday, but lost for the seventh time when leading by double digits this season.
A lead that was once 15 evaporated quickly on those same issues of focus the Thunder has struggled with when leading big. In the third quarter, the Pistons came down on the fast break and no one was within 15 feet of Reggie Jackson from 3-point range. Westbrook fumbled the ball then committed a clear-path foul on Avery Bradley, leading to two free throws. Paul George slow-rocked a
dribble with no urgency, committing a shot-clock violation in a three-point game.
“That’s one play,” Donovan said of Jackson’s wide-open 3 that cut an eight-point Thunder lead to five midway through the third. “For us, we scored 39 points in the second half, and we’re a better team than that.”
The Thunder shot 17-of-51 in the second half, scoring just 18 points in the third quarter and 21 in the fourth. The most frustrating time for the Thunder was the final five minutes.
Westbrook finished with his league-leading sixth triple-double of the season (27 points, 11 rebounds, 10 assists) but was 1-of-10 from 3-point range, 0-of-5 in the final 4:03.
“It happens like that sometimes,” Westbrook said of the Thunder missing opportunities at second-chance shots in the fourth. “We know we put ourselves in the position to win the game. Sometimes the ball doesn’t go in the basket.”
Donovan thought the Thunder’s offense moved well in the final stretch, but most of the shot attempts came on frenetic offensive rebounding with little results.
Whereas in the first half the Thunder turned a 26-13 rebounding advantage into 14 second-chance points, the late effort on the boards didn’t translate into buckets. The Thunder had four offensive rebounds in the final five minutes, yet the only second-chance points came, from all places, an Andre Roberson 3-pointer.
And Westbrook’s final shot which fell so many times before last season, didn’t in the clutch against the Pistons. But the slippage began far before the final buzzer.
“We didn’t do a good enough job of communicating on some plays,” George said. “I know some in transition, couple guys got a couple free looks. Those were possessions we could’ve cut out.
“Then on some possessions, the switching that we’ve been so good at, I thought we had a lack of communication there as well. Just what it came down to. We weren’t tied in when we needed it most.”