Carmelo Anthony ‘fine’ with sitting in fourth quarter of lopsided loss
DALLAS — Carmelo Anthony’s shots were dropping, but the Thunder was falling further behind.
And so, even after Anthony posted a highscoring third quarter in Saturday’s loss to the Dallas Mavericks, he sat for the entire fourth.
Anthony’s fourthquarter absence wasn’t related to his play or a need for rest, Thunder coach Billy Donovan said. Anthony lingered late in the locker room in part because he was with the medical staff, but a team spokesman called it normal postgame treatment.
Anthony didn’t take issue with sitting
“(Donovan) just saw how the game was going at the time that I was supposed to come back in and we was already down 20-something points,” Anthony said. “So he went with the group that was out there. But I’m fine with that.”
Anthony, who averages 7.5 fourth-quarter minutes per game, had logged 27 minutes on Saturday, on the second night of a back-to-back.
He typically leaves the game late in the third quarter, and exited with 2:06 to play in the third on Saturday.
Anthony had 16 points on 6-of-12 shooting against the Mavs, making 4 of 7 3-pointers. He scored 11 points in the third quarter, making 4 of 6 shots and 3 of 4 3-pointers in 10 minutes.
But the Mavericks led by as many as 26 points in the fourth, and the Thunder outscored the Mavs 26-19 in the quarter with Jerami Grant playing 11 minutes and Nick Collison 8 minutes off the bench.
“It was nothing to do with Carmelo — trying to rest him or not play him or anything else like that,” Donovan said. “I thought he played a very good second half. I thought he shot the ball well from behind the line. But I thought with the way the game was going, that group was kind of playing well and I just decided to stick with them.”
Triple trouble
Oklahoma City gave up 15 3-pointers to Dallas on Saturday, a night after Detroit made 14 in a 99-98 win in OKC. The two teams went a combined 29 of 72 (40.3 percent) from behind the line.
Of those 72 attempts, 40 were what the NBA classifies as “wide open” shots, in which the nearest defender is 6 feet or more from the shooter. The Pistons and Mavericks combined to hit 18 of those 40 attempts.
Some of those shots came in transition, the result of the Thunder not getting back defensively. In the halfcourt, “it all starts on the ball,” Donovan said. Dribble penetration leads to help defense, and good ball-movement teams can turn that into open 3-point opportunities.
“Once the penetration starts and you have two people on the ball and it gets kicked out, you’re constantly scrambling to catch back up,” Donovan said. “I’d say that was probably the similarity between both games.”
Fresh Ferguson
Terrance Ferguson played a season-high 21 minutes against the Mavericks on Saturday, scoring a season-high seven points.
Donovan said the “main reason” he played Ferguson was to rest Andre
Roberson, who “played his heart out” in 42 minutes against Detroit on Friday.
Typically Roberson gets a breather from
Alex Abrines, the slumping shooting guard who has made 3 of his last 16 3-pointers. Abrines played 2 minutes late in the fourth quarter against Dallas.
“I thought Terrance having some fresh legs and some energy could come in and give us maybe a little pop,” Donovan said. “I thought he played well.”