With Sunday’s game ‘teetering,’ Felton helps stabilize Thunder
The game was “teetering a little bit.”
That’s the way Thunder coach Billy Donovan described it Sunday, after his team escaped the short-handed Spurs 90-87 at Chesapeake Energy Arena. San Antonio had rallied from 14 down in the first half into a fourth-quarter lead, and Oklahoma City was on unstable footing.
Raymond Felton helped it get settled.
The Thunder’s backup point guard scored four of his eight points in the fourth quarter on a pair of tough buckets.
His tough driving basket with 10:04 to play — he got to the rim and finished a contested layup over Spurs center Joffrey-Lauvergne — put the Thunder in front 78-77 after San Antonio had rallied into the lead.
Felton’s floater with 5:50 to play put OKC up 82-79.
“That’s what he brings to this team; that’s what I’ve known,” teammate Carmelo Anthony said. “I’ve seen it ever since high school.”
Anthony and Felton became familiar as prep stars, then played together for the Knicks in New York, and Anthony more than anyone on the Thunder knows the benefits of the fearless Felton.
Donovan is learning them, too. The Thunder coach before the game said that even as he’s tweaked his bench rotations, he has confidence in his second unit “because Raymond is out there.”
He made his presence known on Sunday.
“He’s willing to take those shots, and sometimes they go and sometimes they don’t,” Anthony said. “But you can’t make ‘em if you don’t take ‘em.”
Foul troubles
Paul George had a frustrating Sunday night, finishing with eight points on 2-for-17 shooting and four fouls.
Asked about officiating after the game, George first declined to answer, saying “Next question” with a smile.
But asked about keeping his rhythm through frustration, George couldn’t pass up a second chance to answer.
“It’s hard. It’s hard,” George said. “Especially when the game is being called a certain way. It’s just cheap fouls. And on the other end I tried to attack and, ‘They’re gonna call it this way let me see if I can pick up some of these cheap fouls that they’re giving,’ and no call. You kind of expect that, when everybody’s out for San Antonio, you really think they was gonna put them in foul trouble? So it is what it is.”
Abrines returns
Alex Abrines had a clean look from long range, and as he let it fly, one fan in Chesapeake Energy Arena seemed to speak for all of them.
“Go in!” he yelled. It didn’t.
But while that secondquarter attempt misfired Abrines — whose playing time has dwindled, and whose absence from the court the past two games was a coach’s decision — sank a 3-pointer in the second half.
It was one of two shots Abrines made in the game. He finished with five points on 2-for-5 shooting, including 1 for 4 from 3-point range. It was Abrines’ first made 3-pointer since a loss at New Orleans on Nov. 20. Abrines is 4 for his last 20 from long range.
Donovan said the Spurs presented “good matchups” for Abrines, who played 15 minutes, the most game action he’s seen since that New Orleans game.
“Hopefully him maybe finding his rhythm will help him kind of get going a little bit,” Donovan said. “I thought this was a great game for him to get out there and play.”