THREE WOLVES
Minnesota’s 3-pointers counter comeback bids
Russell Westbrook pulled both hands back and showed them to the official, waiting to hear his fate. Foul. His sixth. The Thunder trailed with 7.3 seconds left on the clock, and there was nothing more he could do.
He watched from the bench as Paul George’s last-ditch, final shot missed, and the Thunder fell to the Timberwolves 114-112 on Sunday night.
On the second night of a back-to-back, the Thunder couldn’t quite hold onto a fourth quarter comeback.
Westbrook, who scored 23 points on 19 shots, had his most efficient scoring game in weeks.
But even that, paired with another 30-plus point game from George wasn’t quite enough at Chesapeake Energy Arena.
“I think we did a good job going down the stretch,” Thunder forward Jerami Grant said. “Could have made a couple more shots, got a couple more stops, but I’m comfortable with what we did.”
That’s all it came down to.
The Thunder’s second comeback of the night was on with just shy of seven minutes left in the game, Westbrook jumped into the passing lane to pick off a pass by
Minnesota’s Jerryd Bayless.
He took off for a transition layup but was fouled on the way up. After the surge of energy Westbrook injected into the arena with his steal, the cheers fell to a hush as he air-balled the first of two free throws.
But Westbrook didn’t let that take the air out of him. On the next possession, he drained a 3-pointer on his first attempt from beyond the arc all game.
George followed that up with a 3-pointer of his own to cut the Timberwolves’ lead to four points. The arena erupted in cheers. The Thunder fans had endured the disappointment of their team squandering one comeback already, but they were ready to believe that this time would be different. Westbrook seemed to think so, too.
Every time Westbrook did something good in that fourth quarter, the Timberwolves countered.
George found Westbrook on a backdoor cut to put the Thunder within two points. Robert Covington matched him.
Westbrook drove to the basket to tie the game and found Adams under the basket for the go-ahead bucket. Dario Saric drained a 3-pointer.
Westbrook got into a rhythm driving to the basket, scoring four layups in the final period.
“Obviously they know that’s coming,” Westbrook said.
“They pack the paint. My job is to make the right play.”
On his last offensive play of the night, Westbrook made what coach Billy Donovan, too, called the right play.
With 10 seconds left in the game, Abrines missed a 3-point shot that would have given the Thunder a two-point lead.
Then finally, Westbrook, who finished the night with 23 points, 10 rebounds and 11 assists, fouled out for the second consecutive game.
The game had fallen apart for the Thunder before the fourth quarter. The Timberwolves retook the lead in the third quarter with the help of three 3-pointers in 17-4 run. That wiped away the Thunder’s earlier efforts to scrape back from a 35-25 first quarter deficit.