Westbrook’s shot falls flat in OKC loss
DALLAS — With 1.7 seconds left, Russell Westbrook double-clutched in the corner, surprisingly one of few times he did all night with an opportunity to shoot.
Westbrook didn’t shoot every time he had an opportunity. Sometimes, he was slotting a pass to a teammate or at least hesitating before putting up one of his 18 attempts in a 105-103 loss to the Mavericks on Sunday.
But the way he was shooting — clean looks or contested — the hesitance should have been even greater.
Westbrook’s final heave was his eighth miss in eight tries from 3-point range. Before that, the Thunder trailing 104-103 after consecutive botched possessions, he kept his head up while tiptoeing the baseline.
He was looking for Paul George, the hot hand. Too late. George, who scored a game-high 32 points, netted the Thunder’s
final 13 points of the fourth quarter to put OKC ahead 103-99 with 1:12 remaining, but his final shot attempt missed off Westbrook’s pass.
From 1:12 on, the Thunder went scoreless the rest of the game.
Westbrook was coming off a brilliant finish to the Thunder’s win in Phoenix in which he scored 15 points in the fourth quarter. This was not Phoenix, however, and the Thunder was not its normal self in the third quarter, typically its best period of the season.
Westbrook stayed with Dennis Smith as he cut back and forth behind a screen, but tried to jump in front of Smith for a steal which resulted in a 3-pointer. Then, West-
brook was a step late getting to Smith curling to the corner for another 3.
It wasn’t just Westbrook who offset the Thunder’s 3-point defense, which gave up four 3-pointers to start the third. Jerami Grant helped off his man on the perimeter and 19-yearold Luka Doncic smartly recognized it on a drive, kicking out to the perimeter for another 3.
The Thunder missed its first 10 shots of the third quarter. OKC’s first points didn’t come until George hit a technical foul shot at 7:26. That was the first fatal stretch on the first night of a back-to-back.
The close was fatal, too.
The Thunder led 103100 when Westbrook’s pass to George on the perimeter was picked off by Harrison Barnes, who was fouled and made two free throws to cut the Thunder’s lead to one.
Before Westbrook's missed jumper with 37.7 seconds left, he let George take the reins, not shooting since the 5:20 mark. Smith scored on a hanging layup, his second game-winner in as many seasons against the Thunder.
When Westbrook came back into the game with 7:21 left, the Thunder’s reserves had worked tirelessly to cut the Mavericks’ lead to 88-86 with a 13-4 run to start the fourth quarter.
Westbrook was working tirelessly as well. He was all over Doncic on the perimeter, keeping his hands back to not foul, yet Doncic took a step left with the shot clock under five and splashed a 3-pointer for the 93-90 lead. To get to 90, Westbrook combined on the Thunder’s prettiest play of the night, diving into the first row on defense to save the ball and start the fast break, which led to a Patrick Patterson dunk.
The blueprint was pretty clear, even if it took Westbrook 32 minutes to figure it out. For almost five minutes he did until he didn’t.