BEAR ESCAPE
Coming from behind, the Thunder down the Grizzlies, 99-95
Russell Westbrook pumpfaked and eyed the basket from the left wing.
“No!” a fan yelled.
The same fan had dissuaded him from shooting his last 3-point shot, which he missed with two minutes on the clock. Yet again, Westbrook ignored his advice.
This time, Westbrook drained the 3-pointer to tie the game.
The Thunder went on to snap its four-game losing streak with a 99-95 win over the Grizzlies at Chesapeake Energy Arena on Sunday. After struggling with his shot all game and heaving up three misses from three-point range in the fourth quarter alone, Westbrook snapped into closer mode in the last minute of the game.
The Thunder (39-24) was missing Paul George for the third-straight game due to right shoulder soreness. But the Grizzlies were shorthanded, too. Memphis' injury list included Mike Conley (general soreness), Kyle Anderson (right shoulder soreness), Dillon Brooks (right toe injury), and Jaren Jackson Jr. (right deep thigh bruise).
Still, the Thunder needed a timely 3-pointer from Westbrook to tie the Grizzlies (25-40) with just over a minute left in the game.
“That's what makes him the players he is,” OKC coach Billy Donovan said of Westbrook having the confidence to take that shot. “… The guys that have high-level talent, what separates them to me is how they handle adversity, both personally and collectively as a team.”
On the Thunder's next possession, Jerami Grant grabbed
a defensive rebound and threw it out to Westbrook. Westbrook pulled up for a midrange jump shot, which gave the Thunder a 95-93 lead with 32.9 seconds on the clock.
The Thunder never trailed again, with Terrance Ferguson first draining two free throws and then Dennis Schroder grabbing a rebound off Avery Bradley's miss to seal the game.
The first three quarters went much like the Thunder's previous four losses had. The Thunder trailed for much of it, by as many as 13. OKC claimed a brief lead in the second quarter after the second unit showed improvement. But then it was gone again.
Before the game, Grizzlies coach J.B. Bickerstaff said not having to face George is “different because now … it's going to be a ton of Russell and the pressures he can put on you — the pace that he can play at, him being able to get into the paint, the fouls that he's able to draw, the shots that he's able to create for other people.
“So you can try to focus your defense there and try to keep him in front of you, but you still have to respect the other guys that are around him.”
Westbrook's night started off with a technical foul about two minutes into the game, although he tried to argue that he was just talking to himself, not official James Capers.
The Grizzlies then succeeded in keeping Westbrook in front of them, while the Thunder as a whole shot just 35 percent from the field. Westbrook took 13 of his 20 shots from 3-point range and made just four from beyond the arc.
The last of those four was perfectly timed.