For the tenth time in the last eleven road games the Oklahoma City Thunder won an NBA game. It wasn’t easy though for the Thunder in hanging on against a decimated Detroit Piston team which is one of the worst in the Eastern Conference.
The Thunder almost squandered a fifteen point second half lead before it took a clutch three from Danilo Gallinari to seal the win with around ten seconds left.
With the win Oklahoma City improves to 38-24 and remain as the No. 6 seed in the West. The realistic goal for the Thunder is to avoid the Lakers and Clippers in the first round.
Four Thunder players scored in double figures with Shai G. Alexander leading the way with a 27 point night. Next in line was Dennis Schroder with 23 points. Both Gallinari and Chris Paul tallied in double figures as well 19 and 16 points.
Steven Adams, Lu Dort, Nerlens Noel, and Abdel Nader were okay, but nothing special.
For some reason Billy Donovan keeps playing this season’s version of Alex Abrines in Terrance Ferguson and it is painful to watch. In 20 minutes of playing time–Ferguson scored two points, grabbed one rebound and was a -4.
It’s tough to watch because it’s apparent the kid’s confidence he can play well consistently at this level isn’t there. Hopefully, when rookie Darius Bazely returns from the injured reserve list Billy Donovan will limit Ferguson’s role to minor minutes.
With twenty games left in the regular season the Thunder need to go 12-8 to reach the 50 win plateau. When you figure in April the Thunder have a road back to back versus the Lakers and Clippers… in essence the Thunder would need to go 12-6 in the other eighteen games to get to fifty wins. Maybe–but not much room for error.
Next up…the NY Knicks on the road where the Thunder should win their eleventh road game out of the last twelve.