For the second road game in a row on the OKC Thunder’s Black January schedule, the Thunder played well enough in the first 43 minutes or so to give itself a reasonable chance at a road victory. But for the second game in a row the Thunder withered in the final minutes as the ball stuck way too much in Russell Westbrook’s hands resulting in some bad shots down the stretch. For the record, the Bees or whatever their name is made enough plays, namely some big offensive rebounds in the final minutes and feasted on a cornucopia of free throws. I think I heard Brian Davis say the Bees went 40-49 at the line, so I’ll go with his number without checking nba.com because it’s late and I’m tired.
For those keeping track of such things, this marks the first time Charlotte has beaten the Thunder in the last twelve games. So consider, in this Durantless era so far in OKC, both the Hornets and the usually dysfunctional Sacramento Kings have ended mammoth losing streaks versus the Thunder during the first half of this season.
Prime among the culprits in this loss was Russell Westbrook. His judgement wasn’t stellar, he took way too many overall shots (10-31) and way too many threes (2-12) for a player who’s not a great three point shooter. But what sticks out the most is his decision making the final five minutes, as in it wasn’t what the Thunder need from their MVP canidate coming down the stretch. If Westbrook plays poorly in the fourth period in a close game, more often than not OKC is going to lose.
For the second game in a row the Thunder basically got nothing out of two of their starters in Andre Roberson and Domas Sabonis. Shout out to Roberson and Sabonis, “Your team needs something out of you.” Something. Anything.
Steven Adams was exceptional and is my Thunder player of the Game. Adams double doubled with 18 and 12 and should have gotten more touches than he did. Amazingly, he only got to the line twice which is nonsense if you watched the game and all the contact he absorbed near the rim. Total nonsense. The zebras were absolutely horrible in this game as the Bees went to the line 49 times, which btw is the second highest amount of free throws a Thunder opponent has taken since the Sonics were moved here from Seattle. I have no idea if Westbrook meant to hit that one official in the head with the basketball, but I have no problem with it even if he did considering how genuinely horrific that specific zebra was during the course of the game. Rant over.
Enes Kanter had a nice game, but was pretty much it for OKC’s bench as he scored 22 points and grabbed 8 rebounds.
Abrines hit a couple of big threes and took an elbow late in the game for which he was given a foul. Alex should have thrown a ball or something, but he’s too nice.
Make this clear in my recap closing, OKC didn’t lose this game because of the genuinely horrific game these zebras called, they lost this game in the final five minutes because they played lazy, dumb basketball.
Tomorrow night in Houston versus Harden and his surging Rockets.