Except for a 19-0 run in the third period these were the Oklahoma Thunder we saw on many a night during this NBA season of torment. All the bad things which had me screaming profanities during the first 79 games all came back to roost as the Thunder in essence got schooled by rookie Donovan Mitchell in losing pivotal Game 2 by a 102-95 count inside Chesapeake Energy Arena.
But there was no screaming from me this time around. My screaming tirades with this team will never happen again. I know who they are even if they weren’t for those two games in Houston and Miami. Trends and numbers usually play themselves out in team sports.
In hockey, teams which win the first two games of a best of seven series go on to win 89% of the series. In NBA basketball– I would assume the number is similar–though I’m too lazy right now to google it. So, yeah this was a huge game in that Utah now has home court and the Thunder at least for this Game 2 proved all the bad habits they embraced as a team are all still there.
It was another horrible start for the Thunder as they once again came out of the locker room with nothing and were quickly behind 9-0. It was a game where Steven Adams couldn’t stay on the floor due to foul trouble before eventually fouling out and only played 22 minutes against a team which has a guy named Rudy Gobert. It was also a game were OKC’s trio of Westbrook, George, and Anthony went a combined 19-58 from the field.
Except for Jerami Grant…Billy Donovan didn’t get much from his bench like he did in Game 1 when they went a collective +44. On this night, Donovan rolled Ray Felton, Alex Abrines, and Pat Patterson on the floor for 40 minutes and got a -26 in return. Abrines and Patterson were both scoreless in this game.
But even more than these things it was a game which showed OKC’s shooting numbers from Game 1 were an outlier of sorts as the Thunder reverted to seasonal norms of going 11-35 (31.4%) from three point land and 12-18 (66.7%) from the free throw line.
It was also a game where the Thunder as a team choked shooting the ball in the fourth period going a collective 6-28 from the field as Utah rookie Donovan Mitchell shone as the brightest star on the floor while Westbrook, George, and Carmelo went poof into the Oklahoma night.
The Utah Jazz were the hottest team in the NBA the last thirty games of the NBA season and now the Thunder travel to Salt Lake in desperate need of a split to get back to Oklahoma City at 2-2.
A big game for the Boston Bruins looms as they have a 2-1 series lead with Game 4 in Toronto tonight.
You see, although what happened in Houston was nice, bad habits don’t just go away with one game though. It just doesn’t work that way in team sports.
There has to be a collective will of sorts.
Prayers and best wishes for the Popovich family. I’m clearly an outlier in dumb red Oklahoma. I love Popovich and the honesty he’s had in saying publicly the things about Trump which not one single sports journalist or member of the Thunder has had the balls to say. Not one, except for Russell Westbrook. Prayers are with you, Pop.