Thunder Squeak by Spurs in Nail Biter

By Travis Atkinson

The Oklahoma City Thunder nearly suffered another 4th quarter collapse Monday night. Instead, they’ll return to Chesapeake Energy Arena with home court advantage.

Russell Westbrook had 29 points (11/25) and 10 assists, and the Thunder edged out the San Antonio Spurs 98-97 to tie the playoff series up at one game a piece.

Kevin Durant added 28 points (11/19) and 7 rebounds as the Thunder overcame a game-high 41 points (15/21) from Lamarcus Aldridge to give San Antonio just their second home loss of the season. Aldridge now has 76 points through 2 games this series; only 2 other Spurs (Duncan and Gervin) have scored 70 points in the first 2 games of a series.

Oklahoma City has struggled to close out fourth quarters all season. The Thunder were 3-12 in games that were within 5 points with less than 5 minutes remaining, and they led the NBA in blown 4th quarter leads with 15. More recently, the Thunder blew a 3-point, 4th-quarter lead in game 2 of their previous series against the Mavericks.

The Thunder seemed poised to repeat these failures Monday night when, while nursing a four-point lead, Serge Ibaka fouled Aldridge on a pump fake from behind the three-point line. Aldridge converted all 3 free throws (he had just hit his first 3-pointer of the season the previous possession), and the Spurs were down 1 with 13.5 seconds remaining.

The final sequence of events was one for the history books. To avoid a five-second call on an inbound play, Deion Waiters forced an errant pass to Kevin Durant. The Spurs scrambled to gain possession of the ball before swinging it out to Patty Mills who missed a corner three. There was another frantic scramble for the rebound followed by a few Spurs’ put back attempts, but the buzzer sounded and the Thunder were the victors.

The talk immediately after the game focused on the many missed foul calls on the games final sequence, particularly the non-call on Deion Waiters’ for pushing Manu Ginobili out of the way during the inbounds.  Of course others can say Ginobili should have been called for a technical foul for having his foot on the line before Waiters ever pushed off, or that Kwahi Leonard was holding Westbrook the whole inbound sequence. The fact of the matter is the Spurs still had plenty of opportunities to win the game, but didn’t make the most of them.

“Something certainly happened on the sideline I thought,” Popovich said when asked about the final sequence of events.

“It was an up and down game. All game it was a grind out,” Durant said. “I don’t really know what happened that last minute, I just know that we were able to come out on top. But both teams played extremely hard and that’s the type of basketball you want to see this time of year.”

Whatever school of thought you subscribe to though, its clear the officials lost control of the game in the final seconds. But perhaps nothing encapsulates the craziness of those last seconds like this clip of a fan holding Steven Adams out of bounds after his close out on Mills three-point attempt.

Unfortunately the controversial ending will overshadow a highly entertaining and intensely fought playoff game.

The Thunder came out angry like most assumed they would as they sought revenge for the 32-point embarrassment suffered at the hands of the Spurs Saturday night. Behind Westbrook’s 10 points (4/5) and Durant’s 7 points (2/4) the Thunder built a 21-8 lead with 3:42minutes to go in the opening quarter.

In contrast San Antonio opened the game extremely sloppy, committing 4 turnovers and shooting just 2/16 to start. They looked far different then the team that shot 60% overall Saturday night. In true Spurs fashion though San Antonio was able to recover, closing the opening quarter by hitting 8 of their last 9 shots to cut the lead to 8 points.

San Antonio continued their offensive explosion in the 2nd quarter. The Spurs started the quarter with a 20 to 8 run and took a 5-point lead with 5:16 left in the 1st half.  They went 13/17 from the field in the 2nd quarter, outscoring the Thunder 32-27 behind the play of Aldridge, who had 14 of his 22 first-half points in the quarter. Despite the Spurs strong shooting in the quarter though, the Thunder managed to hold onto a 3-point lead at half time.

Oklahoma City turned things up in the 3rd quarter. After three straight baskets from Westbrook, the Thunder extended their lead to 75-64 with 4:49 left in the quarter and it seemed like they might run away with it. However, it didn’t take long for the Spurs to Spur and the Thunder to Thunder.  After Westbrook went to the bench, the Spurs went on a 10-2 run to close the quarter and trailed 77-76 going into the 4th. The Thunder collapse in the 3rd quarter made a 4th quarter let down seem all the more inevitable.

Oklahoma City was able to hold onto the victory though, and they should be given credit for this. They did it with energy and effort on defense and aggression on offense. The Thunder managed to hold San Antonio to just 42% shooting from the field and 26% from behind the arc. Leonard was held to 18 points on 7/18 shooting, and Tim Duncan had 9 rebounds and 2 points on 1/8 shooting.

The Thunder also had a 48-37 advantage in the rebounding category. A huge portion of this disparity on the boards came from the Thunder’s Steven Adams, who had 12 points (5/6) and 17 rebounds. Adams has become somewhat of a reliable rebounder and put back man for the Thunder as of late. His strong play going forward could be a deciding factor in this series.

Even with the win, Oklahoma City’s play should be concerning to their fans. They had more turnovers than assists tonight (18 to 16) and their offensive struggles continue to present themselves. Their reliance on star ball slows down ball movement and stalls the offense. This is why the Oklahoma City has trouble holding onto leads. If Westbrook and Durant are not cooking, it is hard for the Thunder to score points.

Oklahoma City will now look to defend its home-court advantage as the series shifts to Chesapeake Energy Arena for Games 3 and 4. Game 3 is this Friday with tipoff set to begin at approximately 8:30.