Thunder Rally Falls Short As Westbrook Extends Triple Double Streak
By Randy Renner, Senior Writer
When you look at some of the numbers, like Houston shooting 39.1 percent overall (17.6 percent in the 4th quarter) and 26.2 percent on threes (0-for-8 in the 4th quarter) and James Harden going 6-for-23 overall and 2-for-11 on threes it’s hard to imagine the Thunder losing.
But lose they did 102-99, largely because the Rockets scored a whopping 29 points off 18 OKC turnovers and Houston turned a lot of their misses into rebounds, grabbing 52 with 16 off the offensive glass.
“The difference was the points they scored off our turnovers and their ability to get rebounds off their missed threes,” head coach Billy Donovan confirmed after the game.
He said it wasn’t so much the number of turnovers that killed the Thunder “it was what they got out of those turnovers. They just got an enormous amount of points.”
The Rockets came out from the jump with an ultra aggressive, in your face style of defense led by Patrick Beverley who was constantly bumping and slapping at Russell Westbrook.
Russ seemed to get flustered at times and ended up with eight turnovers. He also extended his triple-double streak to seven straight games with 27 points, 10 rebounds and 10 assists.
That ties Michael Jordan and Oscar Robertson for the second longest such streak in NBA history. Wilt Chamberlain had nine straight triple-doubles in the spring of 1968.
Streaks aside, this was a game the Thunder could have and probably should have won.
In the last 5:39 of the game OKC went 2-for-12. Four of those misses were layups.
“We missed some bunnies around around the basket when we got close,” Donovan admitted. “We were at the rim, we just couldn’t finish.”
The Thunder trailed by 13 with 9:09 to play but rallied back to get within a point after a Westbrook free throw with 2:46 left.
The Thunder just couldn’t close the deal. The blown chances seemed to weigh on Westbrook who was subdued in the lockerroom.
“I missed a lot of easy shots man. I haven’t made no shots in the last month. S**t, so just gotta get my mind right.”
Westbrook was 8-for-25 overall and 0-for-7 on threes but he came through at the free throw line going 11-for-12.
Four players joined Westbrook in double figures, led by Steven Adams who had a career night with 24 points on 8-for-9 shooting from the field and from the free throw line. Adams was devastating in the pick-and-roll but he played just 18 seconds in the 4th quarter.
The Thunder had gone super small to compete with a similar small lineup Houston had on the floor and wasn’t able to get back in.
Victor Oladipo and Anthony Morrow each finished with 12 points and Enes Kanter had 10. Andre Roberson, who had the defense on Harden most of the night ended up with nine points, eight rebounds, three assists, two steals and a block.
Harden led the Rockets and almost had a triple double himself with 21 points, nine rebounds and 12 assists. Eric Gordon had 17 and Ryan Anderson added 14.
This one was right there for the taking, the Thunder just couldn’t quite manage to grab it and hold on.