Ugly but a win nonetheless
A day after failing to bring their A game in a loss at Sacramento, the Thunder once again played catch-up most of the night in Los Angeles but dominated the fourth quarter to post an ugly 83-79 win over the Clippers late Wednesday night at Staples Center.
If you didn’t stay up until midnight to watch Kevin Durant’s big shot in the final minute, it wasn’t pretty. Niether team shot well. The Thunder finished at 42.2 percent, the Clippers 35.9.
The bottom line is the Thunder found a way to win an ugly game.
The most revealing stat was the Clippers shot only 15.8 percent in the fourth quarter when the game was on the line, making only 3 of 19 shots.
Thunder coach Scott Brooks admitted the Clippers missed a few good looks. But the Thunder also turned up its defensive pressure.
After trailing by as many as nine points, the Thunder opened the fourth quarter on a 12-2 run to take control. Jeff Green was big early in the run, hitting a 3-pointer to start the quarter and drained another big bucket to put the Thunder up 73-69.
Led by Kevin Durant’s double-double (30 points, 10 rebounds), the Thunder built the lead to 78-71 but failed to get baskets to put the game away.
From that point until Durant broke a 79-79 tie with his clutch 10-footer with 38.9 seconds left, the Thunder scored only one point — a Durant free throw — over a five-minute span.
Last season that would have doomed the Thunder to a sure loss. This time, quality defense, a couple of key steals and rebounds allowed OKC to escape to even its record at .500.
The two biggest developments were subjects we’ll explore in upcoming days in The Oklahoman and on newsok.com
< Rookie James Harden is a highly underrated passer. After Russell Westbrook left the game with a slightly sprained ankle late in the third quarter, Harden essentially played the rest of the game, sometimes as a psuedo point guard.
Brooks said Westbrook could have re-entered but he stuck with Harden, who dished out eight assists in 24 minuts, playing 30 miles from where he went to high school.
> Serge Ibaka has a long way to go. He fouled out in less than 16 minutes. But Ibaka’s energy off the bench gave the Thunder a huge lift after they trailed most of the game, including a 65-58 deficit late in the third quarter.
Ibaka is raw but he’s athletic and is a diligent worker. Right now, Ibaka seems too valuable as a potential spark off the bench to spend too much time in Tulsa when the D League starts later this month.
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