Thunder fall behind early as the Rockets roll, 112-101

BOX SCORE

I’ll let Russell Westbrook’s postgame interview tell the story:

How disappointing was that first quarter after all the days off?

Disappointing.

Can you put your finger on what went wrong in the first quarter?

Disappointing.

This Rockets team looks a little different than the first time you played them. What did you think of the new guys?

What new guys?

Josh Smith and Corey Brewer.

You might want to ask the Rockets about their own players.

And scene.

The Thunder scored the first four points tonight, with the opening possession featuring some whirlwind ball movement and crisp execution. It had me wondering who the team was I was watching. Those five days off really did something!

And then the Rockets went on a 21-2 run and outscored the Thunder 40-18 in the first quarter. Whooops.

“We have to start the games better,” Durant said. “That’s on me as a leader. We have to start better. I can’t afford to come in here and say that after every game.”

After that abomination of a quarter, the Thunder actually won the next three 83-72, but who cares, right? It doesn’t change the final score, and sure doesn’t change the fact this is another loss on the books. I don’t think there should’ve been a true expectation to win this game, because beating a top Western team on the road is never easy, but here are some realities: The Thunder are going to have to start doing that if they want to make the playoffs. And if they want to advance in the playoffs — something we expect them to do — they’re also going to have to beat good teams on the road. This team is 7-13 away from home this season. That’s bad.

Scott Brooks keeps counting off how many games are left. They act like they have the luxury of patience. They don’t. They’re 3.5 games behind the Suns, and just two back in the loss column, with 44 games to go. That sounds like a lot of time. And it is, assuming they can start playing the way they’re capable of. But they haven’t found any rhythm or momentum this season, and there seems to be less self-assurance and confidence coming from them. It seems like they hope to win these kinds of games rather than walking in, kicking the door off the hinges and taking it.

They have problems. Real, true problems. But here’s the thing: These are the same problems that have mostly persisted the last three years. Except now, there’s not a good win-loss record to sweep them under the rug. At 18-20, when you have an off night where you claim the other team got hot — they did bank in four 3s tonight, though — that’s less about outlier and more about what you did.

I remain steadfastly convinced this team is good. Without November, they’d be in the middle of the West playoff picture, and we’d be waiting for an eight-game win streak to start climbing the ladder. But that doesn’t fix the current state of affairs. Each loss feels devastating, like it’s one step closer to elimination in a best of 50-game series.

Durant isn’t shaken, at least not publicly. He’s still playing the “we got this” card. Asked why he’s confident in turning thing around, he responded sharply.

“Because we did it before. We did it before,” he said. “We’ve struggled before and we got out of it. We don’t make no excuses and we figure it out. That’s the type of city we are, that’s the type of franchise we got. It’s just a matter of time.”

Well, it’s time to get going.

NOTES:

• The Thunder had weird offensive balance tonight. Waiters led them with 16 shots (four came in garbage time), Westbrook had 13, Durant and Jackson both had 12 and Ibaka had 11. Balance is good, and something this team often needs more of, but KD needs more than 12 looks in 40 minutes.

• Westbrook: Eight rebounds, eight assists, eight turnovers. And five steals.

• Reggie Jackson: “There’s not a lot of season left. Tough conference, shoot, to make the eight-seed last year it took 49 wins, damn near 50. We know how difficult it is. We’re going to do our best to make a strong push at it. We understand we have to get things under wraps and things going well. We have no room for error.”

• Durant on applying the stuff from the time off: “It may not show the first week, but I know it’s going to show after a while. The work never goes unnoticed. We’ve got to continue to trust and rely on what we do, and hopefully the wins come after.”

• Durant on the defense: “Sometimes it’s tough luck on our part, but sometimes it’s better offense beating great defense. But I think the effort is there, the energy is there. Sometimes they’re just better than us.”

• I can tell you this on the Brook Lopez front: No Thunder players have been informed they’re being traded as of yet.

• If that was the last game of the Jeremy Lamb era, it was pretty great. Three garbage time minutes, a made 3-pointer and mostly forgettable everything else.

• One thing I didn’t get from Scott Brooks tonight: Why no Nick Collison at the 5? Especially when the Rockets didn’t have Howard on the floor. Collison is still one of the league’s best pick-and-roll defenders, and that’s almost exclusively all the Rockets run.

• Another Brooks whoopsie: When the Rockets went with Montiejunas as the 5, he left Perk on the floor. Whyyyyyyyy???? Montiejunas can space to the 3 and drive off a catch. He’s a nightmare for Perk. Why not go super small with KD at the 5, or with Collison or Ibaka?

• The Thunder missed eight free throws, which didn’t help.

• Isn’t it fun how every time the Thunder play the Rockets and Harden does well that everyone has to rehash the trade over and over again? I love that part.

• Not that the Thunder were about to make some incredible comeback, but that foul on Westbrook giving Harden three free throws was rough.

• The 40 points the Thunder gave up in the first quarter was the most in the opening quarter this season.

• The Thunder’s starting five has been really good, numbers wise, but in application, it can be really bad. Especially as opposing teams are getting a better sense of how to defend it. It might be time for a change.

• I really liked the play where Harden isolated on Westbrook and spent 15 seconds trying to put moves on him as the crowd oohed and ahhed like he was Hot Sauce or something, and yet Harden didn’t go anywhere and took a really tough contested fadeaway that missed.
• Anthony Morrow was more helpful when he made his 3-pointers.

• Never felt less energy to open a game. The Rockets gave away shirts, and for the first half, there were a lot more shirts in the arena than people. If there was ever a game to fall asleep at, it’s a Rockets’ game. Man, those are some chill people.

• Tone Loc was the halftime entertainment tonight. So I’ve now seen Jamie Lynn Spears and him. Livin’ the dream, y’all.

• That foul on Jackson in the second quarter where Harden slipped is the epitome of an official giving a star the benefit of the doubt. There was zero contact and instead of just having the stones to realize Harden lost his footing, Eli Roe bailed him out with an incredibly late and terrible whistle. Those are the kinds of infuriating calls the NBA has to figure out how to get rid of.

• Fourth quarter, and the Rockets were still working on their fans to put their shirts on.

• One thing I found a little odd was how the Rockets showed Durant, Westbrook and Ibaka all on their big screen before the game, flashing their stats. Isn’t that weird?

Next up: Home against the Warriors on Friday