Thunder regress a little in Houston, 118-110

BOX SCORE

The last 10 games — really eight, I guess, since the Pistons one shouldn’t count and the Clippers game was gross — the Thunder have played exceptionally well. They’ve won games in both ways, by blowing apart the opposition and by closing tight games. They’ve executed, they’ve defended, they’ve taken care of the ball. They’ve looked like the team that we expected to see this season.

This game, though, they weren’t that team. Now: It’s hard to win a game when it means so much more to your opponent than it does to you. The Rockets are entirely desperate, and they threw everything at the Thunder, going deep into their rotation in search of energy and effort, which they got, playing harder than OKC for essentially the entire 48 minutes. And of course, the Thunder know their future, and are basically playing against themselves for the final two weeks of the season.

That doesn’t necessarily excuse the way they wilted in the fourth quarter. But it is reality. What’s disconcerting about it is how similar it looked to the type of losses they had coming out of All-Star, where they dropped eight of 12. They had woefully careless turnovers. Their offense was disjointed and stagnant. And they didn’t make any plays, whether it be coming up with a big block, big steal or big shot. The big moments of the game, Patrick Beverley — yep — hit a huge 3 and a late shot clock baseline jumper. The Thunder got a 24-second violation and Durant caught all backboard on a bad possession.

I think there are two main “reasons,” if you want to call them that, that the Thunder fell short in the fourth: 1) Russell Westbrook and 2) Kevin Durant. They weren’t their usually excellent selves. That’s not a direct blame, per se, but it’s more a reaffirmation that the Thunder don’t typically win games, especially against average to above average competition, when both those dudes don’t play well. Westbrook had a slight look of I-know-I’m-two-assists-away-from-a-triple-double look to him, and Durant just made some really careless passes. Westbrook: eight turnovers; Durant: six. The Thunder had 21 as a team. Still: Durant had 33 and eight boards. Westbrook had 23-13-9. They were excellent in so many ways. Just in terms of fourth quarter execution, not so much.

The question is, especially building off the yucky Clipper game, is this a relapse, or just a battle against April malaise? Playing well going into the postseason can be a bit overrated (in 2013-14, the Thunder were in 5-4 in April going into the playoffs, in 2011-12 they were 8-7 in April; they went to the Western Conference Finals and NBA Finals in those two seasons), but you certainly want to be playing well as opposed to the alternative. And the game today doesn’t really push toward that at all. It was a 38-point fourth quarter for Houston, and the Thunder had as much to do with that as the Rockets did.

The real downside to this game isn’t the fact the Thunder lost, though, as much as it is the Rockets won. You can be sure the Thunder organization would’ve enjoyed nothing more than damaging the Rockets’ postseason hopes. Instead, like that trade a few years ago, they’ve breathed a little life into them.

NOTES:

• Found it pretty interesting the Rockets effectively benched Dwight Howard in the fourth quarter. For one, it enabled them to run a more appropriate offense for them (isos and pick-and-roll) instead of feeling an obligation to get Howard touches. And for two, Clint Capela played his butt off and earned those minutes.

• Westbrook would deny it to his grave, but it sure looked like he was working awful hard for those extra two assists to get a triple-double. He had eight turnovers, and the last four or so of them were just dumb, forced passes.

• I would’ve LOL’d my head off if Westbrook had hunted an assist on that final possession with five seconds left. But then again, that would’ve messed up his 16-0 record, and I’m sure he knew that.

• Salute to the committed over-reactors. You keep this all interesting.

• I understand the nature of this business, with how you have to react to games, but it’s strange to me to see so many people talk about how the Thunder don’t have anything to play for, and then blast them when they end up losing.

• Why do East Coasters say Donovan as “Dunnivan?” This has driven me crazy all year.

• For the first game in a few weeks, I thought to myself, “Man, Enes Kanter’s defense is bad.” He had 16 and 8 in 18 minutes, but defensively, the Rockets attacked him.

• Thought this game was pretty good evidence of how average the Rockets are. The Thunder were awful, and should’ve won the game rather easily.

• Serge Ibaka didn’t make his open looks today. He’s much better when he’s making his open looks. That’s my take.

• He was really active otherwise, though. Had an excellent block with the back of his hand in the first half, and pulled in some big rebounds. Just didn’t make any of his very much open shots.

• Mark Jackson said it was “growth” when Westbrook gave the ball up to Durant on the break. A fine point, but then again, Westbrook was doing that as far back as 2010.

• I mean, would you be so opposed to seeing how Huestis held up to some rotation minutes over these last two weeks? The games don’t really matter, so how about a little look?

• The Rockers took 42 3s. Wow.

• Durant’s length has spoiled him so much in rebounding during his career. I’m not sure he’s ever properly blocked out anyone in his entire life.

• The only time I really even noticed Dion Waiters was when he was called for a travel on horrible early clock long step-back 2-pointer. Might be my favorite play of the season.

• Seriously, Waiters was just out there today. Took only three shots in 25 minutes.

• Jalen Rose pregame called James Harden a “cautionary tale” on the pregame show: “The grass isn’t always greener. That’s why I hope Kevin Durant and Russell Westbrook remain teammates for the duration of their careers. James Harden left and he’s finding out what Carmelo and CP learned. It’s tough to win even though you have your own team.”

• Once more with feeling: Why isn’t Cameron Payne playing in those early second/fourth quarter lineups? The Foye/Durant point guard mix doesn’t work. It’s directly related to Durant’s high turnovers if you ask me. Want Durant to playmake? Awesome. That’s great. He’s very good at that. But put another ball-handler on the floor with him anyway.

Next up: At the Nuggets on Tuesday