Hey, it was pretty close again: Spurs 93, Thunder 85

BOX SCORE

SAN ANTONIO — There’s a lot to digest from what really was a pretty great regular season game. The end result was the same old story, though: The Thunder actually played pretty well, but in winning time made roughly six fewer plays than the other team and failed to close.

The tangible example: They didn’t make a bucket in the final 3:53 of the game. In fact, after Russell Westbrook inexplicably gambled and went for the hero steal on LaMarcus Aldridge in a tie game with 7:20 left, the Spurs ended up with a wide open Danny Green corner 3, who after missing his first nine shots, naturally nailed that one. From that point on, the Spurs outscored OKC 17-9.

“Yeah, that was my fault. My fault,” Westbrook said of the gamble. “I take that one.”

It was more than just that, though. Like the three backbreaking rebounds the Spurs got in the final two minutes. Like the missed looks. They just aren’t making the winning plays.

“We’ve got to start winning, man. That’s what it is,” Durant said. “We’ve just got to start putting it together.”

Here’s the thing about this game: It was fun. It was close, the crowd was great, and the teams played with intensity and focus. It was playoff-y. In a vacuum, you’d just tip your cap to the now 56-10 Spurs, who are 32-0 at home, and say see you next time. But with the slide the Thunder are in, losing eight of 12 since the break, every loss feels like it carries some significant weight, like THIS IS THE ONE that does it.

In reality, though, you probably expected the Thunder to lose tonight, right? So what are you mad about? You got the result you expected. And while yes, like Westbrook said, 4-8 isn’t acceptable, you also can’t entirely ignore that they’ve played some good basketball in those 12 games. They really have! They’ve just sucked at really bad moments. I know, I KNOW. Could’ve, would’ve, should’ve. But they didn’t. Still: Close the Pacers, close the Warriors, close the Clippers, close the Wolves, and they’re 8-4, and 48-18 with some solid wins.

It’s more fun to freak out though.

NOTES:

• Here’s what I wrote for Dot Com tonight. The tl;dr: Westbrook’s gamble summarizes a lot of what’s wrong with the Thunder.

• Remember those couple games where Kyle Singler was serviceable?

• Donovan on Westbrook’s gamble: “Russell has been around for a lot of years. He’s always been one of those high steal guys in the league. And I do feel like part of his disruption defensively is gotta be able to make those decisions. I’m sure after that one he wishes he could have that one back.”

• I asked if that play was an example of the discipline Durant railed against a week ago: “The discipline of blocking out, the discipline part of getting back in transition, the discipline part of doing our job defensively, absolutely. There are times for all of our guys, they are basketball players and they’re going to go out and try to make basketball plays. And when they try to do that, what we try to do is show on film, where’s the risk and where’s the reward.”

• More: “Obviously if it’s a steal, we go up two, it looks like a great play. [Instead] it gets thrown to the corner, and obviously it put them up three and at that point didn’t trail from then on. We were kind of playing uphill from there.” He’s not wrong. Westbrook has made plenty of those plays before.

• And finally: “There’s a fine line there because I don’t want our guys to be robots, but certainly from a discipline standpoint of being where they’re supposed to be and doing their jobs to the very best of their ability, absolutely. But in them doing their jobs to the best of their ability there are times where they have to make certain kinds of decisions and sometimes those decisions are great and sometimes they’re not so great.”

• That’s both what’s great and what’s wrong about the Thunder. They have (two) great players that make great plays. And when they fail you, there’s no Plan B to save yourself.

• Enes Kanter was a monster in 28 minutes: 11 points and 17 rebounds. He didn’t play the final six minutes though.

• I asked Donovan pregame why Kanter doesn’t play more. Prepare for the Donovan filibuster: “From a defensive standpoint coming down the stretch the last game, Steven, what he’s been able to do numbers-wise has been really, really good for us. I’ve said this before, but I think Enes has gotten better and really improved, but sometimes just looking at matchups on the defensive end of the floor and me making a decision on what may be the best matchup is for us defensively. And that’s all it really probably comes down to.”

• On how he weighs Kanter’s raw stats: “That doesn’t mean anything to me. I think if you move and share the basketball you’re going to be able to score points. And Enes is a terrific scorer, and he’s gotten better defensively, but I think sometimes matchup-wise in pick-and-roll coverage and some of those things, as much as he’s made some positive strides, I just think Steven for us and what he’s done… because I’ve evaluated some of that after the All-Star break and after the break I think Steven’s probably playing around 22 or 23 minutes a game. Now some of that has been foul trouble he’s gotten in, that’s cut down some of his minutes, but from a defensive standpoint I think what Steven can do and what he brings, getting him out there is important.

• And more: “I think Enes does a great job offensively and offensive rebounding, obviously stretching the floor because he can shoot it, but I just think he needs to continually evolve. Because one thing, I looked at the numbers of Enes with the starters and Steven with the starters and what those defensive numbers are and they’re drastically different. They jsyt are. And I think for us with some of the challenges we’ve had defensively, I think getting stops and trying to create more opportunities for fast breaks for us, Steven has been a guy that’s done a really good job. I still have a lot of confidence in Enes, I know Enes can help us. I really believe Enes continues to grow defensively and has gotten better, I think from where he was early in the year to where he is now, he continues to get better. But we just need to keep getting him better and better on the defensive end of the floor.”

• To be clear: I’m not necessarily advocating for more minutes for Kanter. I do think in certain situations — like last night — he should’ve. It’s just something a lot of people have wanted asked. So I did.

• Westbrook tore into Kanter toward the end of the third quarter for a missed blockout. Like wouldn’t let up. Durant went over to Westbrook and said it was his fault to calm him down. But even after Durant walked away, Westbrook started again which led Durant to yell, “Russ! Russ! Come on now.”

• San Antonio, the only arena where you literally have flies buzzing around you during the game.

• Don’t know if the arena replay guy was doing it on purpose, but KD was looking up wanting to see the foul that was called on him after blocking Kawhi Leonard, and they kept fake showing it.

• Two things: 1) The Spurs just don’t foul Kevin Durant and 2) Kevin Durant just doesn’t get calls against the Spurs.

• Serge Ibaka had 12 rebounds! But he was 3-12 shooting. His shooting has been such a strange thing. He’s gone from maybe the best midrange shooter in basketball — seriously — to a painfully average one. From 2011 to last season, he hit right around 55 percent from 10-14 feet. Right now, he’s hovering around 45 percent.

• Westbrook on if there’s concern: “Should be. We’ve got to find a way to get wins. Four-and-eight is unacceptable for our team. We’ve just got to find a way to get it together.”

• Durant got the turnovers under control tonight (three). But Westbrook didn’t (nine). Durant’s passing was excellent though. He was on point with the pocket passes.

• Kawhi Leonard is super good.

• Cameron Payne had a not so subtle tweet postgame.

• Look, I don’t know if Payne is an answer to anything, because he is a rookie, but I do know he’s a good player that can make good plays.

• At what point do we ask if the staggering is actually working? Or do we have to wait until the statute of limitations passes so we can all pretend like we never complained about it so we can start freely second guessing without repercussion?

• You know what I love? The people that tweet me, “When are you going to start holding these guys ACCOUNTABLE and ask the TOUGH QUESTIONS???” First of all, we’ve asked about Payne. We’ve asked about Singler. We’ve asked about Kanter. You’ve seen the answers. But hey, guess what: We don’t coach the team. Nor are we supposed to. It’s not in the job description to make the Thunder better. I watch, I listen, I ask, I report, I relay, I react. That’s pretty much it. I don’t coach.

Next up: Home against the Blazers on Monday