Thunder fall back to .500 in Cleveland, 108-98
CLEVELAND — Kevin Durant summarized Sunday’s loss to the Cavs simply:
“I think we played a good game. We passed the ball well, we defended well,” Durant said. “They hit more free throws than us and they hit more 3s. But we defended well. They made some shots, we had some good looks and missed them. But I think we played a good game. We pretty much did whatever we wanted, but they came out on top,” Durant said. “They hit some big shots.”
It might seem like sacrilege to say that after a loss, especially, you know, considering circumstances, but it’s mostly true. The Thunder moved the ball really well. They generated a lot of clean, open looks. They got a bunch of stops. They took care of the ball (eight turnovers). They just didn’t do enough to win the game.
“We played a good game,” Durant said again. “We didn’t come out and lay and egg. We played a good game, but obviously we’d rather take a W.”
The main issues were this:
- The Thunder hit just 8-30 from 3
- Serge Ibaka and Russell Westbrook combined to shoot 13-42.
And yeah, that’s pretty much it.
“I thought we had a lot of good things happen tonight,” Scott Brooks said. “We were a couple possessions away from really turning the game into a different outcome.”
Not to say the Thunder didn’t have bad moments. The second quarter featured a parade to the free throw line for the Cavs which helped lead to a 37-point frame. And a poor finish to the third turned what was a one-point lead with 90 seconds left into a five-point deficit. That led to the Cavs starting the fourth outscoring OKC 8-2, which put them up double-digits, a margin they were able to maintain for the rest of the game.
The Thunder had chances though to get back in it. Durant missed two of three free throws after getting fouled on a 3. Dion Waiters missed five wide open catch-and-shoot 3s. Ibaka took nine 3s, but so many of them were great looks. I know some are surely frustrated with the performance and want heads to roll, but really, I thought the Thunder played well. They had 37 baskets, and assisted on 26 of them with only eight turnovers. They just needed to make more of the shots they got.
A healthy number of Thunder fans appeared to reach a bandwagon breaking point tonight, declaring the season officially over. With almost half a season left. Some are either too emotional or too dense to understand the difficulty of this five-game road trip. Going 4-1 would’ve made it a success; 3-2 makes it acceptable. They lost, on the road, to the 15-game streaking Hawks, and the six-game streaking Cavs, the two hottest teams in basketball. The Thunder have a 10-game win streak in them at some point this season, and I think it’s coming sooner than later.
These kinds of games are big, no question. Any game the Thunder play carries importance because wins are precious and any loss could end up being the fatal one eventually. But losing the Hawks and the Cavs aren’t going to be what does them in. It’s the blowout loss in Sacramento, the no-show in the first quarter in Houston, the blown 10-point lead to the Blazers or the choke against the Pelicans. Not this. This was just a road loss to a good team. If the Thunder weren’t in this predicament, you wouldn’t blink about it after the initial sting of losing wore off.
What’s important, is the next two games. Beating the Wolves and Knicks are absolute must-wins. Those are the games you can lose your mind over. But in the final road game of a five-game tour in Cleveland against a Cavs team that’s figuring things out? Like Durant said, the Thunder played a good game.
NOTES:
- Steven Adams missed his first game due to injury because of a pregame migraine. Kendrick Perkins started in his place.
- The Thunder really missed Adams. For one, it meant more Perk (27 total minutes, to be exact). He picked up six fouls, had two bad offensive fouls, pulled down just four rebounds and scored four points. Timofey Mozgov did nothing, but the other Cleveland bigs, Tristan Thompson and Kevin Love, killed OKC. Having Adams’ athleticism in the pick-and-roll and rebounding ability would’ve been helpful.
- Brooks used Nick Collison more than in recent weeks, playing him as the backup center. But really, it was a difficult position. Going small really didn’t work so well because with LeBron, the Cavs could easily do the same. And both Love and Thompson are athletic enough to at least shadow the guard they were covering to some degree. It really kind of handcuffed the Thunder. Their best lineup today would’ve been an Adams-Ibaka frontline with Durant, Westbrook and either Jackson, Morrow or Waiters.
- Speaking of, Waiters in his return to Cleveland scored 14 on 5-15 shooting in 33 minutes. He hit 2-7 from 3 and had a bunch of great looks. But he hasn’t been good in catch-and-shoot situations this season, and unless that improves, the Thunder might need to reevaluate some of these lineups.
- What’s tough about it is Waiters appears to have a strong defensive disposition. He’s not fantastic, but he keeps his man in front of him and puts in the effort. Pretty clear as to why he’s favored by Brooks over Jackson.
- Jackson: 10 minutes today. Awwwwkward.
- Waiters got booed when he checked in. On that: “I don’t pay it no mind man. It is what it is. Boos, no boos, I can’t focus on that type of stuff … I’m not losing sleep over it.”
- Second quarters have become a disturbing issue for the Thunder. They’ve been outscored 81-52 in the second quarter the past three games, shooting just 20-73. I wondered if it might have something to do with the rotation being more mixed than usual as Brooks tries to stagger Durant and Westbrook’s minutes. His answer: “I’ve been trying to do that, but nah, you can look at it a lot of different ways and any different angle you’d like, but we just have to play better. Obviously we’re integrating some new things and a new player, but those guys, they know how to play. KD can play with anybody on this team. He doesn’t have to play with a certain lineup like some guys, we try to keep with a certain lineup. But definitely something we have to continue to look at and continue to find different ways we can maintain leads.”
- Here’s the truth: The Thunder are at their best when Westbrook and Durant play together, not when they’re taking turns running the show. The conceit of Durant and Westbrook staggering so as to keep one on the floor is great, but it’s also disrupting the ability for the second unit to develop much chemistry. Maybe that’s an indictment of that unit overall though. Maybe Waiters and Jackson can’t play together exclusively and need Durant or Westbrook to mediate.
- Durant has not shot the 3 well lately. He went 1-5 today and has hit just five of his last 33.
- Westbrook did a lot of defensive gambling today. One in particular led to a Kevin Love corner 3 dagger after the defense had to scramble to recover.
- Is it just me or does anyone make a 15-foot midrange jumper with as much emphasis as Russell Westbrook. They all feel like they are IN YOUR FACE.
- Again: I can’t complain about what the offense produced in the fourth quarter. Could complain about the personnel on the floor executing it, I guess, but the Thunder generated some excellent looks.
- J.R. Smith took 13 shots. 12 of them were 3s.
- Guess what shot Dion Waiters was working on at halftime? That’s right, long 2-pointers.
- I will say this, though: He resisted them more tonight, and went at the rim more often. Good to see.
- One of my greatest fears was nearly realized before the game: J.R. Smith came sprinting around a corner in one of the hallways almost obliterated me.
- One thing that really blows me away at every away game is the number of Thunder jerseys I see. I realize Kevin Durant is a massive global superstar, but still, in LeBron’s house I saw a healthy number of No. 35s.
- The other thing that stands out: OKC’s arena staff — security, ushers, etc — are really nice. It’s not that other places are rude, but OKC is just in a class of its own when it comes to that stuff.
- One problem the Thunder had today: LeBron played like LeBron.
- The Thunder were switching all high 1-3 screens, and the Cavs had no issue accepting those to create mismatches for LeBron. Whether it was getting Anthony Morrow on him, or even Westbrook, the Cavs seemed just fine letting the Thunder do that.
- Here, let me do it for you: SCOTT BROOKS IS A GOOD COACH HARF HARF HARF.
Next up: Monday at home against the Wolves
