Thunder hold off the Pacers, 115-111
On Feb. 19, one month ago to the day, the Thunder led the Pacers by seven with 2:47 left. Tonight, they led by eight with a minute left. For a second there, it looked like they were about to invent a new way to terrorize your soul, that they not only didn’t learn from past transgressions, but they were going to go the other way.
Instead, they closed the game out. It took Paul George missing a decently contested 3 with 13 seconds left in a three-point game, but he did, and the Thunder won the game.
Still: Did you just break out into an insane laugh as well — not a funny ha-ha laugh, but the kind you do when you’ve completely lost your mind — the moment Russell Westbrook fouled George on that 3? I didn’t even need to look after the whistle blew. Because we all knew it was going in. That cut it to four. Then Kevin Durant turned it over with 35 seconds left and immediately fouled George Hill. He split free throws. It was a three-point game now.
Durant missed a jumper, Enes Kanter’s tip-in fell off the rim, and the Pacers had a chance to tie. George missed, the Thunder didn’t throw it to the other team and made free throws, and they put away their fourth straight win, which features three on the road and three in four nights.
Two big things from this one:
1. That stretch the Thunder had in the fourth, from six minutes to about one minute, was brilliant fourth quarter basketball. They moved the ball, they made plays, they defended, they took care of the ball. A lot of it was in Enes Kanter beasting the Pacers, which featured him scoring six straight, four on putbacks, to help OKC build a lead. They opened the fourth with a one-point lead. And then extended it to as much as eight, and held there for a good portion. The near slip at the end, sure, not wonderful, but that was an impressive five minutes.
2. You’ve got to hand it to Donovan tonight. Sure, maybe going with Kanter was forced because of Adams’ injury, but the smallball lineup to close was smart and on point. Also, he benched Dion Waiters, who was simply terrible in this one, in favor of Randy Foye, who was not. On Kanter: That’s not going to work all the time. The Pacers tried to attack him in the pick-and-roll, and a few times, got what they wanted. But the little stuff Kanter can provide during closing time, namely defensive rebounding, his finishing ability and the garbage points he can produce just on the offensive glass, were critical in closing out. And with Kanter alongside Durant in a smallball lineup, the floor spaced well, and Donovan could afford to leave Andre Roberson on the court guard Indiana’s scorers.
Again, almost blowing the lead is going to take what otherwise would be a solid, very nice and good win and make you feel a little eh about it. I wouldn’t, though. This is how you win a lot of games in the NBA. You absorb the final barrage from your opponent, and hang on. Go watch any of the other really good teams and they have a bunch of them just like this. The main thing is, you’ve just got to win it.
NOTES:
- So… Randy Foye again. He had 12 tonight which featured 2-5 from 3. He’s really providing a lot of the stuff Dion Waiters has been unable to consistently. He’s been knocking down corner 3s, and basically, not trying to do too much.
- How many meals did you throw up when Durant took that fall at the end of the third? I went for the cycle: Breakfast, lunch, dinner and the bowl of cereal that I haven’t even eaten yet tonight.
- Another triple-double for Westbrook: 14-11-14.
- Durant was brilliant: 33 on 11-20, 13 rebounds and 8 assists. And he hit a number of dagger-ish shots that stabilized the game for the Thunder.
- Westbrook’s 14 triple-doubles are the most in a season in the last 25 years. Magic Johnson had 17 triple-doubles and Michael Jordan had 15 in 1988-89. Westbrook has 12 more games to pass them.
- If Enes Kanter misses an interior shot, you can be SURE that he will run back on defense holding his head as if he got hit.
- At this point, I think it’s pretty much your top four players are Stephen Curry, Russell Westbrook, LeBron James and Kevin Durant. After that, pick your order.
- I think Waiters is shooting roughly one percent for his career on WAO (wide ass open) 3s.
- It bears a second mention: Waiters was plain awful. The turnovers he had were not only bad, but of the backbreaking variety. He has been wildly up and down all season, but this one was particularly down, and it’s not hard to wonder if his head was somewhere else.
- Psst, the Thunder led by one going into the fourth. I was fully prepared to note this being the 13th time they lost a game after leading after three. Instead…
- That was some play OKC nearly pulled off before halftime. Adams with the full court touchdown to Durant who got away a 3 with 1.6 left.
- The Pacers made a third quarter comeback effectively only at the free throw line. They went on a 10-0 run, seven points coming from the stripe.
- Has Anthony Morrow ever missed a 2-point shot in his entire career? I don’t think he has.
- Serge Ibaka got just 23 minutes. He played fine — eight points on 4-6, four rebounds and block — and it’s likely it was a matchup thing that saw him with limited time. But after having last night off, hard not to wonder if he’s not entirely healthy.
- The fact Adams checked back in suggests he’s OK, but that did look like a pretty rough hyperextension on his elbow.
- So, after falling to 4-8 after the All-Star break, the Thunder are now 8-8.
Next up: Home against the Rockets on Tuesday
