Thunder Kant win in Utah as the Jazz close out, 94-89
SALT LAKE CITY — Enes Kanter said plenty this morning. And then it was Jazz fans’ turn to be heard tonight.
As Kanter was introduced, a half-full arena (that later filled out to near capacity) stood and booed him thoroughly, and Kanter responded by lifting his arms up asking for more, and then cupping his hands to his ears.
But any satisfaction Kanter wanted to take with him tonight was ended as the Jazz overcame an early 16-point first half deficit to completely suffocate the Thunder in the second half.
Asked if his comments from this morning may have motivated his old team, Kanter was willing to concede.
“I mean, yeah, probably,” he said. “I think they did a good job. I give them that. I think they did a good job on the court.”
The Jazz went up by as many as 12 in the fourth quarter, but as the Thunder often do, they roared back to pull within two on a Russell Westbrook 3 with 31 seconds left. The Thunder played out the next possession, and came up with a stop but an awkward rebound fell back to the Jazz, and Westbrook was forced to foul Rudy Gobert at the rim. Gobert’s first free throw hit back iron, bounced high, and crawled its way in. He swished the second, and that was basically it for the Thunder.
“We let them off the hook,” Westbrook said. “We had them down early. We just didn’t do a great job of, obviously, rebounding the basketball. They got a lot of second-chance points. We just weren’t ready to play.”
Westbrook tried to do that thing where he wills his team to a win, but it’s fair to ask if maybe he was misguided in doing it. He scored 20 points in the fourth quarter on 6-12 shooting. The rest of the Thunder, though? Three points on 1-9 shooting. Anthony Morrow played 12 minutes. Didn’t take a shot. Enes Kanter seven minutes. Didn’t take a shot. The three points came from Steven Adams, who hit just 1-5 from the free throw line and finished a putback.
“Every game is critical,” Brooks said. “But we can’t worry about the playoffs. We’ve just got to worry about what we can control and that’s the game at hand. We’ve got to be able to control our game, and our emotions, and the way we play for 48 minutes. We can’t worry about the standings. We’ve been in this position before, not fighting for the playoffs, but fighting for position and we’ve always had an approach we just focus on each game. And tonight the turnovers cost us and they capitalized on every turnover.”
I know we can’t rehash this for the rest of the season, but this is exactly the kind of game that Kevin Durant wins. When the offense dries up, when they’re playing a stiff defensive team, when there’s stalling and missed shots, Durant has that incredible knack for drilling a momentum killing 3, or hitting one to put you back in it. It’s the trend we’re seeing for the Thunder on the road: They’re close, they’re in it, but they can’t finish. And that’s where Durant excels.
So they have to find new ways. Westbrook tried to assume that role tonight, for better or worse, but where they’re at their best is when they have five players that are dangerous offensively. When Morrow is a weapon, Kanter, Adams, whoever. Westbrook can be the engine that runs it all, but it can’t be Russ against the world.
Now it’s on to the Suns. This game tonight was big, but can quickly be cleansed with a better performance in Phoenix. The Thunder aren’t in trouble suddenly. With the Durant news, expectations were redefined anyway.
NOTES:
- Brooks on Kanter: “I didn’t like the way he handled it early on when they introduced him. Something that will be addressed. We’re better than that. But overall, I thought he did a good job. He had three good years here. And that’s part of being traded. Some trades are good, some trades don’t work out.”
- I would say this: This was a good experience for Kanter. Probably the highest his adrenaline has ever pumped on a basketball court. In terms of a little potential playoff prepping, this was good for him to go through.
- Kanter on the boos: “The boos didn’t mean nothing to me.”
- Kanter of if he was egging the fans on: “Definitely. I just really don’t care if they boo me, I don’t care. Every time I touched the ball, they booed me.”
- Kanter on if this was a bit more intense: “No definitely not, it was just a regular game. Because I never felt like I was a part of this thing.”
- Kanter on if he wants to take anything back he said: “No, if I was to take back, I would just say it, right? That’s how I felt and I’m not taking nothing back. I still care about them, I still care about a few of my teammates.”
- It looked like Steven Adams was icing his man parts, but I believe he just had ice on his bruised hip area that’s been bothering him.
- Westbrook on turnovers: “It’s huge, especially on the road. We have to do a better job, myself, of taking care of the basketball and finding ways to be effective without turning the ball over.”
- Gordon Hayward on if there was more emotion: “Yeah there was, with things that were said by a former player. We wanted this one bad. We all heard what that former player said. It’s just one of those things that, I think he pissed us off a little bit, honestly. We just wanted to make sure that we won.”
- Dion Waiters played only 24 minutes, and sat most of the second half. Brooks on why Waiters didn’t play much: “His foot was bothering him for the last couple of days. I didn’t think he had his juice, so I felt we were best to go with another guy. I’m sure he’ll bounce back tomorrow and feel much better.” Also: I overheard Waiters telling a teammate he wanted an MRI. Oh boy.
- Definitely my favorite Kanter moment tonight was after he missed a free throw, he made the second then held his hand up the entire way back down the floor. Perfect.
- (How about that headline guys!??!?!)
- I always love when a player randomly shows up in the media room to get some food. Tonight it was Rudy Gobert who stopped in to get a few bites of potato and fish.
- Popular heckle for Enes Kanter: “You’re a baby Kanter!” Cuts deep, I’m sure.
- Kanter had his eighth consecutive double-double: 18 points, 11 rebounds.
- Watching the players come out after halftime, a bunch of Thunder fans gathered around the tunnel to cheer on and high five players. Every Thunder player that walked out obliged… except one. Westbrook, arms firmly at his sides, eyes straight ahead. No acknowledgement. Dude stays being himself, at all times.
- The Thunder are just 1-7 on the road since Feb. 26. That one win? Against the Lakers. Oof.
Next up: At the Suns on Sunday
