Michael Doutey

The Oklahoma City Thunder lose to the Detroit Pistons 99-98 Friday night as the Thunder blow yet another double digit lead. The Thunder had their chances to take back the lead but failed to make shots when it counted. After a crazy sequence where Russell Westbrook and Carmelo Anthony had multiple good looks that wouldn’t fall, Andre Roberson hit a huge three to keep OKC alive. Later, Russ would get a lay in to close the gap to one. Next, Paul George forced a Reggie Jackson miss and then the Thunder took a timeout with five seconds left with a chance to win the game. The Thunder just needed two points but Russell Westbrook pulled up from three, missing what would have been the game winning shot as time expired. So, instead of using the momentum from a huge win over the Warriors on Wednesday night, the Thunder lose another game they should have won. Here are my five observations from tonight’s Thunder loss.

1. Russ’ Final Shot

I was not a fan of Russell Westbrook’s final shot. I’m pretty positive from my quick scan through Twitter, that most of you aren’t either. Russ said in postgame that he liked the look he got, but it just didn’t go down. Paul George said that they will live with Russ’ shot because he is a “shot maker.” And George is right, quite frankly. I mean, Russell basically did it all last season with the same type shot he took tonight. Heck, sometimes it was an even worse shot and he would still make it. I’d never call Russ a good shooter. He is a good scorer. As PG said, he is a great shot maker. But for this game? No, I wanted Russ to drive to the basket as he did the possession before. He easily got to the basket to cut the lead to one, so why not try again? But the biggest reason Russ should have drove to the basket was because it wasn’t his night from three. Russ was 0-4 from three before that possession in the fourth quarter alone. And he had a really ugly air ball in one of his previous attempts, too. Russ went 1-10 from three tonight. Yeesh. It simply wasn’t his night. The Thunder didn’t even need a three to win. Just make a shot, that’s all they needed. Get to his midrange spot. Get to the rim. Attack the basket and possibly draw a foul. It needed to be something other than a contested three when he’s missed eight three’s in the game before that shot. It looked like he had a step on Avery Bradley, too. But he settled for the three and the Thunder lost. But there are many other reasons why they lost tonight’s game besides this shot selection.

2. 26 for 70

That was what the Big 3 shot tonight. Twenty six of seventy. 26-70. Oh, and they scored just 63 points combined. That isn’t even a point-per-shot, which is already bad. This is worse. Russell was bad shooting from the floor tonight as a whole. We’ve talked about his poor three point shooting night. But he wasn’t especially good from inside the arc either. He shot 10-29 from the floor. 29 shots scored just 27 points. That isn’t good enough. Carmelo was bad, too. He shot 9-24 from the floor for 20 points. Again, 24 shots for 20 points? That’s awful. Paul George, who missed a lot of the first half with foul trouble, shot a decent 7-17 for 16 points. PG didn’t even shoot a point-per-shot. The Thunder had some defensive lapses, but geez. Even if the Thunder played lights out on defense, shooting this poorly from your three key scorers is a tough putt.

3. Unexpected Contributors 

Stanley Johnson. Anthony Tolliver. Langston Galloway. Heck, even add rookie Luke Kennard to this list. These are guys who are just role players who helped sink OKC. Stanley Johnson scored 11 points and nailed three three’s. Tolliver scored eight off the bench hit two of his six three’s, all in the first half, helping keep the Piston’s in striking distance when OKC held a comfortable lead. Galloway nailed three-of-four from deep off the bench while he scored nine points. Kennard hit his lone three in the fourth quarter to help keep the Thunder just out of reach. Meanwhile, OKC’s bench scored just 13 points. So, on a night where the Big 3 struggled to score, none of the bench players really stepped up while Detroit had several players make tough shots.

4. Andre Drummond vs. Steven Adams

The Thunder held an 11 point lead in the first half and took a 59-49 lead to the break. At that point, Adams had 10 points and seven boards and really slowed Drummond. Andre had just four points and two rebounds for the Pistons. The second half was flipped. Drummond scored 13 points in the second half and brought down 12 rebounds compared to Adams who scored just two points and had five boards. Drummond did a great job of securing rebounds and not allowing OKC any second chance points. Drummond was the key for the Pistons in the second half. He may have been the difference tonight.

5. Missed Shots

Really, I chalk tonight up to missed shots. I felt like the Thunder moved the ball well and generated open looks. There was a few times they threw it to Melo on post ups, but after a couple possessions of that, Billy called a timeout and cut that out quick. I can think of several open shots Russ, Melo and PG had that just didn’t go down in the fourth quarter. Guys, it got to the point where Andre Roberson got the ball and he chucked a three and made it, while Melo missed two straight layups. So, if Dre is sinking three’s while everyone else couldn’t buy a bucket, that there tells you what type of night it was shooting for OKC. Russ was 3-10 in the fourth. Melo was 2-10. PG, who needs way more shots in crunch time, was also 2-6. It is hard to win when you can’t make shots. Sure, we don’t have to like Russ’ last shot, but there were many other good looks that just didn’t fall.

You know what? I’ll allow it, right now. pic.twitter.com/17kPWBBuhg

— Up The Thunder (@UpTheThunder) November 25, 2017

OKC takes the floor again tomorrow night against the pesky Dallas Mavs. Tip time is set for 7:30 p.m. inside the American Airlines Center.