By Michael Doutey
The Oklahoma City Thunder blow a late lead to the Boston Celtics, losing 100-99 in Boston. The Thunder played poor throughout the game, but mustered enough late down the stretch to take a comfortable lead into the final minute of the game. However, Boston made some tough shots and the Thunder missed some free throws before Marcus Morris hit the game winner with 1.2 seconds to go. Russell Westbrook had a good look at the buzzer, but his three attempt came up short. The Thunder deserved to lose this one, plain and simple. They didn’t play with the same focus and intensity as they did Sunday in Toronto. It’s just another example of a team who only wants to play when they feel like it. The Thunder wanted to play just hard enough to win late and they nearly pulled it off. But when you play with fire, sometimes you get burnt. OKC’s burned themselves tonight in a loss that was easily avoidable. Here are tonight’s five observations from an gut wrenching Thunder loss.
1. Free Throw Woes Cost OKC
The Thunder have been an awful free throw shooting team this season. It’s something I’ve talked about a few times this season. I’ve said this issue will cost OKC and now it finally has. OKC held a six point lead with 1:23 left to go when Steven Adams nailed two straight free throws. But OKC missed four free throws in the final minute of the game. Melo missed two with 8.4 seconds left in the game with the Thunder up 99-97. If Melo makes both, the game is obviously over. Even if he makes one and misses the other, OKC is playing in OT, where I think OKC wins. The Thunder blew this one at the free throw line. The Thunder shot a putrid 19-29 from the line as a team.
2. Thunder Defense Down the Stretch
OKC took control of the game late in the fourth with a flurry of three’s. PG, Melo twice and Corey Brewer all hit three’s right in a row to give OKC a comfortable lead. But the Thunder defense allowed the Celtics to go on their own run of three’s. Russell Westbrook lost Terry Rozier twice by trying to cut underneath screens. Rozier made OKC pay by hitting two three’s. Jayson Tatum made a tough two and then Marcus Morris hit the game winner, which was actually well defended. But the Thunder didn’t do a good enough job on defense after doing a poor job at the free throw line. Boston made some tough shots, but you’ll look at some poor defense on Rozier that ended up costing OKC. The Thunder could have drafted Rozier a couple years ago, but opted to take Cam Payne instead.
3. Bench was Awful
The Thunder bench has been really good of late. But not tonight. They were awful. The Thunder’s bench combined for 10 total points between three players. Only Jerami Grant, Raymond Felton and Patrick Patterson scored. Grant scored six points on the other two scored a basket each. But the Thunder went back to last year. OKC handed a lead over to the bench and the second unit would lose it or give up a large part of the lead. OKC held a 73-64 lead with 2:04 left in the third after a Brewer dunk. The Celtics closed the quarter on a 9-2 run and cutting OKC’s lead to two going into the fourth.
4. Steven Adams IgnoredÂ
It is a Thunder staple. The Thunder play well when Adams touches the ball in the first half, but in the second half, the Thunder forget he exists. Tonight, Adams played well. He scored 14 points on 4-7 shooting and was 6-10 from the line. But he only got two shots in the second half. TWO. He missed both, but the team needs to use him when buckets are hard to come by. The team needs to stop using Melo in the high post and go to Adams instead. OKC can’t keep going away from Adams in the second half.
5. OKC Did Execute Late
The Thunder actually played well on offense down the stretch. OKC struggled from three all night, but PG squeaked free for a three that got things going. OKC ran two great plays that got two wide open looks for Carmelo Anthony, his only makes from three in the game. Then Brewer joined in on the action, who was 0-5 from three and he had two great looks earlier in the fourth. But Brewer didn’t shy away and hit another three to cap off a barrage of three’s for OKC. The Thunder executed well down the stretch. But they couldn’t hit their free throws and it was all for not.
The Thunder fall to 43-30 on the season and will be back in action on Friday in OKC to take on the Miami Heat. The action gets underway at 7 p.m. inside the Peake.
