As the buzzer sounded to signal the end of the first quarter, something special happened in Chesapeake Energy Arena.
Unprompted, aside from the gutty performance by the eight healthy Thunder players who were available, the fans stood and gave the team a standing ovation, a sign of respect for the perseverance and resilience the short-handed team showed. Head Coach Scott Brooks’ team led 29-17 at that point and would eventually extend its lead to 26 points, holding on to defeat the Denver Nuggets 102-91 to earn its first win of the 2014-15 NBA season.
The mental and physical toughness was on display from the very start and from every position on the floor, as the squad with just one healthy point guard and one healthy shooting guard managed to stick together and grind out a win.
“What we saw out there exemplifies what we are as an organization,” Brooks said. “That was unbelievable. I’m so proud of our group.”
“I’ve been around the NBA for 25 years and I’ve never seen what I saw tonight,” Brooks said of the standing ovation. “That was very cool and we’re so thankful to be playing here and proud to be a part of the community.”
The Nuggets went on a 21- 6 run to make it an 88-85 Thunder lead with just 2:53 remaining. Serge Ibaka then hit a three-pointer from the left corner, shaking off a miss on the previous possession to make it 91-85 with 2:26 left. After a timeout and a Ty Lawson jumper, the Thunder again needed a bucket, but were inbounding the ball with just 2.2 seconds left on the shot clock. Perry Jones received the pass, turned over his shoulder and hit a fade-away three-pointer that brought the fans, and his Thunder teammates on the bench, to their feet.
“It was a good feeling, especially looking at the bench and how wild they were getting,” Jones said. “It was a good shot. I was going to shoot it. I had my mindset to shoot it. I’m just glad I made it.”
After a Nuggets miss, Sebastian Telfair found a streaking Andre Roberson for a layup to cap an 8-2 response run that put the Thunder up 96-87 with 1:27 left, sealing the victory. The collective fight and resilience the Thunder showed during that stretch was a microcosm of what the team has been doing this whole season so far. Assistant General Manager Troy Weaver and Brooks addressed the team earlier in the day, giving the group an inspirational message that propelled the Thunder to victory.
The intensity was clear on every man’s face during the game, from veteran leaders like Kendrick Perkins and Nick Collison to Serge Ibaka and Perry Jones, who are now shouldering more of the scoring load with the injuries to Kevin Durant and Russell Westbrook. The athletic duo scored 23 points apiece, and both seemed assertive throughout the night, particularly Jones who went 9-for-18 from the floor to follow up his 10-for-17 showing on Thursday night.
“We’ve been getting the ball to (Jones) in a better position,” Perkins said. “We’ve been making him get on the block and he’s been using that to his advantage.”
“I like how he’s playing with toughness,” Perkins continued. “That’s just carrying over.”
Zone Defense Does its Job
With just eight players who were healthy and playing against a Nuggets team that likes to push the pace and get out and run, the Thunder knew it would have to find a way to play at its own pace. Head Coach Scott Brooks elected to utilize a zone defense during large stretches of the game, which gave the Nuggets some problems. The Thunder has never traditionally played zone but has practiced it over the last few weeks and played together as a unit to make it effective. Players were communicating and rotating all night, as the Thunder held Denver to 43.8 percent shooting and forced 18 turnovers on the night.
“I’m really proud of our team and how we played,” veteran forward Nick Collison said. “We’re doing what I thought we needed to do, which is be real consistent on the defensive end. We’re getting back and making teams score over five guys.”
“It’s gone well,” Collison said of the zone specifically. “We have smart guys who are communicating and covering up for each other. It is working. Teams don’t practice against zone a lot so it’s something we can throw in and throw teams off a little bit.”
Big Men Make Thunder Efficient
The Thunder only had two traditional guards available, so Brooks and his staff elected to use what they did have, which was a bevy of big men who could attack the paint. Serge Ibaka led the way with 23 points, Kendrick Perkins stepped in and scored 17 points off the bench, and Steven Adams added 13, while Lance Thomas and Nick Collison combined for 15 rebounds. The frontcourt scored in a variety of ways, including post-ups, off of pick-and-rolls and as spot-up shooters.
“Perk got in low positions and he’s been working,” Brooks said. “He had two big buckets when we were struggling to find points.”
“Everybody chipped in,” Brooks continued. “Lance had 12 points and eight rebounds and Nick made big plays. Just go down the line, all eight guys played extremely hard and well for each other tonight.”
Stats of the Night
- Perry Jones scored 23 points, backing up a 32-point effort on Thursday night in Los Angeles.
- The Thunder racked up 24 assists to just 14 turnovers, with Sebastian Telfair leading the way with nine and Andre Roberson adding five.
- Kendrick Perkins scored 17 points on 6-for-7 shooting, the most he’s scored since February 8, 2013.