After a defensive battle marked by devastating runs by both squads, the Thunder had an 11-point lead with 7:14 to go. A final surge by Sacramento was fueled by Buddy Hield, but a different Kings guard knocked down a go-ahead 3-pointer, and the Thunder’s response at the buzzer fell just short.
Game Flow
Hands held straight up with feet in constant motion shuffling from right to left then right again, Thunder defenders tracked then harassed Kings shooters for the entire first half. It was a slog offensively for both teams, as Sacramento Kings guard Buddy Hield started the game 0-for-5 from the field, while the Thunder racked up five first quarter turnovers.
Everything started to break the right way for the Thunder in the second quarter though when Head Coach Billy Donovan made an adjustment to the team’s spacing and helped OKC get some catch-and-shoot 3-pointers. Dennis Schröder opened the flood gates by hitting the first one, but was followed shortly by Danilo Gallinari who buried back-to-back triples as a part of a 14-3 Thunder run to take control.
OKC held Sacramento to just 15 second quarter points and built up a 14-point lead in the third quarter, but couldn’t quite press its advantage any further. The Kings hung around, the Thunder’s offense stagnated, no doubt at least partially caused by weary OKC legs. Sacramento turned the Thunder’s lackluster offense into transition opportunities and rang off six straight made shots to end the third quarter.
“They just kept making runs,” said Paul. “They just never went away.”
Sacramento’s 21-7 run turned a hefty Thunder edge into a tie ball game at 71. But again the Thunder had a response as Donovan turned to a smaller lineup to try and get some motion on the floor. The Thunder’s three point guards were out there along with Abdel Nader and Nerlens Noel and the quickness advantage helped force turnovers that spurred a 12-2 run that led to an 11-point lead with 7:14 to go.
The Kings responded with a haymaker of their own, 12 consecutive points including a pair of Hield 3-pointers as OKC’s missed layups led to runouts. Nader quieted the Golden 1 Center crowd with a massive three-pointer to tie the game and Gallinari nailed a short post up jumper to make it 91-91 with 1:18 to go, setting up yet another gut check game for the Thunder.
“Our offense kind of got stagnant, got slow,” said Donovan. “We probably made some poor decisions in terms of shot selection and things like that. It put them out on the break, and obviously they made some threes.”
Decisive Moments
After Gallinari’s post-up bucket, the Thunder forced a missed three by Hield. Shai Gilgeous-Alexander got his hands on the ball, but it was knocked away out of bounds. Upon review it was Thunder ball, but unbeknownst to the Thunder bench, four seconds had already technically lapsed from the Thunder’s possession. When OKC failed to get the ball across half court in just four seconds after that, the Thunder was nailed with an 8-second violation.
On the ensuing possession Steven Adams drew an offensive foul, leading to a Thunder possession where Gilgeous-Alexander attacked right, pump-faked and got hacked. The second-year guard knocked down both clutch free throws with 31.6 seconds to go, ensuring a two-for-one situation for the Thunder.
Out of the timeout the Thunder blitzed Hield, trapping him on a pair of screening actions. He was able to shake free just enough to throw a bailout pass to Bogdan Bogdanovic, who was 1-for-6 from three on the night prior to the play. Schröder sprinted up from his help-side defensive position and charged out to run Bogdanovic off the 3-point line. The close out was too hard, and the Serbian sharpshooter pump faked and buried a 3-pointer from the left wing.
The Thunder still had 13.4 seconds to go to convert a game-winner, but Paul’s fadeaway jumper from the right elbow came up just a couple inches short.
“I think we played good D,” said Paul. “Bogdanovic did a good pump fake. It’s crazy. I watch all these games on league pass night in and night out. As soon as it left his hand you know it’s going in. But we still had an opportunity to win. I got to the spot I wanted to and I gotta knock that down.”
Play of the Game
A pair of Paul passes happened within minutes of one another in the third quarter and both were too good to miss. The Kings were trapping Paul up top, a mistake to be sure, and the deft passer tossed a dime to Adams who caught it, scooped the ball with his right hand and finished on the left side of the rim while being hacked across the arm.
90 seconds later, Paul found his other center, Nerlens Noel, in a similar situation. Paul got swarmed by two defenders and rifled a pass down to Noel who was hard charging the lane. The springy big man flushed it with his left hand and got the foul too.
Stat of the Night5
5-for-6 3-point shooting for Abdel Nader on the night as a part of his fourth-straight start at small forward for the Thunder. Nader buried a huge 3-pointer off of a pindown screen to tie the game at 89 and worked extremely hard on the defensive end too on Buddy Hield, who needed 24 shot attempts to get 23 points.
“It’s cool to see Abdel Nader, to how he’s growing. He’s shooting it with confidence,” said Paul. “He just hoops. Dule takes whatever responsibility there is – defensively, offensively, runs, plays the right way.”
Quotes of the Night
“For us, no excuses. We should have found a way to win, but the more we get put in these situations, the more comfortable we’ll get.” –Chris Paul
“You can’t blow leads like that. We didn’t execute to the standard we wanted to at the end the game and it gave them a chance to hit shots and come back.” –Abdel Nader
Looking Ahead
After completing its fourth game in six nights, the Thunder will catch its breath, still on the road as it heads to Denver on Thursday. With a practice on Friday, the Thunder will prepare for a tilt against the Nuggets to close out the road trip on Saturday night.