LOS ANGELES – The odds were stacked against them but the Thunder players on the court did what Head Coach Scott Brooks knew they would, which is battle for every second they were on the floor.
Ultimately the Thunder fell 93-90 to the Los Angeles Clippers after a buzzer-beating three-pointer by Serge Ibaka bounced off the front rim. However, it was an incredible effort from a team playing with just eight healthy players after Russell Westbrook left the game with a fracture in the second metacarpal of his right hand. Perry Jones led the way with a career-high 32 points for the Thunder, taking over the role as the aggressor, and helped give the Thunder a chance to win in the fourth quarter.
Chris Paul missed two free throws and Andre Roberson skied into the lane for a monster defensive rebound to help the Thunder get possession back with 13.4 seconds remaining, but after a Sebastian Telfair miss and two Blake Griffin free throws, the Thunder got the ball back with 5.8 seconds remaining, trailing 91-88. Nick Collison was fouled and made both free throws, then the Thunder fouled J.J. Redick to get possession back, and the Clippers sharpshooter knocked down both.
On the ensuing in-bounds pass with 2.8 seconds remaining, Ibaka took dribbled right to just behind the three-point line and had a decent look at the rim. The ball was right on line, but didn’t drop for the Thunder forward as the final buzzer sounded.
Regardless, it was a gutty performance by a team that finished the game with only eight healthy players and a number of others nursing bumps and bruises or returning to action from injury. At halftime, Head Coach Scott Brooks addressed the team and the Thunder responded by playing for one another, coming together as a unit and playing as hard as they could, together, until the final seconds.
“The DNA of our team is effort,” Brooks said. “It always has been. We’ve never preached anything other than you play your butt of and you play for your teammates. That’s what they did tonight. They rallied around one another and they did that all training camp. I love that they competed and gave ourselves a chance to win down the stretch. That’s what Thunder Basketball is all about.”
The most noticeable area where the Thunder had one another’s backs and trusted one another was on the defensive end, where it held the Clippers to 39.1 percent shooting from the field, including 7-for-30 from the three-point line.
Roberson was tenacious on the perimeter, Thunder bigs like Kendrick Perkins and Nick Collison stayed in between their men and the rim and all five men on defense were tied on a string. Moving forward, especially with the adversity the team has had to battle through in the early going, that defense-first mentality and team-wide commitment to one another will be essential to success.
“Right now we’re going through a lot with injuries and everything,” Jones said. “This is a time when everybody needs to stick together. We preach family every day. We all fought, didn’t give up.”
“We just need to keep playing the way we did tonight and keep fighting,” Ibaka said. “We should be able to do that every night. We were in grinding mode. The key was our defensive mentality. We have guys who can make shots, but the key is the defense. We need to just stay together and have our mindset on playing defense hard every night.”
Perry Jones Shows His Skills
After Russell Westbrook left the game, the Thunder turned to Perry Jones as a perimeter player through whom the offense would run. Shaking off a tough opening night game on Wednesday, Jones shined. He was both efficient and effective. Jones scored on catch-and-shoot opportunities, coming off screens as a ball-handler and in the post against smaller defenders.
For the night, Jones finished with a career-high 32 points in addition to seven rebounds and three assists. Jones picked up a number of screens from big men like Steven Adams, but also some assistance from Kevin Durant and other team leaders.
“My teammates were in my head, especially Kevin (Durant),” Jones said. “He was telling me to be aggressive and telling me that the team is going to need somebody to step up and be aggressive. That’s all I tried to do.”
“He played a great basketball game,” Brooks said. “He’s improving year-by-year. That’s what we want all of our players to do. He was aggressive and got a lot of looks close to the basket. He’s athletic and we want him to get there and be aggressive.”
Ball Movement Produces Buckets
Starting from the very outset of the game with Russell Westbrook at the helm, the Thunder continued its consistent effort to keep the ball moving, execute with proper spacing and play with tempo in the half court. On the night the Thunder recorded assists on 23 of its 28 made field goals. Even without many of its most dynamic playmakers and a tough shooting night from behind the arc, the Thunder was still able to manufacture points through its offensive flow.
“We have to play that way,” veteran forward Nick Collison said. “We have to play with pace and just keep moving the ball. We can’t always think of who is going to end up the ball before we start running the play. We have to just start running something and let the ball dictate where the shot is coming from.”
Stats of the Night
- Perry Jones surpassed his career-high of 14 points with an impressive offensive showing. The third-year forward scored 32 points on 10-for-17 shooting, in addition to 3-for-6 shooting from the three point line and 9-for-11 shooting from the free throw line.
- 19 of the Thunder’s first 22 made field goals came off of an assist, as eight players registered at least one assist and four players dished out three-or-more assists.
- The Thunder out-rebounded the Clippers by 14, including a 39 to 19 edge in defensive rebounds. Steven Adams led the way for the Thunder with ten rebounds.