In the battle of the two MVP candidates Russell Westbrook and James Harden, the OKC Thunder get badly beaten by the Houston Rockets in a game that was never in doubt.
The Thunder started the game out 0-5 from the field, and Houston stormed out to a quick 9-0 lead. Oklahoma City got within two later in the first quarter, but the game never got any closer. Domantas Sabonis‘ buzzer-beating putback to end the first was called off, and the Thunder ended the first quarter down 37-31.
Houston kept on scoring, and scoring and scoring. They outscored the Thunder 42-28 in the second, and entered halftime up 20.
Oklahoma City started the third with a quick 11-3 run to cut the deficit to 82-70. However, that was as close as they would ever get in the third quarter. Houston extended the lead to 25 points with 2 minutes to go in the third, and ended the quarter with a James Harden buzzer-beating three.
The fourth quarter provided an extremely slim glimmer of hope though.
The Thunder started the fourth on a quick 7-0 run, and started getting back into the game ever so slightly. But Houston would strike back every time OKC would start a run. It was a back-and-forth of sorts.
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Houston was hit with a late-game barrage led by Russell Westbrook to get the game within 8. But alas, it never got any closer. The Thunder lost by a final score of 137-125. It was, in a way, abusive for a Thunder fan to see. Especially with how the fourth quarter went down.
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If you’re looking for any positives, I’m sorry. The only two are the fact that the Thunder shot 50% from the field and the fact that they dominated the boards yet again. Other than that, it was an all-around putrid game.
The Rockets shot 63.3% from the field. SIXTY THREE POINT FLIPPING THREE. They also shot 51.3% from 3 on 39 attempts. Honestly, only Enes Kanter and Russell Westbrook showed up to this game. Kanter had 23 points on 9/12 shooting and Russ had a 39-13-11 statline on 54% shooting. The rest of the team combined to shoot a mere 43.1%, which is subpar.
Defensively, OKC was a complete mess. They allowed the Rockets to score at complete will. It was a gutless effort by most of the players, honestly. You cannot let that happen, not least against a team like the Houston Rockets.
The Thunder next face the Mavericks tomorrow, 8:30 PM ET.