Grades: Thunder use strong second half to slay Sacramento
By Tony Heim
A win is a win is a win. We’ll take them however we can get them at this point of the season.
I don’t know. I really just don’t know.
Does Billy Donovan hold off all of his anger until he gets to the locker room? Or is it possible that Russell Westbrook goes into fits of rage at halftime? C’mon Erik Horne, Fred Katz, Brett Dawson and the rest of the Oklahoma City Thunder beat reporters – we’re counting on you to figure out why this team keeps playing two different halves of basketball.
For the second game in a row, the Thunder played an extremely flat first half of basketball on both ends of the court. And for the second game in a row, they responded with a dominant 24 minutes…on both ends of the court.
Turnovers, missed open shots and lackadaisical effort was the trend for OKC to start the game. Westbrook had five turnovers in the first quarter alone, and the Kings capitalized with a 4-point lead at the end of the frame. They extended that lead to 15 points with 3:03 left in the second, but a quick burst led by Westbrook and Paul George cut the Kings’ advantage to six by halftime.
And then the onslaught began.
After allowing easy buckets to start the half, the Thunder defense clamped down as if Andre Roberson was on the court. Sacramento scored a grand total of eight points in the final 8:24 of the third quarter, allowing OKC to jump out to a nine point lead. From there it was pure game management.
It took over three minutes for either team to score in the fourth, just enough time to get Westbrook back in the game without giving up the lead. Things got a little shaky when Russ got ejected for strongly voicing his displeasure, but strong defense from George especially sealed the Thunder’s second straight win against a sub-.500 team. What a lovely concept – now let’s get to the grades.