Undermanned OKC Thunder roar back to beat Rockets – player grades
The OKC Thunder were down several men facing their former superstars Russell Westbrook and James Harden but summoned a comeback for the ages. Grades offer the details.
Entering the match in Houston the OKC Thunder were already down men dealing with injuries and faced a desperate Rockets team. Less than two minutes into the match Clint Capela jumped on top of Steven Adams sending him to the lockers with an injury.
That meant the Thunder would be without either of their big men as Nerlens Noel was already out along with their best defender Terrance Ferguson. Not exactly the recipe to take down a team desperate to win having lost their last three games. Then again, this OKC Thunder squad has dealt with being the underdog all season and being underestimated.
The fact they sat sixth and seventh on the playoff ladder also gave this game a bit of extra motivations
169. Final. 112. 149. 107
Chris Paul did his best to keep his team in the battle early scoring 27 of his 28 points before the break. Donovan also shocked many by starting Luguentz Dort but the decision proved to be the right choice as the rookie kept Harden on his heels for every minute he was on the court even drawing a pivotal offensive foul on the bearded man late in the game.
As for James Harden he was terrible and refused to stop shooting from deep even though his shot wasn’t falling (1 of 17). That led to Harden staying long after the game to put up shots trying to find his rhythm that at least for the moment has abandoned the league’s leading scorer.
As for the match in spite of Paul’s big second quarter and Harden’s shooting troubles, the Rockets took advantage of the shorthanded Thunder entering the break up 64-57. Houston built the lead up to 17 at one point and led 100-85 with 7:18 on the clock.
At this point Dennis Schroder and Danilo Gallinari took over the scoring and the Thunder put all their clutch time experience into full effect shutting down the Rockets.
The result was quite possibly the biggest win this season and now the Thunder sit just two games back of the Rockets!
With that let’s look at the player grades from the huge win.