The OKC Thunder may have the benefit of homecourt advantage throughout the 2024-25 NBA Playoffs, but on Monday night, the club failed to take advantage of such a luxury, as they were downed by the visiting Denver Nuggets in Game 1 of the Western Conference Semifinals by a final score of 121-119.
Generally speaking, losses are a result of many contributing factors. Unfortunately, during their series opener, it's safe to say that the game's outcome was largely influenced by one baffling decision.
Thunder blew Game 1 when they intentionally fouled with 11 seconds left
With 11 seconds to go in regulation, Oklahoma City found themselves up by three points following a quick inbounds dunk by Shai Gilgeous-Alexander.
Though the Nuggets had Nikola Jokic out on the sidelines and had no timeouts in their pocket, the Thunder opted to foul in an effort to "play it safe" and avoid any opportunity for Denver to tie up the game.
This, right here, was where the night was lost for OKC.
By going with such an approach, the Thunder not only left far too much time on the clock, but they also allowed Denver to bring their surging superstar back into the game, which inherently gives them more of an edge on the floor -- after all, he did finish the night with 42 points, 22 rebounds, 6 assists, and 2 blocks.
Frankly, there's a case to be made that OKC didn't necessarily need to foul in the first place during this sequence, as the lineup left out on the floor consisting of Jamal Murray, Russell Westbrook, Christian Braun, Peyton Watson, and Aaron Gordon has been a statistical liability on the offensive end during the regular season (94.1 points per 100 possessions).
The worst-case scenario would have been that, had they wound up making a triple, the game would have gone into overtime, though, considering that particular unit's lowly effective field goal percentage of 50.0, there's a strong possibility that the Thunder's top-ranked defense could have held strong.
However, regardless of whether one believes the foul approach was the right way to go about the closing seconds, it's hard to argue that Alex Caruso's actions weren't premature.
Holding off even just a few seconds would have eaten away at the winding-down game clock, which would have been a benefit to the Thunder, who would have likely been on the receiving end of some charity stripe-bound calls themselves (assuming no three-pointers were converted on the other end, of course).
Instead, however, the Thunder jumped the gun on intentionally fouling, which, then, was followed up by poor foul shooting and, ultimately, putrid transition defense that led to Gordon's game-winning triple.
Though it may be easy to blame Chet Holmgren and his two missed free throws, one could make the argument that this unfortunate turn for the worst was sparked by the Thunder's egregious decision at the 11-second mark in the fourth period.