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After vastly defying expectations during the 2019-20 season, the Oklahoma City Thunder nearly upset the Houston Rockets in the first round of the playoffs and were just one play away from doing so.
Of course, the Thunder lost in Game 7 but were alive until the last second of that contest. With Oklahoma City down by two points, and just 1.1 seconds left, Shai Gilgeous-Alexander turned the ball over on the inbounds pass and the Rockets held on to advance to the second round.
Given the game was decided in the final seconds, Thunder rookie Darius Bazley believed his team should have won the series. Bazley even went as far as saying on “The Jump” on Tuesday that the Thunder were the better team against the Rockets.
I believe that we should have won that series. I believe that we were the better team; we had it. That was a great group of guys; I loved playing every minute on the floor with them. It sucks, man. I believe we should have won but at the end of the day, I grew, we grew as a team and I learned a lot. I had a lot of first times this year from injuries to starting to the whole playing in the bubble; it was my first playoff series.
Oklahoma City entered the season not expected to make the playoffs, after trading Russell Westbrook and Paul George last summer, but proved throughout the year that they were worthy of making the postseason and they nearly kept up that impressive run into the second round.
The Thunder will undergo several changes this offseason after parting ways with head coach Billy Donovan and questions regarding the future of Chris Paul but it is clear the organization is on the right track given their impressive young core.
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