[jwplayer gdDHAtNR]
The Oklahoma City Thunder trailed by just three points at halftime. The team managed to erase a 13-point first-quarter deficit and, at one point, even had the lead in the first half behind the stellar play of Dennis Schroder.
The pace of the game quickly changed, however.
The Rockets outscored the Thunder 37-18 in the third quarter and carried a 22-point lead into the fourth quarter. The lead eventually ballooned to 34 points and the Rockets walked away with a 114-80 Game 5 win over the Thunder on Saturday night.
James Harden scored a game-high 31 points to lead the Rockets as he faced little difficulty throughout the contest. Thunder rookie Luguentz Dort, the player in charge of guarding Harden this series, was unable to duplicate his stellar defensive effort on him and struggled throughout the game.
In fact, Dort turned in a historically bad shooting performance.
Dort recorded just six points in the contest, shooting 3-of-16 from the field while he missed all nine of his 3-point attempts. According to StatMuse, his nine misses were the third-most in a playoff game without making any shots and were the most by a player logging fewer than 25 minutes.
Luguentz Dort went 0-9 from three in 23 minutes tonight.
– Tied for third most 3pt-misses in a playoff game without making any threes
– Most 3pt-misses by any player playing fewer than 25 minutes in a playoff game pic.twitter.com/1b8JtYmtuK
— StatMuse (@statmuse) August 30, 2020
Dort has emerged as perhaps the Thunder’s best defensive player this season but has struggled at times to shoot. Those issues were on display on Saturday as the Thunder got blown out in the second half.
Chris Paul was seen talking with Dort early in the game after he missed a few shots in an attempt to keep his confidence high. The talk seemed to work as Dort continued to shoot it but it just wasn’t his night.
The Thunder played about as poorly as possible in the second half but, fortunately, will have a quick turnaround as the two teams will meet in Game 6 on Monday with their season on the line.
[lawrence-related id=22045,22037,21952]
[vertical-gallery id=14282]