The Oklahoma City Thunder’s late-game magic they’ve had all season ran dry in the Game 7 loss to the Houston Rockets.
The Oklahoma City Thunder have survived this season — thrived, in fact — because of their ability to outplay opponents in crunch time.
With seven minutes to go in Game 7, the season leader in clutch-time points, Chris Paul, put his team, the best in crunch time this season, even at 96 with the Houston Rockets.
Oklahoma City could only muster two more baskets over the rest of the game and lost 104-102, getting knocked out of the postseason.
“It’s always hard when the season comes to an abrupt end,” head coach Billy Donovan said. “These guys poured their heart and soul into the season … I was really, really honored and privileged to coach such an incredible group.”
The Rockets defense shut down the Thunder late. James Harden had two blocks over the final three minutes, one against the man who had been pestering him this series in Lu Dort, who was attempting a 3-pointer that, if it went in, would likely have won the series for the Thunder.
On the final possession, Harden and Russell Westbrook prevented Danilo Gallinari from getting the inbounds pass, and Westbrook knocked the ball away as it was passed to Steven Adams.
The Thunder committed 22 turnovers, a far cry from the 13.7 they averaged during the regular season.
Gallinari could not find his rhythm during this game. He had four points on 2-for-6 shooting, and missed a technical foul shot immediately before that final play.
That was another difference from where Oklahoma City tends to find success. Gallinari averaged almost 20 points per game this season. After an awful Game 5, he posted 25 points in Game 6 and hit a pair of free throws that iced that game.
But in Game 7, he was unable to provide a spark.
Point guard Chris Paul was masterful, becoming the second Thunder player to record a triple-double in a playoff game, but he too struggled late.
On the Thunder’s final full possession, Paul tried to pass the ball to Shai Gilgeous-Alexander in the corner, but it was deflected by Westbrook. Gilgeous-Alexander managed to maintain possession, but the ball ended up in Dort’s hands for the shot instead of Paul.
Paul shouldered blame for the poor offensive finish to the game.
“That’s on me … The most frustrating part is that last play, I put Shai in a tough situation,” he said. “I gotta find a way to get us a better shot. We’d been playing with pace, sort of seeking out Robert Covington. That’s a tough one, we had our chances.”
Paul has been marvelous in crunch time this season, and the playoffs have been no exception. In Game 6, he scored 15 points in the fourth quarter alone. He had eight fourth-quarter points in the Game 4 win. After Game 2, when the Thunder fellow behind 0-2, Paul took the blame and said he needed to be better — then scored 26 in the Game 3 win.
But the final play in Game 7 was drawn up for Gallinari. Oklahoma City did not appear to have a backup option if he could not get free. Gilgeous-Alexander could have gotten the ball to Paul if he had seen him, but Eric Gordon was guarding him tightly and it would have been a very contested look.
There were abnormalities all over: The Thunder struggled in crunch time. There were more turnovers than the team is accustomed to. Lu Dort — yes, defensive stopper Lu Dort — broke a Thunder rookie single-games point record by leading all scorers with 30 points. James Harden said after the game he “played like (expletive)” on offense, yet he had the defining play of the series by blocking Dort.
It was all unusual, and that’s not even getting into the bizarre series of events that the referees went through over the final second of game time.
During an attempted inbounds pass, the Thunder called a timeout and it was granted. But a referee had also called a foul before the ball was inbounded.
After debate, referees changed the call to a foul on James Harden. Oklahoma City got a technical shot because it had not yet been inbounded, and then possession afterward.
Gallinari, a career 87% free throw shooter, went to the line. He missed.
After the magic of the season, midnight struck for the Thunder. Their late-game success died. Paul has shown that Oklahoma City is better off now than they were before the Russell Westbrook trade, but he was unable to win the game while Westbrook made key defensive plays to boost Houston.
The Thunder’s season has come to an end.
“It’s tough. We fought hard all year,” Paul said. “We didn’t give a damn about anybody’s predictions going into any series. And in any game, we expected to win. That’s the way we played all season long — every game, we expected to win.”
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