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| AP Photo/Rick Bowmer |
The Jazz pounded the ball inside in the first quarter and Kendrick Perkins and Serge Ibaka had no answers for Utah's over powering front court. OKC allowed 12 points in the paint and allowed 5 second chance points. Al Jefferson and Paul Milsap combined for 16 points on 7/14 shooting.
Still struggling to take care of the ball, Oklahoma City turned the ball over 7 times for another 11 Jazz points in the second quarter. Kevin Durant had 2 steals to go along with his 13 points on 5-6 shooting in the quarter. Picking up the tempo was the second unit, who helped OKC score 6 points in the break and score 9 points off of 5 Utah turn overs.
Back-up point guard Reggie Jackson stayed aggressive in his 5 minutes of play, scoring 4 points off of 2-2 shooting and snagged 2 rebounds. Thabeet was virtually ineffective in his time played. He had nothing but a steal, not even a rebound in his 3 minutes of play. Utah's front court continued to pound the ball inside and racked up another 14 points in the paint, but the Thunder were able to answer back with 16 of their own.
A lot of the Jazz's front court success had to do with late rotations and weak interior defense on the Thunder's part. Kendrick Perkins was -6 in the first half, a lot of which had to do with 2 personal fouls and a flagrant 1 he was given in the second quarter, to go with a technical after jawing at an official for a foul he thought shouldn't have been called.
The third quarter was another excellent quarter shooting for the Thunder as they shot 60%. Despite the Efficient scoring, they were never able to put a run together besides an 8-2 run to end the third, and close the gap between the two teams to 7, at 79-86.
Oklahoma City was able to contain the Jazz in post to some level, giving up just 8 points in the paint, but struggled to defend the arc, giving up 4 threes on 8 shots to the Jazz. Jamaal Tinsley was 2-3 beyond the arc, which is ironic considering Thabo Sefolosha who was guarding him at one point was -3.
Kevin Durant was the answer though for the Thunder in the third. He took over, scoring back to back threes at one point, and finished the quarter with 16 points on 4-6 shooting. Oklahoma City took better care of the ball, turning it over only twice, but it still lead to an easy 5 points for the Jazz, and with the turn over position the Thunder were already in, it really hurt them a lot. Take that 5 points away and the Thunder would've only been down 2 going into the fourth.
The fourth quarter was where everything just fell apart for the Thunder. Coming up with empty shots, failing to box out Jazz players for defensive rebounds, and giving up easy second chance points absolutely killed the Thunder's momentum. OKC gave up 5 three's in the fourth, and was out rebounded by the Jazz 11-6.
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| AP Photo/Rick Bowmer |
Every time the Thunder would inch closer and closer, the Jazz would get a crazy bounce off the rim and the ball would fall into the basket, or Demare Carroll would drop a three in someone's face. The Jazz had the hustle on all game, it was the opposite for the Thunder. KD and co failed to capitalize on easy points and open shots, for example Kevin Martin. K-Mart didn't take a shot in the third and missed 2 wide open three's in the fourth.
I couldn't tell you how many open shots the Thunder missed tonight, and how many times the Thunder failed to box out their opponent. Oklahoma City allowed a team that averages just 98 points to score 109 in the game tonight. The total turn overs for the Thunder were catastrophic - turning the ball over a total of 20 times for 28 points.
Before Garbage time, where the reserves came in and Scott Brooks cleared the bench, the Thunder's reserves were out scored 40-14. K-Mart finished the game tonight with just 6 points on 3-8 shooting. The trade dead-line is coming up here in a few weeks, and Oklahoma City could certainly use some consistent scoring coming off of the bench. The way things are looking right now aren't in the Thunder's favor come play off time, and despite having a 39-13 record 3/4 of the way through the season, The Thunder's weaknesses have been exposed.
Thunder Essentials:
Rebounding - D
Oklahoma City was crushed on both ends of the glass tonight. They were out rebounded a total of 26-38 through out the game, and gave up 16 offensive rebounds for a total of 18 second chance points. Al Jefferson had his way with whomever was guarding him, especially Kendrick Perkins. Perk become frustrated early on in the game and was way out of his normal defensive grove, as was Serge Ibaka too, who was -28 on the game despite blocking 7 shots.
Second Chance Points - D
This goes back to allowing offensive rebounds. Oklahoma City gave up 16 tonight and paid dearly because of it. This was perhaps the worst rebounding game of the Perk/Ibaka front court era. They combined for a total of 4 rebounds tonight, and you can't expect to ever win when your front court performs so poorly.
Kevin Durant - B
KD was fantastic tonight, but it wasn't enough. KD was both efficient and aggressive - finishing with 33 points on 11-18 shooting. He made back-to-back threes tonight at one point during the third, trying to will his team back into the game. He gave up a couple of nice shots for great shots to his team mates several times in the fourth quarter, but they were not able to convert and the Thunder fell way too far behind. This would've been a higher grade if they came out with a win tonight, but after trailing by 20+ points mid way through the fourth quarter, KD and the starters were pulled for the remainder of the game.
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