After profitable large again at dwelling, the Oklahoma Metropolis Thunder shine as soon as extra in opposition to Russell Westbrook and the Houston Rockets within the Toyota Heart after finishing a comeback within the fourth quarter.
The Thunder led by as many as ten factors within the first quarter earlier than the Rockets took over and led by as many as 17 factors. The Thunder would then path for the remainder of the sport till the closing moments of the fourth quarter supply hyperlink.
Russell Westbrook, the previous face of OKC, tallied 32 factors, 11 rebounds, and 12 assists to notch his first triple-double in opposition to his former crew. He joins Lakers ahead LeBron James as the one two gamers in NBA historical past to tally a triple-double throughout all groups within the league.
That Westbrook stat line, nonetheless, was not sufficient to disclaim a win for OKC. Former Thunder guard James Harden scored 29 factors on 29 photographs, hitting solely one in every of his 17 three-point makes an attempt.
Three Thunder gamers scored greater than 20 factors, led by Chris Paul’s 28 factors whereas taking pictures 50% from the ground. He was calm and composed when the crew was making the comeback occur.
‘It was enjoyable to see how guys stayed collectively, stayed the course, and fought again, Paul stated.
Thunder coach Billy Donovan almost ran out of timeouts as he had one left to complete the third quarter, however he didn’t want to make use of it because the crew accomplished the comeback.
‘Dennis and Gallinari offensively, made some actually actually large photographs to get us again within the recreation’, Donovan stated after the comeback win. ‘After which we acquired some well timed stops and a few good rebounds. So it actually was a tremendous job by these guys.
The Thunder grabbed its first lead for the reason that first quarter after Danilo Gallinari drained two straight threes to place OKC up by 102-101. Then after the following battle, Shai Gilgeous-Alexander dunked on a breakaway to place the crew up at 108-105.
Dennis Schroder scored 15 of his 23 factors within the closing moments of the sport. The so-called ‘comeback children’ have claimed their fourth-biggest comeback within the season, clawing their method out of a 16-point deficit to win 112-107 on the highway.
Rockets coach Mike D’Antonio addressed the Rockets’ woes proper after the sport.
‘Couldn’t make a shot, didn’t make foul photographs’, stated D’Antoni. ‘Proper now we’re at a interval the place if one thing goes to go dangerous, it’s dangerous and when it rains, it pours. And it’s pouring’.
Harden stayed for nearly 25 minutes on the court docket for some additional taking pictures earlier than returning to the locker room. It was one in every of Harden’s worst video games in his profession.
‘Simply attempting to get again to the fundamentals. I feel while you’re struggling you simply attempt to get again to the basics and the fundamentals of your shot and kind, kind taking pictures, and issues like that, stated Harden after his post-game shootaround. ‘Staying together with your shot. And simply all repetition’.
