Despite being down by as many as 18 points in the first half, the Oklahoma City Thunder were quickly able to battle back against the Portland Trail Blazers on Sunday. Unfortunately, with the Thunder down 108-105 and with possession of the ball for the final shot, Thunder star forward Carmelo Anthony continued his shooting struggles and missed the potential game-tying 3-pointer at the buzzer.

On Sunday night after the loss, Thunder head coach Billy Donovan defended the decision to let Anthony shoot the final shot instead of his other stars like Russell Westbrook or Paul George.

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Via an article written by Thunder beat reporter Royce Young of ESPN:

“Listen, Carmelo didn't shoot the ball particularly well, but he's shot the ball well his whole entire career. I felt really good about the shots that he got,” coach Donovan said. “Carmelo is a proven scorer in this league and has made shots, big shots, for a large portion of his career, and I've got confidence in him. So we're going to go with him in that situation. That's just how I felt.”

While only scoring six points on just 3-of-13 shooting on Sunday against the Blazers, Anthony said that he got a good look at that final shot and wasn't going to pass it up.

“I had two previous to that shot, two open looks, shots that I would take at any moment, on any night,“ Anthony said. “To get those three looks that I got, two back-to-back, then one to send the game to overtime, can't ask for any better looks than that.”

During the 2017-18 regular season, the Thunder were swept four games to none by their Northwest division rival as Oklahoma City fell to an overall 44-31 record this year.