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The Oklahoma City Thunder mounted an assault on the Utah Jazz during the second half of Game 5, rallying from a 25-point deficit to tie affairs at 78 by the end of the third quarter.
While the Thunder would march on to avoid elimination and win last night's contest, head coach Billy Donovan won't go as far as to say they have momentum going into Game 6 on the road.
“Once tomorrow starts, this is over with,” said Donovan in his post-game press conference. “I don't look at it like we're carrying any momentum. We got to go in there and we gotta play, and we gotta play better.”
"Once tomorrow starts, this is over with… I don't look at it like we're carrying any momentum." – Billy Donovan on what type of mentality @okcthunder need to have heading into Game 6#NBAPlayoffs | #ThunderUp pic.twitter.com/dENwU6qGxL
— NBA TV (@NBATV) April 26, 2018
Donovan explained his reasoning soon after.
“Obviously we're thrilled with the comeback, it was a great job,” said Donovan. “But you get down 25 points on the road — that's hard to overcome. We were fortunate our crowd got behind us and we made some shots, but I don't look at it like we're riding some momentum wave, I just don't feel that way.”
To call a spade a spade, Donovan has every reason to feel this way, as all the Thunder have shown throughout this series is tremendous inconsistency.
OKC favored from great nights from two All-Star players, as Russell Westbrook dropped 45 points and Paul George had 34 of his own, accounting for 79 of the 107 points scored (73.8 percent).
To replicate that formula on the road will be especially tough, considering a lot of these shots came off one-on-one mirages, with the Thunder totaling only a mere 13 assists in their 39 made field goals.
