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Oklahoma City was just looking for continuity. After beating Golden State Wednesday, they were looking to back that victory up with a win over Detroit Friday night.
But the Pistons came into the matchup winners sitting in second place in the Eastern Conference. They could care less about the troubles Oklahoma City had been having trying to bring their team together. Detroit just wanted to keep winning.
Detroit came into Oklahoma City and snatched any momentum and good feelings the Thunder had by grabbing a 99-98 victory at the Chesapeake Energy Arena.
The Thunder had several opportunities to steal the win, but a last-second shot was off its mark and Oklahoma City dropped to 8-10.
“We put ourselves in position to win the game,” Thunder guard Russell Westbrook said. “But the ball didn’t go in the basket.”
The Pistons overcame a poor shooting first half to secure the victory. Six players scored in double figures, led by Andre Drummond, who had 17. Ish Smith came off the bench to post 15 points and former Thunder guard Reggie Jackson added 12 points.
Westbrook led all scorers with 27 points to go along with 11 rebounds, 11 assists, and five turnovers. It was his sixth triple-double of the season.
After trailing Oklahoma City for three quarters, Detroit took the lead early in the fourth quarter as Oklahoma City went ice cold from the field.
After Detroit’s Luke Kennard drained a three-pointer, Westbrook scored to close the gap to 88-86.
Avery Bradley drained a corner three-pointer from in front of the Thunder bench. Trailing 97-93, Westbrook air-balled consecutive three-pointers.
Oklahoma City got the ball back before Anthony and Westbrook both missed a pair of three-pointers.
It was the unlikely Andre Roberson who finally knocked down a long three to cut the Pistons was lead down to 97-96 with 45 seconds left.
“I thought the last four minutes we had really good ball movement and really generated some good looks,” Donovan said. “The ball just didn’t go in the basket for us.”
Jackson was fouled and he nailed both free throw attempts.
With 28 seconds left, Westbrook drove in for a layup. Jackson was unable to answer on the other end when he missed a running floater from 15 feet out. Westbrook got the rebound and the Thunder called timeout.
With five seconds left, Oklahoma City got the ball at halfcourt. They got the ball into Westbrook 35 feet out. He took a couple of dribbles before rising up for a long three-pointer with a defender in his face. The shot was off target as Detroit held on for the win.
Despite needing only a two-pointer to win, Westbrook said it was what they wanted.
“It happens like that sometimes,” Westbrook said. “You just have to read, have to see what’s open, what’s not open. Who’s in the paint. You’re just trying to get space to get a shot off, regardless of where it is.”
Thunder coach Billy Donovan agreed with his star point guard.
“It was exactly what we wanted,” Donovan said. “I thought he generated a pretty good look for himself.”
One of their issues was horrendous three-point shooting. Not only did they shoot 8-of-32 from behind the arc, many of them were just bad shots and the Pistons took advantage.
The biggest culprit was Westbrook, who made one of his 10 attempts from three-point range. Anthony was 2-for-6 and George was 2-for-8.
“No, it didn’t feel like a step back,” Anthony said. “Usually in games where teams come back, they gain momentum. Sometimes we let the game get out of hand but tonight we didn’t. As far as losing the game, it was a step back. As far as how we played and competed, it wasn’t a step back.”
