NBA: OKC with his back to the wall: Hero Ball is not enough

The Oklahoma City Thunder have their backs to the wall after another defeat against Utah Jazz. Russell Westbrook found an amazingly simple explanation for the poor performance, coach Billy Donovan struggled with the ball movement and Paul George talked about the intensity of the series.

After the first half the Thunder were still in the game, were only 52:58 behind. After the change of sides, however, they did not manage much, they only scored 34 percent from the field and 3 of their 19 threesomes.

“We missed our open litters,” Russell Westbrook (23 points, 7/18 FG) explained the reasons afterwards. Now it is important for his team not to be impressed by this. Therefore, the motto for Game 5 in OKC is: “We must continue to try to create throws for each other”.

Head coach Billy Donovan had identified his team’s stagnant ball movement as a problem. In the first half this was still ok, but in the further course of the game “we missed to let the ball run better”.

This is also reflected in the statistics: In the entire second half the Thunder played only 10 assists, instead they ran into many single actions, at the end of which difficult throws jumped out.

In addition, OKC seemed to have problems with the opponent’s hard pace – there were many fouls, technicals and packs in Salt Lake City. “It’s playoff basketball. That’s where it gets hard, where it gets dirty and physical. We have to accept the fight,” Paul George said. He did not want to accept this as an excuse for the poor performance.

Another “victim” of the intensity was Westbrook, who collected four fouls early in the game (and was also pointed out by former presidential candidate Mitt Romney) and therefore had to restrain himself. “That cost him some of the aggression he needs for his game,” explained coach Donovan.

Westbrook himself was in the spotlight anyway, after sending a declaration of war to his opponent Ricky Rubio before the game. But he would not talk about this any more: “It is not about me or him! Let’s put this aside, because it’s done.”

Carmelo Anthony, however, looked ahead: “We have to win now, it’s that simple. It doesn’t matter what we say now – it’s all about winning. Everyone knows how important the game on Wednesday (local time) is to force a game 6 here in Utah.”

Anthony himself may have to make the biggest leap in performance: With 11 points and 5/18 goals from the field and 0/6 triples, he did not score much. In the defense, too, he was repeatedly identified as a weak point and was involved in pick-and-rolls, which obviously caused him problems.