All good things...

Come to an end, right?  Only this wasn't a good thing, it was a great thing, namely the 12 game winning streak the Thunder ripped off right before losing to the Minnesota Timberwolves Thursday night, 99-93.   I heard before the game that Kevin Martin wasn't going to play, and it didn't get any better after the tip off for the Thunder.  Saw this game as the first of the Thursday night doubleheader on TNT, and man...well, the Thunder never led in this one, which pretty much sums up the whole night for them.


Saw a stat before the game about how during the streak the Thunder had scored over 108 a game, held opponents to 42% shooting while hitting on 49% of their own shots, and allowed the other team to score a shade under 95 per a game.  So when I tell you the Thunder shot only 33-82 (40%) and managed to score 93 themselves while allowing the T'Wolves to put up 99, you can see why the 12 in a row came to an end.  Several easy buckets got away from the Thunder, and even KD missed some looks that he normally cashes in on.  The typical sequence was summed up near the end of the 2nd quarter:  Russ penetrates into the lane, and tosses a nice soft pass in the key to a cutting Ibaka, who bricks a 6 foot jumper off the back of the iron. This results in a fast break going the other way for the Wolves.  Yep...it was one of those nights.

Reggie Jackson played well in the summer league, but he's more of a point guard.  And when you're used to the type of play that KMart gives them as the first man off the bench, Jackson just doesn't bring that same type of game to the floor.  OKC put up a furious rally at the end of the 3rd and the beginning of the 4th but honestly, J.J. Barea just about single handedly did them in.  He hit 3s from all over, including one as the shot clock wound down that must have been from the shores of Lake Minnetonka (thanks Reggie).  Each time Russ or KD would put on a run cutting it down to 4 or 5 points...Barea would drop a 3 or get a layup and next thing you know the lead is back up to 8 or 9.  And the Thunder just ran out of game time.

Hey...the Thunder weren't going to go 78-4 so I guess in the grand scheme of things still having the best record in the L is no small thing.  But still.  This was a winnable one and they let it get away.  Russ having half the teams turnovers wasn't helping either, even though he came 1 dime away from throwing up a triple double.  He and KD were both pretty darn good (except for the shooting percentages and TOs) but they didn't get enough from anyone else not named Ibaka.  KMart coming back I'm sure will put them back on track with their bench rotation and all that, but man - I would have liked to see this winning streak keep going.  But now, they get a chance to start a new streak.  #ThunderNationRISE