OKC’s ‘Comeback Kids’ Scores 41 Points in the Fourth to Win Over Houston
After winning big back at home, the Oklahoma City Thunder shine once more against Russell Westbrook and the Houston Rockets in the Toyota Center after completing a comeback in the fourth quarter.
The Thunder led by as many as ten points in the first quarter before the Rockets took over and led by as many as 17 points. The Thunder would then trail for the rest of the game until the closing moments of the fourth quarter source link.
Russell Westbrook, the former face of OKC, tallied 32 points, 11 rebounds, and 12 assists to notch his first triple-double against his former team. He joins Lakers forward LeBron James as the only two players in NBA history to tally a triple-double across all teams in the league.
That Westbrook stat line, however, was not enough to deny a win for OKC. Former Thunder guard James Harden scored 29 points on 29 shots, hitting only one of his 17 three-point attempts.
Three Thunder players scored more than 20 points, led by Chris Paul’s 28 points while shooting 50% from the floor. He was calm and composed when the team was making the comeback happen.
‘It was fun to see how guys stayed together, stayed the course, and fought back, Paul said.
Thunder coach Billy Donovan nearly ran out of timeouts as he had one left to finish the third quarter, but he did not need to use it as the team completed the comeback.
‘Dennis and Gallinari offensively, made some really really big shots to get us back in the game’, Donovan said after the comeback win. ‘And then we got some timely stops and some good rebounds. So it really was an amazing job by those guys.
The Thunder grabbed its first lead since the first quarter after Danilo Gallinari drained two straight threes to put OKC up by 102-101. Then after the ensuing battle, Shai Gilgeous-Alexander dunked on a breakaway to put the team up at 108-105.
Dennis Schroder scored 15 of his 23 points in the closing moments of the game. The so-called ‘comeback kids’ have claimed their fourth-biggest comeback in the season, clawing their way out of a 16-point deficit to win 112-107 on the road.
Rockets coach Mike D’Antonio addressed the Rockets’ woes right after the game.
‘Couldn’t make a shot, didn’t make foul shots’, said D’Antoni. ‘Right now we’re at a period where if something is going to go bad, it’s bad and when it rains, it pours. And it’s pouring’.
Harden stayed for almost 25 minutes on the court for some extra shooting before returning to the locker room. It was one of Harden’s worst games in his career.
‘Just trying to get back to the basics. I think when you’re struggling you just try to get back to the fundamentals and the basics of your shot and form, form shooting, and things like that, said Harden after his post-game shootaround. ‘Staying with your shot. And just all repetition’.
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