Thunder left to turn another colossal failure into another victory, like last time
Game 6, Western Conference Finals, San Antonio and Oklahoma City, Spurs needing to win to keep it going, the Thunder in the driver’s seat having solved San Antonio two different times already following losses.
Certainly, though away from home, they’d figure out a way to solve them again.
Do you know when it looked like that would happen?
About 8½ minutes remaining in the third quarter, the Thunder down 10 after trailing by seven at the half, Shai Gilgeous-Alexander with the ball above the 3-point arc, right side, guarded by one man, with nobody coming to help.
That one man being Victor Wembanyama.
They’d been in proximity of each other many times already, but not like this, as though they were on an island, all by themselves.
Gilgeous-Alexander darted down toward the baseline, several feet wide of the paint, then stopped short, then stepped back for a high-arcing jumper.
Splash.
It felt like something: a tide turning, an opening, a new and cool breeze upon a contest that had been wildly tight, overly physical, a battle for real estate near the basket and everywhere else.
It wasn’t.
Instead, it was the last time the Thunder scored until Chet Holmgren dropped in a layup with 55.8 seconds left in the frame, almost 7½ minutes later.
In that time, OKC went 14 trips down the court without scoring, missed 13 shots and turned the ball over twice.
From 72-64 Spurs when Gilgeous-Alexander scored over Wembanyama, to 91-64 Spurs when Holmgren hit the layup.
Not that it matters, but the final score was 118-91 San Antonio and, this actually does matter, Game 7 arrives at 7 p.m. Saturday.
From the Thunder’s biggest moment of the night to their worst moment of the night, over and over and over and over again.
Until the cows came home. Till kingdom come.
You understand.
Here, though, is how Thunder coach Mark Daigneault saw it, holistically, and the third quarter, too.
Buckle up, it’s a long quote.
