In arguably the most entertaining loss of the season, the Oklahoma City Thunder fall to the San Antonio Spurs, 122-120. It would feel a little malpractice to not write or say much about the first 45:41 of this game, but considering just how chaotic the final 2:19 was, this game has earned an exception.
To start things off, with the Thunder trailing by three, Aleksej Pokusevski — who is going to be mentioned a lot in this piece due to how massive of a role he played in the final couple minutes of the game — got fouled from behind the three-point line. Now keep in mind that Pokusevski has taken just 31 total free-throw attempts in 52 games this season, shooting just 67.7 percent from the line. Knowing this, it would be pretty hard to imagine Pokusevski hitting all three but that’s exactly what happened here. So okay, much to the surprise of many, Pokusevski hit all three free throws and the game is tied back up.
The Spurs would miss on the next possession and that miss led to a Shai Gilgeous-Alexander shooting foul, where the 80 percent career free throw shooter split the difference. With the Thunder leading by one, both teams would exchange sloppy turnovers before a Jakob Poeltl layup gave the Spurs the one-point edge with 1:15 left.
After another empty Thunder possession, the Spurs ran up the court and Keldon Johnson received the ball as he was running full speed to the basket and tried posterizing Pokusevski. Tried to at least. The timing of the dunk and where he took off from considering the game situation was a bit of a questionable decision that came to bite Johnson back immediately. Instead of giving the Spurs a three-point lead with arguably the poster of the season, Pokusevski contested the shot enough to force a miss.
The Thunder and Spurs would then exchange missed three-pointers, which included a really bad one by Gilgeous-Alexander, who was otherwise great this game, that felt a little forced and perhaps was his attempt to get a two-for-one.
Nonetheless, the Spurs would miss one more shot before Gilgeous-Alexander grabbed the defensive board and slung the ball across half court to a streaking Pokusevski for an easy layup in transition that gave the Thunder a one-point lead with 4.8 seconds left. The pass totally redeemed Gilgeous-Alexander’s bad missed rush three from a couple of possessions ago and a Pokusevski game winner would have encapsulated the run he’s been on since the beginning of February.
SHAI. POKU. CLUTCH. @okcthunder | #ThunderUp pic.twitter.com/8CNFHtjo6C
— Bally Sports Oklahoma (@BallySportsOK) March 17, 2022
But alas, there were still 4.8 seconds left and that was enough time for Lonnie Walker IV to make a difficult three-point game-winning basket to give the Spurs the win to end this one out. The Thunder had less then two seconds to generate offense and that was just enough time for Gilgeous-Alexander to throw a prayer up that wasn’t answered.
Even with the heartbreaking loss, the wild finish of this game made it really entertaining and a fun watch. The Thunder came up short but considering how poorly they’ve played recently, losing six in a row and all by at least seven points, this close, nail-biting loss was a breathe of fresh air. Let’s take a look at player grades.
