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.
