Thunder Suffer Another Heartbreaker Falling To The Bucks 121-119.
The Oklahoma City Thunder suffer another heartbreaking loss this time falling to the Milwaukee Bucks 121-119. With 32 seconds left, Danilo Gallinari nailed at 26 foot pull up jumper to tie the game at 114. However, on the ensuing possession, Brook Lopez would put the Bucks back in front to stay when he fired a 28 footer that hit nothing but nylon. Chirs Paul would sink a three as time expired to pull the Thunder within two, but as with Utah, Houston, and Portland, the Thunder couldn't close when it counted.
Gallinari was asked about the Thunder's inability to win close games late and said, "In this case, make shots because we played a tight game, but we didn't shoot the ball well." Oklahoma City shot 63 percent from the floor in the final frame, so maybe Gallinari was referring to a second straight weak third quarter when the Bucks opened on a 13-7 run and outscored the Thunder 37-24.
Chris Paul says, "We pushed it a little bit (the pace), but we still weren't getting the stops; for some reason, teams are getting hot on us in the third quarter, so we gotta figure out a way to slow that down and get better."
Credit the bench for another strong performance. Dennis Schroder, Hamidou Diallo, and Mike Muscala all finished in double figures while as a whole getting the better of the Bucks 47-30
.
If you're wondering about the stanchion sign Giannis Antetokoumpo kicked on his way to the locker room after the first half. Antetokoumpo is promising to pay for the sign and joked he would be willing to trade Bucks sign to the Thunder the next time they are in Milwaukee.
Worth noting, Nerlens Noel had another productive night in the starting lineup scoring 14 points, with six assists and going six of nine from the floor. After the game, Noel was in the locker room icing both knees and ankles.
Up next it's the Pacers on Tuesday in Indianapolis tipoff is set for 6 pm on 97.1 The Sports Animal in Tulsa.
