Dennis Schroder Helps the Thunder Make History

The Thunder became the first team in 20 years to come back from 24 plus in back to back games.

The Oklahoma City Thunder don't need Russell Westbrook to be historical. Wednesday the Thunder became the first team since the 1999-2000 Pacers to overcome back-to-back deficits of 24 or more points by beating the Grizzlies 126-122.

Per @EliasSports, the @OKCThunder are the 1st team in the last 20 seasons to overcome a 24-point deficit in back-to-back games.

They are the 2nd team in the last 20 seasons to overcome a 20-point deficit in back-to-back games, joining the Pacers on Jan. 11 and Jan. 13, 2010. pic.twitter.com/kioU3T8Gmi

— ESPN Stats & Info (@ESPNStatsInfo) December 19, 2019

The hero in this game, Dennis Schroder, gave Oklahoma City a one-point lead with 8:15 left.  Schroder hit a 15-foot pull-up floater in the lane, making the score 105-104. That floater was part of Schroder's 31 point evening.  Schroder, the hero, almost became a goat when Jae Crowder stripped him with 28.9 seconds left. Luckily for Schroder, Steven Adams was on the other end to rebound a Brandon Clarke missed layup.  Schroder would hit four free-throws in the closing seconds to cap off the comeback, giving the Thunder another hard-fought win.  Chris Paul says the Schroder's performance was inspiring, "On a night where we don't sort of have the energy, don't have the mojo, setting over there watching how hard he was playing forced everyone to get on board." 

For as inspiring as Schroder and the win were, the overall theme of the night was comebacks like this wouldn't keep happening.  Paul says, "We need to stop putting ourselves in those situations; it's nice that we came back twice, but it's not that we dug ourselves those holes." 

Billy Donovan echoed those feelings "It's not sustainable." "We can't become the team we want to become playing 24 minutes." "We've got to play better." If we need to come back, we can come back, but we can't make it a living expecting to come back from 20 point deficits."  

🚨 Dennis Dunk 🚨 pic.twitter.com/GjcS8qYNYk

— OKC THUNDER (@okcthunder) December 19, 2019

To follow up on yesterday's article about Chris Paul bringing the fun back to the Thunder on Wednesday, he outdid himself.  Paul flew in a designer and bought custom suits for all of his teammates. Paul says the cool thing was that this team did it together.  After the game, Terrance Ferguson stood at his locker, making sure his shirt fit just right. Darius Bazley is now the proud owner of his first suit. All this from a guy who supposedly can't get along with other people on the roster and was just using Oklahoma City as a pitstop. 

Chris Paul, who had tailored suits made for all the Thunder players, was asked who wore it best.

Adams in the background saying he looked “dapper,” instead of “fresh.”

Paul as rookie Darius Bazley walks by: “Baze right here ... looking like Pursuit of Happiness.” pic.twitter.com/CzgKofujzg

— Erik Horne (@ErikkHorne) December 19, 2019

When asked about how well this team gets along, Paul responded with, "We really root for each other, we cheer for each other and want to see everybody do well. And that's nice." Whether it's new suits or comebacks, it's a good change of pace to see a team that genuinely seems to be enjoying playing together. 

The Thunder will look to avoid coming back for a third straight game on Friday when they host the Suns. Tipoff goes up at seven on Fox Sports Oklahoma.