Russell Westbrook's 3-point Basket At The Buzzer Lifts OKC Over Sacramento Kings 110-107
Oklahoma City Thunder Russell Westbrook, Paul George, and Carmelo Anthony keep their eyes on Sacramento Kings guard Garrett Temple at Golden 1 Center. Publicity Agents photo art by T. Ray Harvey. Feb. 22, 2018.
THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA, Sacramento, Calif. —
With one second left on the clock, Russell Westbrook catches a 15-foot, out-of-bounds pass from Carmelo Anthony and quickly makes a 3-point shot to give the Oklahoma Thunder a 110-107 victory over the Sacramento Kings on Thursday.
Westbrook’s final shot of the game ended one of the oddest shootouts. The Thunder led by 23 points to start the second quarter, and then allowed the Kings work their way back to take five-point lead in the third quarter.
“I had to find a way to get space,” Westbrook said. “Obviously, we’ve got a second left. Steven Adams set a good screen, coach (Billy) Donovan drew up a good play. (Sacramento) thought I was going for a lop, but I just read the defender and tried to pop back get some space.”
The Kings gave it their best shot, despite looking dusty in the first quarter. The Thunder made 16 of 23 shots from the field at 69.6 percent and knocked down 7 of 10 from beyond the arc. Anthony made all four of his shots behind the 3-point line in the first 12 minutes.
The Thunder opened up with a 44-21 first quarter lead until the Kings came back with 38-point effort in the second quarter to trim OKC’s lead 67-59 at the half.
“We fought like crazy,” said Kings head coach Dave Joerger. “But after that, the defense was much better.”
George Paul 26 points, Steven Adams added 18 points, Anthony scored 23, and Westbrook ended with 17 points for the OKC (33-26).
Zach Randolph had 29 points, Buddy Hield contributed 19 points, and Vince Carter and Garrett Temple added 13 points each for the Kings (18-39).
For whatever reason not fully explained, but there was no final computerized statistics due to glitch that hampered the second half.
Reporters were given handwritten stats on each player. Westbrook looked confused when the abnormal sheet was handed to him.
“I couldn’t understand that,” he said. “I know they used to do that back in the day. But I don’t know if it looked like that.”
Rookie De’Aaron Fox sat this game out with conjunctivitis, an eye infection. The Kings were also without center Kostas Koufos, who is also sidelined with an illness.
By T. Ray Harvey | PA Public Information Officer and Photographic Artist
Twitter: Tony Ray Harvey @PublicityAgents
T. Ray (Antonio) Harvey is a Public Information Officer and Photographic Artist for Publicity Agents. Harvey is also the author of The HOMICIDAL HANDYMAN OF OAK PARK: MORRIS SOLOMON JR.
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