In a dramatic come-from-behind finish on Tuesday night, the Oklahoma City Thunder defeated the Los Angeles Clippers 105-104.
Down two with six seconds left, Russell Westbrook pulled up for a go-ahead three and was fouled by Chris Paul, sending the OKC point guard to the line for three shots.
Westbrook was clutch, making all three attempts to give the Thunder a one-point lead.
Paul attempted to drive into the lane for the game-winner, but he was stripped by Serge Ibaka as time expired, ending the game and securing a win for Oklahoma City.
Adande tweeted the intense reaction from the Thunder's audience:
The Clippers entered Tuesday night's contest with the daunting task of defeating the Thunder in Oklahoma City—Kevin Durant and Co. had a 34-7 regular-season record at home.
That's not all Los Angeles had to overcome. This team has faced plenty of adversity this postseason due to comments made by Donald Sterling. However, according to an interview with Broderick Turner of the Los Angeles Times, Blake Griffin said his team is now focused:
Throughout the past two weeks, we've tried to make it as less as possible about that and not about what's going on with him. If you ask every single guy on this team, they'd say they love their family. They love their teammates. That's who we're playing for. And that's really the bottom line.
It's a lot easier now, to tell you the truth. In that Golden State series, it was a little tougher time. But now, we feel like we're focused.
In the first quarter, it began to look as though Los Angeles would overcome the odds and take down the Thunder on their home turf.
J.J. Redick got things going early from the perimeter, nailing his first three in short order. The Clippers torched a porous Thunder defense in the first quarter using a great deal of versatility—Redick on the outside and Griffin on the inside.
At the end of the first, the Clippers were dominating, leading the Thunder 34-25.
Brad Turner of the Los Angeles Times tweeted Griffin's stats:
Dan Woike of The Orange County Register tweeted Redick's performance:
Unfortunately for Los Angeles, foul trouble led to the team sitting some key players, allowing the Thunder to get back in the game.
J.A. Adande tweeted a conversation between Doc Rivers and Glen Davis after Davis picked up his third foul of the game on Durant:
DeAndre Jordan followed suit, according to a tweet from Woike:
To make matters worse, Paul's absence on the court was big, according to a tweet from J.A. Adande:
As the half came to a close, Oklahoma City got within striking distance. The Thunder entered the break down 58-52 after being dominated for a good portion of the game.
Royce Young of DailyThunder.com tweeted a big reason why Oklahoma City was able to make the comeback:
The third quarter began with some back-and-forth scoring; however, the Clippers continued to dig themselves deeper into foul trouble, as Paul picked up his third of the game.
Woike tweeted a staggering statistic early in the quarter:
Luckily for the Clippers, defense against Durant was fantastic up to this point in the game. With under eight minutes remaining in the third quarter, Durant had 15 points—eight of which came from the foul line.
Turner tweeted the regular-season MVP's numbers:
Through the remainder of the third quarter, Durant continued to struggle. Fortunately for the Thunder, Westbrook was on fire.
Westbrook continued to play with a high level of intensity, willing his team to keep pace with the Clippers. At the end of the quarter, he already tallied 29 points.
Jeff Caplan of NBA.com really summed up his feelings on the polar-opposite play of Westbrook and Durant with this tweet:
Heading into the fourth quarter, the Clippers led 86-80.
Paul and the Clippers continued to pour it on early in the final quarter. Jamal Crawford finally found his stroke from downtown and helped increase his team's lead to 11.
Shortly after the Thunder received a much-needed boost from Durant. Young tweeted his comical take on Durant's made three-pointer:
Durant came through in the clutch, nailing a three with a minute remaining. After a quick Clippers' turnover and another Thunder score, Oklahoma City found itself within two points with just 11 seconds remaining in the game. And that led to the aforementioned foul on Westbrook.
Following the Thunder's win, they now lead the series 3-2. Los Angeles is now on the brink of elimination and will have to win at home in Game 6.
This series has absolutely lived up to its billing, as these two juggernauts have provided some incredible drama through five games.
There's no reason to think Thursday's game will be any different.
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