Thunder’s Harden on what cost them Game 1

It really looked like the Oklahoma City Thunder might steal Game 1 in San Antonio. The Spurs were turning the ball over like crazy and OKC had a 9-point lead going into the 4th quarter.

Then the Thunder only scored three points through the first half of the fourth, letting the Spurs back in and even giving them a three point lead with six minutes to go in the game. At that point, the Thunder were able to get things going again a little bit offensively, but it was too late, the Spurs had all the momentum.

“We stopped moving the ball,” said Thunder guard James Harden. “I think in that third quarter we did a great job of moving the ball and getting their defense to move a little bit by hitting wide open shots and wide open layups. In the fourth we kind of slowed that down and they got a couple of easy transition buckets.”

Harden had two big turnovers on charging calls early in the fourth that clearly swung the momentum out of the Thunder’s hands. It was crazy to see a team that had played so well for three quarters just look dead in the water for six whole minutes.

The Thunder proved once more what we already knew. If you’re going to beat the Spurs, you have to play the whole 48 minutes. We saw the Clippers demolish the Spurs for about a quarter and a half in Game 3 of their series, but the Spurs never gave up and they came back and still won by double digits.

If the Thunder even want to have a chance at winning this series they have to know they can’t ever let their foot off the gas. The Spurs are too good and they execute too well. No game is ever out of reach.