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The Oklahoma City Thunder mounted an unbelievable third quarter comeback to defeat the Utah Jazz after being down by as much as 25 on Wednesday night. Russell Westbrook was late, but he finally transformed into the superstar that people have been waiting for. He had an extraordinary 45 points to go with 15 rebounds, and 7 assists while Paul George filled in admirably with 34 points, 8 rebounds, 2 assists, two steals and a block. Jae Crowder (27 points, 8 rebounds, 3 assists) and Donovan Mitchell (25 points, 5 rebounds, 5 assists, 3 steals) led the Jazz, but they couldn't pull the Game 5 win out.
The first quarter started off clumsy and deliberate. The teams didn't score until two minutes into the contest. Paul George broke the dry spell by blowing by Rudy Gobert on the baseline for an and-1 dunk attempt that luckily managed to roll in. Oklahoma was definitely slowing the game down, trying to move the ball more to get an acceptable look. The Jazz put out the same strategy, which is what they typically run. It was back-and-forth but Jae Crowder had a strong first quarter for the Jazz. He had 12 points with two minutes remaining in the first and the Jazz jumped ahead 25-19. Utah kept it rolling and were up 34-29 after the first 12 minutes of the contest.
The pace of the start of the second quarter was somewhat lumbering. A little bit like the first. The Thunder picked up where they left off in Game 4, where they were bricking almost every jumper they threw up. Once they started threatening to go inside and attack the rim, Utah got thrown off their defensive rhythm. That was short lived though because Gobert came back in and put an end to that plan. Utah consistently bested the Thunder in the first half and walked into the locker room with a solid lead 56-41. OKC was shooting 35% from the field and 20% from three. The Jazz were shooting decently, 46% from the field and 50% from three. They were turning the ball over a lot though, they had nine at the half. It honestly looked like the Jazz were going to walk all over them and breeze by with a series victory.
Just like they've done all series, the Jazz came into the second half with power and cohesiveness. They jumped ahead by 21 points off excellent play by their guards Mitchell and Rubio. They pushed it all the way to a 25 point lead 71-46 off another Jae Crowder basket and the Thunder had to take a timeout to regroup. I don't imagine there was a lot of positivity in that intermission. The Thunder looked dead, the crowd was anxiously silent, and I almost fell asleep from the lack of excitement
Something must've clicked though. All of the sudden, the Thunder received a jolt of life from the guy who had been missing all series. Russell Westbrook went on to drain two three's and a couple jumpers en route to narrowing the lead to 73-60. Paul George pitched in some key baskets too as Oklahoma slowly chipped away at the lead. Finally, It felt like the first competitive moment in this series in like 3 games! With three and a half minutes left in the third, Rudy Gobert got his fifth foul. The Thunder had a serious opportunity to do some damage with Gobert on the bench, and they grabbed it by the throat! They also finally embraced the strategy of switching on screens. Russell Westbrook, Paul George, and the Thunder raged back and tied the game 78-78 heading into the fourth quarter after they were down 25. Westbrook had 20 points in the third quarter alone.
OKC looked great to start the fourth quarter. They weren't exactly moving the ball, but they were just hitting the shots they missed all series. And they finally played some defense which forced Utah turnovers. Jeremi Grant was getting playing time over Carmelo Anthony in this run, which definitely had an effect. The Jazz kept it close though, even with Gobert playing cautiously with 5 fouls. Russell Westbrook and Paul George just kept getting bucket after bucket, but the score differential was only a two-possession game even though it felt like more. The Jazz tried making one last run to steal the game and the series, but the Thunder defense came up huge. Oklahoma won Game 5 107-99 in their own building and survived to fight another day
Having Rudy Gobert sit out from foul trouble and switching on screens were the keys to the Thunder comeback. Utah had trouble adapting to the screen switching because sometimes Mitchell is their only capable weapon. I think the Thunder will finally attack the rim more after tonight's victory and make putting Gobert in foul trouble a prime part of their game plan. They have to go back to Salt Lake City for Game 6 in front of the Jazz home crowd, and it'll be an undoubtedly taller task to pull a win out there. It'll still be extremely difficult to win two more games over Utah, so I still think the Jazz will walk away with a series win. But after this game at least we know the Thunder can still compete and have an action plan. Game 6 will take place on Friday evening in Salt Lake City.
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