Thunder remain confident they can prevail against Jazz in this series

In their Game 2 loss to the Jazz on Wednesday, the Thunder went cold at the worst possible time.

Oklahoma City’s star trio of Russell Westbrook, Paul George and Carmelo Anthony didn’t make a shot in the fourth quarter. That made generating offense almost impossible in the final four minutes, and it left the Thunder feeling they let a critical home game at Chesapeake Energy Arena slip away.

Two days of film and practice only confirmed that notion to them. So the Thunder remain plenty confident they can prevail in this first round matchup against the Jazz. The series is tied 1-1 going into Saturday’s Game 3 at Vivint Smart Home Arena, but they believe their undoing in Game 2 was more about coming unraveled than the Jazz imposing their will.

“We just made the game tough on ourselves,” George said Friday. “We could’ve made the game a lot easier. That’s all it came down to in that fourth quarter. The shots we took are ones we could’ve made. But we could’ve made it a little easier on ourselves.”

In what looks like the most competitive first round series in the Western Conference, the Thunder see some positive trends. They have effectively taken playmaking Utah forward Joe Ingles out of the series offensively, thereby placing more pressure on Donovan Mitchell and Ricky Rubio to run the Jazz offense.

They also have forced the Jazz into turnovers and gotten out into transition for easy baskets. And they have established Anthony — who was sometimes lost during the regular season as a third cog.

However, the Thunder are expecting a hostile environment in these two road games this against the Jazz (Game 4 is Monday). OKC has leaned on Anthony a bit in this sense. He and backup point guard Raymond Felton are the only players on the roster who have played against Utah during the postseason. So Anthony has been schooling his teammates on what to expect, letting them know what the atmosphere will be like on Saturday night.

“This is a time where we’ve got to come together,” Anthony said. “More so now than ever. It’s a great environment to be honest with you. The fans are all over top of you. They’re screaming and yelling. Whatever they say, they say. We’ve just got to be prepared for that. Any little crack in the armor, it can get tough out there. So we don’t want to allow that.”

The Thunder would like to see Westbrook play more impactful basketball. The superstar point guard scored 29 points in Game 1 and dropped 19 points to go along with 13 assists and nine rebounds in Game 2. But he wasn’t able to put his normal imprint on either game.

On Sunday, that was fine, because George scored 36 points and turned in one of his best playoff performances to date, But, when George’s jumper went dry in Game 2, Westbrook wasn’t able to fill in the gaps.

Defensively, the Thunder want to continue doing the same things. Rubio hit five 3-pointers, but OKC doesn’t want to overreact to him making perimeter shots. Derrick Favors hit two threes, but the Thunder are more worried about keeping him away from the offensive glass. By now, they know Donovan Mitchell will probably score points regardless, so limiting his teammates is of greater concern.

“Mitchell made some really, really hard shots,” Thunder coach Billy Donovan said. “Especially on his drives to the basket, and his floaters and those kinds of things. So, that’s what good players do. Sometimes, there’s really not a lot you can do about that. But when the shot goes up, your ability to rebound and get back in transition, those things are controllable. We have to do better at those things.”