Thunder take step back in final game at Sleep Train Arena, lose 114-112 to Kings

The Oklahoma City Thunder fell short in Sacramento to the Kings 114-112 behind Darren Collison's 27 points in the final game at Sleep Train Arena. Russell Westbrook threw up a quiet 24 point, 10 assist, 5 rebound performance in the loss, including drawing a foul on a three point shot in the last seconds to earn free throws that tied up the game.

The Thunder got off to a hot start in the first quarter behind some sloppy play from the Kings. Alas, a 26-15 advantage was soon replaced with a halftime deficit behind a 34-22 second quarter led by Seth Curry raining threes. No wonder he's the MVP front runner.

Curry had 15 points at halftime and the Kings had the lead. After a very back and forth third quarter highlighted by extremely sloppy ball handling by both teams, the Thunder went into the fourth quarter with a 84-83 lead. Collison stepped up for the Kings down the stretch after DeMarcus Cousins fouled out with 3:26 to play. Collison nailed a wide open three that put the Kings up in the final minute after Westbrook gambled for a steal on Rudy Gay. The next possession, Collison seemingly put the game out of reach by knocking down a contested jumper from the elbow.

The Thunder clawed their way back into being tied with 7 seconds left behind a barrage of threes and missed free throws, but fouled Rudy Gay with just a single second on the clock, sealing their fate.

Slammin' Notes

• Kyle Singler had the worst 8 point game I've ever seen from him.
• One of the biggest reasons OKC lost was Sacramento had 16 offensive rebounds. There's no excuse for that with the rebounding prowess that the Thunder throw out there every night.
• Having 10 more turnovers than the other team is never good. Unless you score 16 more points off turnovers than they do. The defense gets a lot of criticism, but tonight they stepped up when they were put in bad situations.

Joey's Awards

Thunder Wonder: Kevin Durant racked up his 63rd consecutive 20-point game. Woah.

Thunder Down Under: Andre Roberson, hustling all over the place tonight.

Thunder Blunder: Kyle Singler. *sigh*

Thunder Plunderer: Seth Curry. Little brother lit up the first half tonight.