MEMPHIS, Tenn. — Overtime. Again.
But this time, reserve Oklahoma City guard Reggie Jackson was going to ensure a different outcome. After losing two straight overtime games, the Thunder survived for a 92-89 victory over the Memphis Grizzlies on Saturday night at FedExForum to even their first-round Western Conference playoff series at 2-2.
Jackson scored a career-high 32 points, including the last five in regulation as the Thunder rallied from an 80-75 deficit over the last 1:20 deficit to send the game into overtime tied at 80. The Thunder led by 14 with 26 seconds left in the third quarter.
“He made huge, huge plays,” said Thunder forward Kevin Durant (15 points, 13 rebounds and four assists). “I’m proud of him.”
When the game was over the Thunder celebrated; they knew how close they were to being down 3-1.
“Joy, man,” point guard Russell Westbrook (15 points and 10 rebounds) said of what was going through his mind when they were down five and even trailing by a point in overtime. “Three overtimes in a row, I don’t know the last time that happened.”
In overtime, Jackson scored eight of the Thunder’s 12 points and sank four free throws over the last 12.2 seconds. The Thunder never led by more than three in overtime and the Grizzlies never led by more than one, the last time at 1:34 when point guard Mike Conley hit a step-back jumper. Conley’s 3-point attempt bounced high off the iron as the overtime ended.
Memphis missed opportunities at the free-throw line, shooting 56.5 percent (13-for-23).
“Nobody shoots a free throw to miss,” said Memphis center Marc Gasol (23 points, 11 rebounds and four assists). “Nobody. Everybody’s concentrating through their routine. It just happens in basketball.”
It happened most to Grizzlies power forward Zach Randolph, who was 1-for-5 from the line and only 5-for-14 from the floor while scoring 11 points with seven rebounds.
“Our bigs do a great job forcing him out,” Durant said of Randolph. “He’s a load down there.”
Durant and Westbrook again struggled with their shooting against the Grizzlies’ physical defense and scored less combined (30 points) than Jackson did by himself. Westbrook went 6-for-24 from the field and Durant was 5-of-21 from the floor.
Thunder coach Scott Brooks praised all the other things they did.
“I tell them all the time, if you only think you can impact a game scoring we’re not going to be successful. We’re built on defense; we’re built on teamwork. We haven’t made shots in three games (they shot 36.7 percent in Game 4, their third game under 40 percent). Sometimes that happens.”
Said Durant: “Shots not falling, that’s not the whole game.”
Thunder forward Serge Ibaka also had a strong game with 12 points, 14 rebounds and five blocks.
The Grizzlies’ Tony Allen had 14 points and 13 rebounds off the bench. Conley finished with 14 points, 10 assists and four steals.
Conley, however, was just 5-for-16 from the floor and the Thunder hawked him all night long.
“We need to get Mike Conley off the ball sometimes,” Memphis coach Dave Joerger said.
Defensively, Joerger found it hard to second-guess all the focus on Durant and Westbrook.
“Both team’s big three kind of cancelled each other out,” Joerger said. “Reggie Jackson was tremendous, got to the rim way too many times. They run a play for him with Durant and Westbrook spaced out, what do you say? My hat’s off to them.”
The Thunder bench outscored Memphis 43-30 for the night.
But it is Jackson who has the Grizzlies’ attention moving forward.
“We gotta get a little more aggressive on Reggie next game for sure,” Gasol said.
NOTES: Thunder F Kevin Durant and PG Russell Westbrook scored 15 points between them in the fourth quarter of Game 3 as Oklahoma City made a 17-0 run and forced overtime. However, in the overtime, they shot a combined 2-of-11 and scored eight points as Memphis won 98-95. … The Grizzlies’ original owner, Michael Heisley, who moved the team from Vancouver, B.C., to Memphis in 2001, died Saturday at the age of 77. He suffered a massive stroke a little over a year ago. Heisley sold the Grizzlies to Robert Pera and a group of local investors in 2012. … In the two overtime losses, the Thunder bench was outscored 33-14 and 34-9. “They’ve been good all year,” Thunder coach Scott Brooks said before Game 4. “I’m not losing confidence in the bench.”