Thunder Falls To Orlando At The Buzzer

The Thunder gave away a 17-point lead, capped by Tobias Harris' dunk at the buzzer to give Orlando a 103-102 win. 

Friday, February 7th 2014, 10:25 pm

By: News 9


The NBA All-Star Weekend is a week away and the Oklahoma City Thunder look like they're just about ready for a nice break.

The Thunder blew a 17-point lead and Tobias Harris gave the Orlando Magic a 103-102 upset win with a fastbreak dunk at the buzzer.

With Oklahoma City leading 102-101, Kevin Durant forced up a jumper with four seconds left. The ball caromed off the rim and Orlando's Victor Oladipo corralled the loose ball and passed ahead to Moe Harkless under the basket, who hit the trailing Harris for the flush right before the buzzer sounded.

Durant finished the game with 29 points and a career-high 12 assists, the final one setting up a Thabo Sefolosha 3-pointer that put the Thunder up 102-99 with 1:55 remaining. However, Durant was just 1-for-7 from the field in the fourth quarter and failed to get back on defense after his final miss, leaving Jeremy Lamb and Reggie Jackson to try and stop the Magic fastbreak.

Overall, the Thunder defense was pretty lackluster against the second-worst team in the NBA. The Magic shot 47.5 percent for the game, including 52.5 percent in the first half. Orlando racked up 25 assists on 38 made field goals and turned 16 Oklahoma City turnovers into a whopping 26 points.

The Thunder also allowed Orlando too many easy looks at the basket. The Magic put up 52 points in the paint, many of those being layups and other chip shots right at the rim.

Harris led Orlando with 18 points, one of five Magic players in double figures. Arron Afflalo had 16 points while Victor Oladipo and Glen Davis had 14 points each.

Durant didn't have nearly as much help on the offensive end for OKC. Serge Ibaka had a terrific showing, scoring 26 points on 10-of-13 shooting with five blocked shots. Reggie Jackson was the only other OKC player in double figures with 12.The bench put in 21 points in the first half, but scored just two points in the second half.

The Thunder weren't terrible offensively overall, shooting 50 percent for the game and hitting 10 3-pointers. However, the 16 turnovers were a killer, as well as the 41 percent shooting in the second half and 14 points in the entire fourth quarter.

The first quarter was a beautiful display of offense for the Thunder as they scored 36 points in the first 12 minutes. Durant had 15 of those points, along with five assists and three rebounds. The second quarter continued the same way, as the Thunder opened up a 47-30 lead with nine minutes remaining in the period.

That would be the high water mark for the Thunder, as the Magic steadily chipped away at the lead the rest of the half—OKC led 65-51 at halftime—and the game. Orlando cut the lead to six points on several occasions in the third quarter, before beginning the fourth quarter on an 8-0 run to knot the score at 88 with 9:13 to play.

Two Harris free throws with 7:58 to play gave the Magic a 91-90 lead. Later, Harris extended the lead to 97-93 before Jackson hit back-to-back jumpers to tie the score.

The Thunder is back in action on Sunday when they take on the Knicks at home at noon.

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