After overcoming a slow start in Game 2, it looked like the Oklahoma City Thunder were destined to pull off a marvelous comeback at home to take command of their first round playoff series.

However, OKC fell flat after the game went into overtime and instead suffered a 111-105 defeat to the Memphis Grizzlies. The Thunder loss evened the series at a game apiece as the teams head to Memphis for games 3 and 4 on Thursday and Saturday.

But although the Thunder gave up home-court advantage with their Game 2 loss, guard Derek Fisher is confident that they can come back and steal a road victory from the Grizz.

“I think you have to have that type of belief and confidence in your team,” Derek said. “Anything you want to accomplish at this point in the season, you have to be able to win on the road. The Grizzlies were able to do that, so obviously it’s possible. We have to take these next couple days and prepare ourselves to be ready to go into Memphis and get a win.”

After dominating in a 100-86 Game 1 victory, OKC got off to a slow start in Game 2 and connected on just 26.3 percent of its shots in the first 12 minutes. The pace of play was a stark contrast from the first game of the series, and No. 6 attributed the difference to a defensive lull from his squad.

“I thought they were more efficient offensively,” D-Fish said. “We didn’t get as many defensive stops and hold them to a low field goal percentage, which allows us to get out in transition and keep the pace at what we like it. It was 46-43 at halftime and that’s more of a Grizzlies pace…We have to continue to focus on the defense.”

After the poor first frame from the Thunder, Fish played a big role in bringing his team back in the second. Derek notched all seven of his points for the night in the second quarter, including a short running jumper off his own steal early in the quarter, which he turned into a conventional three-point play.

Soon after, he added two more points from the charity stripe and logged his second steal of the contest. Moments later, D-Fish corralled a Serge Ibaka block and buried a mid-range jumper in transition.

With the boost from D-Fish’s big second quarter, Oklahoma City cut the Memphis’ lead from 10 points late in the first quarter to just three points at halftime.

After the game, Derek acknowledged that his team did seem a bit off in the early going, though a quick film session at the break helped them to right the ship.

“I don’t know if everyone realized it until we saw some of the film at halftime and could see the difference in the body language and energy that guys were playing with,” No. 6 said. “I think everyone’s mindset was right in terms of wanting to come in here and win. If anything, I think guys were a little too pumped up and maybe that was a little draining. I don’t think it was because guys didn’t respect our opponent or didn’t come ready to play—we just didn’t get the job done tonight.”

Even after the break, it took some time for OKC to pick up its pace. The third was played largely at Memphis’ grind-it-out rate, though the Thunder were able to keep the deficit at three going into the fourth thanks to a few second-chance opportunities in the third.

Memphis came out strong in the fourth, building its lead to nine points. But with time winding down on their chance to go up 2-0, Oklahoma City finally felt that sense of urgency, led by MVP candidate Kevin Durant.

Durant and point guard Russell Westbrook flipped the comeback switch and over the next several minutes, the two went to work on cutting the Grizzlies lead to nothing. Eventually, a fast break dunk by Durant with 1:14 to go gave OKC its first lead since midway through the third.

But after taking the lead, the Thunder again went quiet, and the Grizzlies built a five-point lead at 98-93.

After seeing his team fall down by five with 13.8 seconds to go, Durant launched and connected on one of the wildest shots of the NBA season—an off-balance corner three that he hit while being fouled and falling out of bounds. He turned into a four-point play by sinking the subsequent free throw to draw OKC within one with 13.8 seconds left.

The Thunder then intentionally fouled Mike Conley and the Memphis point guard missed 1-of-2 giving OKC a chance to tie or win the game.

On the ensuing possession, Russell Westbrook’s attempt at a game-winning three missed the mark, but Westbrook got the shot off in enough time that Kendrick Perkins was able to corral the rebound and get up a buzzer beating putback that forced overtime.

 

Despite sneaking into overtime, the Thunder couldn’t pull off the comeback win, as they hit just 25 percent of their shots in the extra five minutes, while Memphis hit half of their attempts to leave OKC with a 111-105 win.

After the game, Derek commented that he liked the urgency he saw from his team late in the fourth quarter, but noted that they must channel that feeling earlier in Game 3 if they hope to regain home court advantage .

“We should understand at this point that the game is never over. Whether you’re ahead or behind, you have to keep playing until the clock is at zero,” Fish said. “We have to understand that we can’t wait to play with that type of urgency. We didn’t start with that type of urgency, and that’s something we’ll have to do on Thursday.”

NEXT UP

After the Game 2 defeat, the Thunder head to Memphis for Game 3 Thursday night.

Derek said after the loss that there is no such thing as a storybook series in the NBA—and that the focus is now on winning the next one on the road.

“We understand that this is the NBA, this is the playoffs. There isn’t a script for how this is supposed to go,” D-Fish said. “For us this is about learning from it and responding. Whether we won this game tonight or not, our focus to be the same on trying to find a way to win Game 3 in Memphis. From that perspective, that doesn’t change. It’s one game at a time, and we lost this one. Now we have to focus on the next one.”

OKC and Memphis are set for an 8 p.m. EDT tip Thursday night from the FedEx Forum. The game will be broadcast on TNT.

RELATED ARTICLES

• Thunder loss came down to backup point guards (The Oklahoman, April 22, 2014)
• Memphis point guards set the tone in Game 2 (The Oklahoman, April 21, 2014)
• Grizzlies Bear Down In Game 2 (InsideThunder.com, April 22, 2014)
• Grizzlies even up despite late magic from Thunder (Daily Thunder, April 22, 2014)