Early in the first quarter on Sunday night, with the Thunder leading 11-6 and off to a rollicking start at home against the Wizards, Steven Adams reached for a simple defensive rebound off a missed shot — an action Adams has successfully executed thousands of times in his life. But this time, Adams dropped it. Inexplicably, the ball rolled out of bounds and the Wizards got it back. The lesson? Sometimes in the NBA, things just seem to go your way.
That seemed to be the case for the Wizards on Sunday as one of the NBA’s worst teams, playing without its star player and two other key starters, blew out one of the best squads in the league playing at home and at full strength.