It was finally the Thunder’s time, until suddenly it wasn’t

OKLAHOMA CITY -- How excited are you for Game 7?

“We’ve got another game to play,” Kevin Durant answered. “We’re excited about that.”

But Durant’s voice didn’t convey that excitement, not with his monotone and downcast eyes. How could it?

Oklahoma City’s Game 6 loss to the Warriors could go down as an all-time playoff disappointment. The Thunder entered the fourth quarter up eight, 12 minutes from advancing to the finals, and they left it with a 108-101 loss that sends them spiraling towards a decisive Game 7 on Monday. Sure, there’s still 48 minutes left before this series concludes. But the final game -- in Golden State, after hearts broke in Oklahoma City, with the Warriors winning two straight -- feels more formality than redemption.

The Thunder know they should have won this game. Head coach Billy Donovan opened his press conference by expressing unprompted disappointment in Oklahoma City’s offense growing stagnant down the stretch, something atypical since the playoffs started.

“Three or four plays coming down the stretch, yes, probably we’d like to have had them back,” Donovan said.

Oklahoma City led most of the game, and they held a 96-89 lead with five minutes left. By one calculation, that edge gave them an 89 percent chance of winning. You could visualize the yellow ropes going up as the final seconds ticked off in a victory. You could imagine the Thunder raising their Western Conference trophy at center court in front of raucous Loud City, only then to reiterate how their job wasn’t done yet.

Instead, it all fell apart. Stephen Curry dug deeper to find himself, complementing the sizzling Klay Thompson. Golden State gunned their way back, tying the game at 101 with 2:06 left. From there, Oklahoma City wouldn’t score again, attempting just one more shot while turning the ball over five times.

There was Russell Westbrook’s stripped ball, where he dribbled out most of the shot clock only for Andre Iguodala to rip it away after an awkward drive. There was another Westbrook turnover, coughed up out of bounds during a fast break and ruled in favor of Golden State even as the replay showed a missed foul. There was the ball poked away from Durant after a rebound and the stolen inbounds pass with 14 seconds left. There was one final bobbled ball with seven seconds remaining and the game out of reach, just in case the previous four hadn’t hurt enough.

Those mistakes were the most egregious, ones that can haunt a player for an entire career. There were others, of course, like any game. Andre Roberson’s five fouls in three quarters sabotaged the Thunder when Thompson and Curry lit up in the final frame. Oklahoma City’s five-point halftime lead could have been two or three times larger -- “We know we could have played better,” Durant acknowledged when asked about the first half.

Curry and Thompson are incredible to watch, and they combined for a second half that was sensational even by their standards.

“They walk that fine line between lethal and crazy,” Warriors coach Steve Kerr said.

In a game with fewer stakes, the Thunder concede their excellence and move on to the next one. In Game 6 of the Western Conference Finals, there’s no such thing. Not when it’s a tie game, less than two minutes away from a potential NBA Finals. Not when those hopes are dashed away with fumbled basketballs.

It doesn’t feel like teams that lose emotional Game 6s ever come back to win in a Game 7, but there are a few instances. The Dallas Mavericks did it in 2006, blowing a 3-1 lead to the Spurs before clawing their way to a win on the road in the series finale. A few more examples exist, but the record is sparse. The Thunder, at least, understand that.

“It’s supposed to be hard,” Enes Kanter said.

For the first time since making the finals in 2012, the time felt right for Oklahoma City. It was a long-suffering wait for fans, withstanding injuries to key players, rising Western Conference powerhouses and windows just not opening right. After Game 4, it seemed like that had all changed.

Now, instead of celebrating this franchise’s second title appearance and preparing for LeBron James, the Thunder are going to a must-win Game 7 where nobody expects them to succeed. Maybe the time wasn’t right. Maybe it will never be.