OKC Thunder: Scott Brooks took one (technical) for the team

Asked to explain his team's sterling record under challenging circumstances, coach Scott Brooks smiled as he delivered his answer 90 minutes before tipoff.

“I don't know,” Brooks said. “I mean, maybe we play nastier after losing games.”

A roomful of reporters broke out in laughter. “I haven't heard that before,” Brooks followed. “I just made that up.”

Brooks had put a counter-spin on the catchphrase that has engulfed San Antonio since Spurs coach Gregg Popovich's uttered “I want some nasty” during a pep talk in the fourth quarter of Game 1 on Sunday.

The Thunder wound up suffering rare back-to-back losses as the streaking Spurs led wire-to-wire for a 120-111 victory in Game 2. San Antonio has now won 20 straight, is 10-0 in the postseason and hasn't lost since April 11.

Roughly three hours after playfully talking about his team playing nastier. Brooks literally turned nasty with 2:32 left in the third quarter.

With his team trailing 82-66 and tired of what he considered to be one-sided officiating, Brooks barked in the face every referee he could find.

Brooks got away with two heated confrontations without getting slapped with a technical foul. The third time was the charm as a ticked-off Brooks finally got teed up.

The normally docile Brooks no doubt was hoping a technical might fire up his team. He also instructed his players to deliberately foul Spurs reserve center Tiago Splitter.

Splitter shot 69.1 percent from the free-throw line during the regular season, but entered Tuesday's game having shot just 32.0 percent (8 for 25) in the postseason.

It might have been considered a desperate move by a desperate coach, but these were desperate times with the Spurs clicking on all cylinders, shooting 60.0 percent from the field and 52.9 percent from 3-point range through three quarters.