Despite putting together a star-studded team last summer in the hope of competing for a championship, the Oklahoma City Thunder are somehow staring playoff elimination in the face in the first round. 

They trail the Utah Jazz 3-1 after four games and are on the verge of an embarrassing exit unless they can pull off a miracle comeback. 

When they partnered Russell Westbrook with Paul George and Carmelo Anthony this year, their aim was to make a deep playoff run at the very least, so falling at the first hurdle would be a major failure. 

The trio haven't covered themselves in glory for much of the series, especially over the last three games where they were outplayed on both ends of the floor. 

Of the three stars, Anthony is definitely struggling the most and the numbers reflect that as he's shot the ball extremely poorly.

Melo is one of the best scorers in the history of the NBA but he seems to have lost all of his offensive talents in this series, particularly when it comes to shooting from beyond the arc.

Per Bryan Kalbrosky of Hoops Hype, the veteran is shooting at an awful mark on open three-pointers. The Thunder forward is shooting just 27.3 percent from the three-point range when having a defender away from him by six or more feet. 

When he has his defenders four to six feet away, Anthony is connecting on just 23.1 percent of his shots from downtown.

His inability to capitalise on the open looks afforded to him by Westbrook and George has hurt OKC in this series as they've found it hard to get much joy at the basket with Rudy Gobert doing a great job of protecting the rim. 

This is one of the main reasons why they find themselves down 3-1. The so-called 'big three' in Oklahoma City haven't performed like stars whereas a Utah team lacking any real star power have played at a terrific level. 

Rookie Donovan Mitchell is outplaying his more experienced All-Star counterparts and is truly making a name for himself. 

But despite their woes so far, Carmelo is only looking towards the next game and winning on their home floor to give themselves a chance to mount an improbable comeback. 

“We can sit here and say what we gotta do and what we didn’t do and what we did do, but it comes down to having the will to win that game on Wednesday and forcing a game six back here in Utah,” he said, per Moke Hamilton of Thunder Wire. 

Their season is on the line tonight at the Chesapeake Energy Arena, it's up to the Thunder's superstars to show up and keep their campaign alive for at least another game. 

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