Oklahoma City – The Thunder hosted the Sixers tonight in their home opener and unlike their first two games they really competed tonight.
There were definitely some promising moments despite the loss. At first it looked like it would be a big blowout for the Sixers because the Thunder got down by as many as 16 in the second quarter and would continue to trail and got down by as much as 18 but they kept fighting and competing all night.
They never led in the game but it was nice to see after the first 2 games of the season but they did end up with a loss.
Here are the things that went wrong tonight.
1) Bad Defensive Start
The Thunder gave up 36 points on 12-22 (54.5%) to the Sixers in the first quarter and let Seth Curry get going for 23 points on 8-10 from the floor and 6-7 from 3. In the history of their franchise, the Thunder have only won 24 games where they gave up 35 or more points in the first quarter so it’s clearly shows that they were likely to lose this game. They can’t let teams get going even if they’re going to comeback at some point because it just give their opponents some extra energy when they see shots go in a lot. They held Embiid in check in the first but kept losing Seth on the 3 point line which is the one guy they should have been attached to. If they didn’t let the Sixers get so hot in the first they might have won this game.
2) Slow Pace
For the third straight game the Thunder didn’t play that fast. The only had 6 fast break points and that is a shame with the talent on this team. They didn’t get as many stops as they needed to truly play fast but when they were getting stops they didn’t push the ball up the floor much. Pushing the pace would open up things so much for the Thunder and would help guys get into a groove. Once they realize they have the personnel to push the ball the sky is the limit for them in that area.
3) Not Enough Scoring
They have Shai Gilgeous-Alexander who can score pretty much whenever he wants but someone else needs to step up and lessen the scoring load for him. They got it within 8 at the end of the 3rd with Shai scoring 11 in the quarter but when he went to the bench to start the 4th things went south very quick and they got down by 18 within the first few minutes of the quarter and he had to come back earlier than expected. Guys got going when he came back in and they kept fighting but had someone stepped up and helped with the scoring the game might have been closer at the end and they might have had a chance to win. The secondary scorer is going to have to show themselves asap.
Despite the loss, there were a few bright spots and milestones for the team. Firstly, they were led by Shai who looked like himself and had 29 points, 8 assists, and 6 rebounds. It was good to see he is playing like everyone knows he can after two subpar games to start the season. Second, Josh Giddey looked much like the 6th pick in the draft. He had a near triple double with 19 points, 8 rebounds, and 7 assists while becoming the youngest guy in franchise history to have a 15p, 5r, 5a game. The last milestone came from Lu Dort who became the 12th fastest and 7th youngest in team history to record 1000 points after he had 13 points tonight.
I’m not much for moral victories but this was absolutely a moral victory for the Thunder and hopefully it was something to build on.
They will look to get their first win of the season against the Warriors on Tuesday night in what will be a very tough game.
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