Oklahoma City, OK – The Thunder get back home to start a four game home stand after being on the road for the majority of January and looked to get back in the win column after a very disappointing loss to the Detroit Pistons.
They welcomed the Wolves who into the Paycom Center after they also dropped a disappointing game at the hands of the San Antonio Spurs and also looked to get back in the win column. This game had a little extra juice because these were the top two teams in the Western Conference and the season tiebreaker was at stake. And you could tell from the start.
The energy and effort both teams played with was off the charts and it was evident that both teams really wanted this game.
The Thunder got out to a really good start to grab control of the game in the opening part of the game jumping out to a 7 point lead early on but the Wolves wouldn’t go away and upped the physicality to grab control and the lead back. From there, it was back and forth all night.
The Wolves did get up by as much as 10 but the Thunder increased their intensity and physicality to match the Wolves to get back in it.
Every time the Wolves would go on a run the Thunder would do whatever it took to stop it and go on a run themselves. When that would happen and it looked like the Thunder had full control of the game, the Wolves would hit a timely three. Every single time.
This game came down to the final minute and it was clear that whichever team was better at the little things would win it.
That was the Wolves. They got the stops. They got the offensive rebounds. They got the 50/50 balls. The Thunder just weren’t as sharp down the stretch costing them the game and the Wolves were able to get out of OKC with a 107-101 victory to take back sole possession of 1st in the Western Conference.
Here are the reasons for the loss to the Wolves
1) Points in the Paint
The Thunder had a season low 34 points in the paint against the Wolves and more than that, they only had 34 shots there. The Wolves size was an obvious problem for the Thunder as it’s been all season because the Thunder three lowest PITP outputs have come against the Wolves.
Tonight looked a little different than the other two games though. It looked like the Thunder were a little more timid to even try to get there. For the first time all season, it seem like they were a little scared of another team’s size. The Wolves are one of the only teams that play two big men for the majority of the game so it’s not something they normally see but it’s something they need to figure out. The Wolves or another team could do the same thing in the playoffs and make it a quick series for this young team.
2) Ball Movement
For pretty much the whole year the Thunder have been really good at moving the ball. Tonight they weren’t.
They had 7 assists in the opening quarter and it looked good then but after that quarter things changed and they only had 14 after that. They played a little too much one on one and it hurt the offense. The two guys that are really capable of playing one on one had good nights but everyone else didn’t. It made defending them really easy. Especially with Rudy Gobert on the floor who spent most of his time in the paint deferring guys from coming there.
The initial offense was pretty good but once they broke the first shell and met the secondary defense they stopped moving the ball and played one on one. Little things like that against a really good defense isn’t going to win many games.
When the Thunder move the ball and have the ball move from side to side they are really hard to stop so they have to get back to playing that way or they could fall in the standings.
The Thunder were led by Shai Gilgeous-Alexandrer who had 37 points, 8 assists, 7 rebounds, and 2 steals. Jalen Williams who left the game earlier than expected due to an ankle injury added 20 pitons and 3 assists while Josh Giddey added 13 points and 4 rebounds.
They will look to get back in the win column when they welcome the defending champions, Denver Nuggets on Wednesday night.
