Oklahoma City made history on Friday night. Just not in any way that they would’ve wanted to.
The Thunder had their five-game winning streak snapped in epic fashion, suffering their worst loss in franchise history thanks to a 133-86 drubbing at the hands of the Milwaukee Bucks.
The best team in the NBA proved they were exactly that, taking a 24-point lead in the second quarter. The tipping point in the game came with 3:43 left in the first half when Milwaukee head coach, Mike Budenholzer, was hit with a technical foul after approaching a referee during a time out.
Budenholzer was upset about an offensive foul that was called on Eric Bledsoe moments before. The technical seemed to spark the Bucks.
Milwaukee ended the quarter on a 17-4 run and took a 71-47 lead into the break before outscoring Oklahoma City 64-39 in the second half en route to a 47-point victory.
According to Joe Mussatto of The Oklahoman, the Thunder’s worst loss prior to Friday night also came against the Bucks. That was a 42-point loss in Milwaukee on Jan. 7, 2009.
Worst losses in Thunder history:
47 points: at Milwaukee, 2/28/20
42 points: at Minnesota, 1/7/09
39 points: at San Antonio, 3/25/15
35 points: vs. Portland, 4/3/09
35 points: at Cleveland, 11/26/08— Joe Mussatto (@joe_mussatto) February 29, 2020
Giannis Antetokounmpo had a double-double for the Bucks, scoring 24 points and grabbing 13 rebounds.
Chris Paul led Oklahoma City with 18.
The Thunder, playing without their second-leading scorer in Danilo Gallinari, who was scratched with left ankle soreness, had just one other player in double figures—Shai Gilgeous-Alexander with 11.
As a team, Oklahoma City shot just 36.3% from the field and a paltry 17.1% from beyond the arc, hitting on just six of their 35 3-point attempts.
The Thunder finish the month of February 7-3. They have a small break to regroup before they start play in the month of March.
Oklahoma City is off until Tuesday, March 3, when they return home to host the Los Angeles Clippers.