The Oklahoma City Thunder’s three-game winning streak comes to an end in the hand of the Sacramento Kings, 113-103. With the Thunder missing Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, Lu Dort, Jeremiah Robinson-Earl and Aaron Wiggins, they did relatively well at making this game competitive for the entirety of the game.
Then it appears that the Thunder’s juice run out in the second half and the Kings were able to grow a lead and not give it up. The Thunder were able to make things interesting and cut the deficit to single digits multiple times in the fourth quarter, but the Thunder were not able to get consistent stops and essentially exchanged buckets for most of the quarter. The Thunder missing four of its top six players in minutes per game along with playing on the second night of a road back-to-back probably played a factor in the team losing this game. Now, these aren’t excuses for the team; the Kings earned this win. They are simply reasons as to what caused the Thunder to lose this game.
For the Kings, Tyrese Haliburton, Harrison Barnes and Maurice Harkless led the way in this win. Haliburton finished with a 13 point and 17 assist double double; Barnes finished with 24 points, five assists and nine rebounds; Harkless had an 18 point and 11 rebound double double.
Overall, the Thunder winning its first three games without Gilgeous-Alexander was a surprising development but Saturday night proved that the team is mortal and can overcome only so many injuries before it starts to negatively impact the team. But give the Thunder credit for making it interesting for the full 48 minutes. Let’s take a look at player grades.