The Oklahoma City Thunder fall to the Sacramento Kings, 131-110, in Monday’s game against two teams in the bottom of the standings.
Even with the loss, it’s hard not to be mesmerized by another elite scoring game for Shai Gilgeous-Alexander as he finished with 37 points on 16 shots. Since returning from his ankle sprain, Gilgeous-Alexander has scored 105 points on 62 shots. This has easily been the best scoring stretch of Gilgeous-Alexander’s season and arguably of his career.
Now while the final score indicts a 21-point blowout, this was actually a close game for most of the contest as it went into halftime tied up at 59 apiece. The Kings were able to use a 72-point second half to blow this game open and create a significant enough lead to put this one away.
De’Aaron Fox led the way with 29 points while Harrison Barnes’ 23 points and Trey Lyles’ 24 points helped out as well. Former Thunder rookie Domantas Sabonis finished with 14 points, 16 rebounds and seven assists.
Overall, the Thunder defense wasn’t really there this game like it is most and the Kings were able to get anything they wanted pretty easily, especially in the second half. Outside of Gilgeous-Alexander, not a ton to be too impressed with outside of the fact that some of the bottom roster guys were able to contribute and that this loss helps out the reverse standings tremendously. Let’s take a look at player grades.