Tuesday’s game in Sacramento exemplified the type of organization the Oklahoma City Thunder is as they deal with the type of adversity that a lot of teams would fold under. In the past two days, the team has lost six players to health and safety protocols in Darius Bazley, Tre Mann, Josh Giddey, Derrick Favors, Aleksej Pokusevski and Jeremiah Robinson-Earl.
Thunder head coach Mark Daigneault was also placed in protocols and assistant Mike Wilks was named temporary head coach. Wilks might not have been the Thunder’s first choice either as Dave Bliss — the assistant who coached the team while Daigneault was away from the team to attend the birth of his first child — was also placed in health and safety protocols.
Considering all of this context, it would have been fair to expect a marginal loss that flirted in the double digits. And while the final score says the Sacramento Kings won by six points, 117-111. But that score has a lot to do with the fact that the Kings were really able to pull away in the fourth quarter when they started the period with an 11-0 run. The Thunder spent the rest of the quarter trying to play catch up and were not able to do so despite honest efforts.
The first three quarters pictured a much more competitive game as the Kings led by just six points heading into the fourth quarter. And considering just how depleted the Thunder roster is, that’s a great sign in itself that speaks volumes of the competency and developmental skills the organization has that it can compete in an NBA game for three of the four quarters with guys who normally do not see the court. With how bad things are with the team right now as it deals with its first outbreak of the pandemic, this is about as good as it gets when it comes to being optimistic for games.