Despite this officially being a win in the books for the Oklahoma City Thunder, this felt like a massive loss for the fanbase. The Thunder were able to mount a fourth-quarter comeback to tie this game and win in overtime over the Portland Trail Blazers, 134-131.
To call this a gut punch is an understatement. Considering that both teams had injury reports longer than the total players who were actually active in this game, it was pretty clear that both franchises saw this game as a must-lose situation. It’s just impossible to even understand what else the Thunder could do to tank; all eight players available on Monday played significant G League minutes this season with one of them even returning from a fractured foot. There’s literally nothing left that the Thunder could do to lower its odds to win games. Yet somehow the Trail Blazers were able to outdo them in the tanking category and manage to blow an eight-point lead late in the game.
Just scrolling through Twitter, this win is really hitting the fanbase hard and is easily the low point of the season. Which is completely understandable. The Thunder have had serious chances to get top-three lottery odds for a few games now and they just can’t get there due to costly wins against the Orlando Magic and now the Trail Blazers. It’s deflating to see the entire purpose of the season vanish in thin air during just a three-game span.
Now it looks like the Thunder will most likely finish with the fourth-best lottery odds for a second consecutive season. Which makes the rebuild that much more complicated. Congrats to players like Isaiah Roby and Theo Maledon, who understandably played their hearts out as both try to carve out NBA careers, even if it’s not in Oklahoma City, but man, this one is going to sting a ton. The vibes on Twitter are the same ones of last year’s regular-season finale win against the LA Clippers, where the Thunder shot themselves in the foot with their lottery odds winning a meaningless game in the grand scheme of things. So for the same thing to happen twice in as many seasons is quite deflating as the fanbase knows that the route to returning to being a title contender is with elite talent drafted highly. Let’s take a look at player grades.