Oklahoma City had their five-game winning streak snapped on Monday night a 107-97 home loss to the Dallas Mavericks.
The evening featured multiple tributes to Kobe Bryant, who died on Sunday morning along with his daughter Gianna and seven others when the helicopter they were traveling in crashed 40 miles outside of Los Angeles.
Shai Gilgeous-Alexander wore a Kobe No. 8 home jersey into Chesapeake Energy Arena and both he and Dennis Schroder wore Kobes during pregame.
— OKC THUNDER (@okcthunder) January 28, 2020
Multiple players paid tribute to Kobe with their shoes, either wearing Kobes or writing messages of condolences to Bryant, Gianna and the victims on the sides.
As the games did yesterday, Monday’s matchup between the Thunder and the Mavs started with a moment of silence, followed by violations on each team’s opening possession. Dallas won the tip and took an 8-second violation in honor of Kobe’s first number, followed by OKC, who took a 24-second shot clock violation to honor the number he wore at the end.
A moment of silence. pic.twitter.com/NsHLE5zWaB
— OKC THUNDER (@okcthunder) January 28, 2020
Chris Paul did not play on Monday night for personal reasons. He was not with the team and Billy Donovan did not elaborate on the situation surrounding his point guard. It was the first game he had missed all season.
Shai Gilgeous-Alexander is now the only player on the Thunder to start every game.
He scored 16 points on 5-of-20 shooting from the field, leading Donovan to tell reporters, including Erik Horne of The Athletic, “he didn’t have a great offensive night”.
Billy Donovan on SGA’s shooting: “He didn’t have a great offensive night. This is one of those moments he can really learn from. He’ll go back and look at areas he can do better. In 82 games there are going to be games where you don’t shoot the ball well.”
— Erik Horne (@ErikHorneOK) January 28, 2020
Dennis Schroder got the starting nod and led OKC with 21 points. Danilo Gallinari and Deonte Burton were also in double-figures.
Nerlens Noel also returned to the rotation after missing Saturday’s game after surgery to repair a fractured cheek. Noel scored nine points in 19 minutes.
Mavs star Luca Doncic led all scorers with 29 as part of a double-double.
Oklahoma City is back in action on Wednesday when they head to the West Coast to take on the Sacramento Kings.