One of the things that most NBA players appreciate about life in The Association is the fact that there’s always another game. That fact forces teams to not bask too much in the glory of a good win or get too low after a tough loss.
But after the Thunder suffered a 121-92 loss to the Memphis Grizzlies on Friday — although Chris Paul had already looked ahead to Sunday’s contest against the Washington Wizards — Danilo Gallinari reflected on what went wrong against Ja Morant and co.
“I think that our energy was not good. We started well then for three quarters we didn’t bring it, our energy was not good enough and our attention to details on the defensive plan of the game was not good enough.”
All things considered, it’s difficult to disagree.
The Thunder took early control of the game and led by as many as 18 points. Billy Donovan referred to the game’s first quarter as “fool’s gold,” though, as Memphis dominated the Thunder in the game’s final three quarters, outscoring them 96-55.
Not having Steven Adams was definitely a factor, but like Paul and Billy Donovan, Gallinari didn’t want to harp on that.
“Our usual defense and our energy was not there,” Gallinari told reporters. “We’re usually good for 48 minutes, but with all the weapons that they got they were able to control the pace of the game, they were doing that and so from that point on it was tough to get back into the game.”
Now, the club will turn its attention toward Sunday’s contest with the Washington Wizards. Gallinari, like Paul, hopes his team learns from the humbling defeat.
“The ups and downs, we cannot have that during any game,” Gallinari said. “This was a bad game, but usually our energy is very good energy… Our energy is something that has made the difference for us throughout the whole season, we gotta bring it every night.”
Now, we’ll see if they can.
Interestingly enough, Washington will enter the game as the only team in Orlando that hasn’t won a game. Their fate was sealed after losing to the New Orleans Pelicans on Friday night…
But Memphis hadn’t earned a win in Orlando either, and we obviously saw how that game turned out.