The NBA can be a funny sport sometimes.
Heading into Saturday’s game between the Oklahoma City Thunder and Memphis Grizzlies, circumstances surrounding the game made it feel like a safe bet to assume the shorthanded Thunder would get blown out.
The Thunder entered the game with a five-game losing streak with an even longer injury report. By the time the game started, the Thunder were without Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, Josh Giddey, Chet Holmgren, Ousmane Dieng, Darius Bazley and Jeremiah Robinson-Earl.
That’s three regular starters from most starting lineups this season in Gilgeous-Alexander, Giddey and Robinson-Earl along with two rotational pieces in Bazley and Dieng. To decipher even further, the Thunder were without their best two players in Gilgeous-Alexander and Giddey.
Having that many bodies out would make it nearly impossible to beat most teams. The fact that it was against the first-place Grizzlies who were on a seven-game winning streak made it even more difficult.
On paper, the Grizzlies should’ve made easy work of the Thunder. Instead, the complete opposite transpired.
The Thunder were able to grow a lead as large as 24 points behind their starting backcourt of Lu Dort and Isaiah Joe, who combined for 47 points on 15-of-26 shooting. By the end of the second quarter, the Thunder had their biggest lead at the half in their season at 21 points.
The Grizzlies — who were without Ja Morant in the second half due to two controversial technical fouls resulting in his ejection — made it interesting in the second half, winning the final two quarters by a score of 66-51. But the Thunder were able to build enough cushion with their first half lead to still win by six points.
Just like that, the injury-plagued Thunder surprised the NBA world with a blowout win against a Grizzlies team that blew out the Milwaukee Bucks in their previous game.
Let’s take a look at Thunder player grades from the Thunder’s 115-109 win over the Grizzlies.