It seems the Oklahoma City Thunder have a bugaboo in FedExForum.
With both teams entering Wednesday on three-game winning streaks, the Thunder had a chance to make a statement win against their young colleagues in the Memphis Grizzlies.
Instead, as has been the case the last few trips to Memphis, the Thunder were never able to gain control. In the end, the Thunder’s record in Memphis fell to 1-4 since the 2020-21 season.
Despite the general feel of the game being a blowout loss, the scoreboard did not reflect this until the fourth quarter. To the Thunder’s credit, they kept it interesting for the first three quarters despite offensive problems.
Three-point shooting and free throws were the main reasons they did so. The Thunder shot 20-of-54 (37%) on two-pointers. From 3, they went 14-of-38 (36.8%). At the free-throw line, the Thunder went 20-of-23 (87%).
Shai Gilgeous-Alexander was responsible for most of the trips. He went 17-of-19 from the free-throw line — both career marks.
The Thunder were unable to get anything going with their short-handed roster. They played without Lu Dort, Kenrich Williams and Ousmane Dieng.
Let’s take a look at Thunder player grades from this 21-point loss.