TULSA — Hitting on a pair of free throws, Ousmane Dieng trimmed OKC’s deficit to one point with 1.7 seconds left in regulation. Impressively enough, Cason Wallace quickly fouled Marcus Sasser before time expired in the subsequent possession,
Alas, Sasser made a critical free throw to seal the Oklahoma City Thunder’s 118-116 preseason loss to the Detroit Pistons. It was a thrilling ending to a productive two-week preseason slate for OKC.
“I thought it was good,” Thunder head coach Mark Daigneault said about their preseason experience. “Now, we’ve got five days. We have some critical practices coming up. We need to be better by the first game than we are right now.”
The final result didn’t go OKC’s way, but the outcome of this preseason game doesn’t matter. What does matter was players who usually don’t get regular-season opportunities to experience late-game situations like these getting them.
“These preseason games are perfect for — obviously building chemistry with each other — but working on things we need to get better at,” Josh Giddey said. “I think we’ve been in situations late in games, which is exactly what our team needs.”
The Pistons escaped with the preseason win with the help of a 39-point third quarter. After scoring just 49 points in the first half, the Pistons turned up their offensive production with 69 second-half points.
Getting to the free-throw line at a frequent rate helped Detroit overcome a 33.3% shooting night from outside. The Pistons went 32-of-39 (82.1%) from the free-throw line, a much more efficient night compared to OKC’s 21-of-32 (65.6%) outing.
Without Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, who missed the preseason finale with a knee contusion not deemed serious, the rest of OKC’s young core showed out for the Tulsa crowd.
In his first half of action, Chet Holmgren tied a nice bow to a fruitful preseason return to the NBA court after missing all of last season. His dominating 14 first-half minutes included him stuffing three separate shots. Now that preseason is over, Holmgren will get a chance to tally up blocks in the regular season the next time he suits up for the Thunder in six days.
“He’s obviously a big difference maker for what we’re doing,” Giddey said about Holmgren. “His talent speaks for itself when he’s out there.”
Jalen Williams and Giddey were also standouts in their time on the court. Williams scored a game-high 20 points while Giddey had a 14-7-7 line. The latter also attempted eight free throws, something he’ll hope can carry over into the regular season.
“I thought overall, offensively, the process was good tonight,” Daigneault said. “We didn’t shoot as well in other games but it’s encouraging.”
Meanwhile, the Pistons were led by rookie Ausar Thompson. The 20-year-old had 18 points on 5-of-8 shooting, eight rebounds, three assists and two steals in 22 minutes. It was a much better outing compared to how he did against OKC at Montreal last week.
Cade Cunningham, who went to Oklahoma State, also suited up. In 22 minutes, he had 14 points on 5-of-10 shooting, six assists and six rebounds.
With the conclusion of this exhibition, the Thunder will enjoy six consecutive off days before kicking off the regular season on the road against the Chicago Bulls on Wednesday, Oct. 25.
“We’re a better team today than we were two weeks ago at the start of preseason,” Giddey said. “I think we’re ready to hit the ground running in Chicago.”
Let’s look at Thunder player grades.