The Oklahoma City Thunder weren’t able to collect another close win as they fall to the Charlotte Hornets, 121-113.
The Hornets — who entered the night with the second-worst record in the league — were able to improve their record to 10-26 behind an impressive LaMelo Ball performance.
Ball finished with 27 points, 10 rebounds and nine assists. P.J. Washington also added 25 points with 19 of those points coming in the second half. The big man duo of Mason Plumlee and Mark Williams took advantage of the Thunder’s lack of size with a combined 31 points on 13-of-14 shooting at the rim.
The Hornets were able to close the game on an 18-10 run in the final 4:24. The Hornets were able to dish out a season-high 33 assists of their 46 made shots.
Meanwhile, the Thunder had an opposite night as they had a season-low 15 assists on 42 made shots.
The Thunder also shot poorly from outside, going 11-of-36 (30.6 percent) from three. It was an ugly offensive showing for the Thunder against the 27th-ranked defensive rating team.
Certainly not the type of performance that builds confidence among the fanbase for a potential Play-In bid. The Thunder entered the night with a chance to be 1.5 games behind the 10th seed, instead a loss to a lousy Hornets squad pushes them back 2.5 games of the Golden State Warriors.
Let’s take a look at Thunder player grades.