The Oklahoma City Thunder had a surprisingly pleasant start to their season, going 4-4 in their first eight games.
But Saturday delivered a cold reality check and showed how far away they are from reaching their goals.
In a game against the last undefeated team in the league, the Milwaukee Bucks — who were without their top two players in Giannis Antetokounmpo and Khris Middleton — made easy work against the Thunder in a 108-94 win.
The Bucks are 9-0 in the season.
The Bucks continue the disturbing trend of opponents shooting lights out from outside as they went 17-of-47 (36.2%) as a team. The Thunder, who entered the game with the sixth-best defensive rating at 108.3 points allowed per 100 possessions, had allowed opponents to make 14 3-pointers on 46.7% 3-point shooting in their last two games entering Saturday.
It’s hard to just shrug it off as the opposition getting hot and lucky from outside as a large portion of the Bucks’ 3-point attempts were relatively uncontested.
The Thunder shot the ball from outside well, too, going 12-of-35 (34.3%). But that’s not how they’re going to win games. The Thunder don’t have the scoring talent to consistently keep up.
The Bucks were led by Brook Lopez, who finished with 25 points on 10-of-16 shooting and 4-of-9 3-point shooting. Bobby Portis grabbed 21 rebounds and Jrue Holiday dished 13 assists. Grayson Allen scored 19 points and Jevon Carter scored 18 points.
Let’s take a look at Thunder player grades from this 14-point loss.