OKLAHOMA CITY — Remember how the Oklahoma City Thunder scrapped by the Denver Nuggets for a 101-99 win just two days ago?
Well, it felt like they played a completely different sport on Wednesday in a 137-132 loss to the Atlanta Hawks.
It was pretty clear where this game was heading after the first quarter, as the Thunder led 43-39. This belief was reaffirmed at the half with a tied game of 77-77.
Then by the end of the third quarter, both teams scored over 100 points. Ultimately, both teams scored over 130 points in regulation.
After gutting out a scrappy win on Sunday, the Thunder needed more offensive fireworks on Wednesday in a loss.
“Neither team was playing defense,” Josh Giddey said. “It just became a battle of who could score more points.”
The Thunder scored 132 points on 53-of-102 (52%) from the field and went 15-of-34 (44.1%) from 3. The Hawks scored 137 points on 50-of-84 (59.5%) from the field and 11-of-29 (37.9%) from 3.
The biggest difference between both teams came from the free-throw line. The Hawks went 26-of-33 (78.8%) and the Thunder went 11-of-16 (68.8%).
The free-throw disparity adds to a recent disturbing trend for the Thunder, who have been outshot from the line 94-43 in their last three games.
“I thought those were plays they probably could’ve gotten. We’ll see the L2M report,” Thunder head coach Mark Daigneault said when asked about not getting calls late in the game. “The thing that was disappointing is they told me — I did get an explanation in the first half and they said we’re shooting a lot of threes, and then you look down, and we took 15 to 20 more shots in the paint than they did and so if they’re going to give me that explanation, then I’d like that to be true.”
The high-scoring affair was main-evented by the battle of 2018 draft companions Shai Gilgeous-Alexander and Trae Young. Gilgeous-Alexander finished with 36 points while Young finished with 33 points and 11 assists.
Before the season, Young was the viewed as the better player between the two. With Gilgeous-Alexander graduating to superstardom this season, it feels like public opinion is starting to shift in his favor.
Trailing 131-122 with 1:54 left, it felt like the game was about over. But a 10-4 flurry helped the Thunder make it a three-point game with 14.1 seconds left.
Alas, Gilgeous-Alexander missed a rare pair of shots near the rim and hopes of a comeback were evaporated.
“I think we let one slip tonight for sure,” Gilgeous-Alexander said. “Offense was good enough, we just didn’t bring it defensively. They made us pay.”
Outside of Young’s dominant night, the Hawks also had four other double-digit scorers.
Dejounte Murray finished with 21 points. Bogdan Bogdanovic finished with 20 points. John Collins and Clint Capela each collected double-doubles. Capela had 18 points and 10 rebounds while Collins had 19 points and 10 rebounds.
Let’s take a look at Thunder player grades.