OKLAHOMA CITY — The Oklahoma City Thunder had two separate chances to tie a high-scoring affair against the Charlotte Hornets at the free-throw line. Both occurred in the final 16 seconds with Jalen Williams and Josh Giddey going to the line.
Unfortunately, both players split their trip.
The untimely misses served as appropriate coda to what is the most frustrating loss of the Mark Daigneault era. The Thunder blew a 13-point lead against a short-handed Hornets, 137-134.
To provide full context, here’s who the Hornets were without: LaMelo Ball (ankle surgery), Terry Rozier (foot discomfort), Gordon Hayward (thumb sprain), Mark Williams, Kelly Oubre Jr. (shoulder strain) and Dennis Smith Jr. (toe sprain).
Arguably they are six of the lowly Hornets’ seven best players. None were dearly missed as the reserves mounted the comeback win.
After trailing by six points entering the final frame, the Hornets used a 44-35 fourth-quarter advantage, which included a 30-11 start in the first six minutes, to come away with the upset win.
“(Charlotte) did a great job of not getting knocked out and keeping the game in striking distance,” Daigneault said. “I was most disappointed in our defense — especially in the second half.”
The Hornets have now played spoiler for three consecutive games with two wins over the 11th-placed Dallas Mavericks and a win over the Thunder.
The Thunder and Mavericks both own the same record, with the former ahead of the latter due to owning the tiebreaker.
The Hornets only had eight players available and seven of them scored at least 11 points. P.J. Washington led the way with a career-high 43 points on 16-of-24 shooting and 5-of-9 shooting from 3. Washington helped close the win out with 22 fourth-quarter points.
“He did get hot. It wasn’t like we were giving him wide-open looks,” Giddey said about Washington. “He made some tough shots but we just have to make some of these catches harder. … Credit to him, he had a big night.”
Former Thunder guards Theo Maledon and Svi Mykhailiuk also helped get a win over their old squad. Maledon finished with 19 points and nine assists while Mykhailiuk had 18 points and eight assists.
This was a disappointing loss during a crucial stretch of the season for the Thunder. To give up 137 points in regulation against a Hornets team with just eight players available is frustrating.
Unlike the Portland Trail Blazers game where similar frustrations were voiced, this game was not afforded the luxury of a win masquerading the lackluster performance.
The Hornets shot 52-of-94 (55.3%) from the field and 14-of-35 (40%) from 3. The Thunder didn’t have an answer to protect the rim as the Hornets had 72 points inside of the paint on 36-of-55 (65.5%) shooting.
After the first quarter, the Hornets averaged 37 points a quarter for the remaining three, including 80 second-half points.
“We gotta look in the mirror on that,” Daigneault said about their defense.
On offense, the Thunder were led by the trio of Williams, Giddey and Isaiah Joe. Each scored 30-plus points and made up for most of OKC’s production. The three combined for 95 of the Thunder’s 134 points.
“We scored 134 points, so that clearly wasn’t the issue tonight,” Daigneault said. “It was the defensive end. We have to be a team that can appreciate the amount of energy that it takes on that end of the floor too.”
It was a weird loss for the Thunder. On one hand, the offensive production was excellent — and even more impressive considering their best player was out. The three guys you want to step up in his absence stepped up.
The problem was on the other end of the floor. It’s hard justifying giving up nearly 140 points to an eight-man team with clear tanking intentions. Those types of defensive performances will frustrate fans and end seasons early.
“I think we gave up 30 (points) in a quarter twice,” Williams said. “It’s hard to win when we do that obviously… The defense just kinda killed us.”
The Thunder won’t have much time to lament this loss, as they play again in less than 24 hours against a team similar to the Hornets in the Detroit Pistons — who’ve gone 1-17 in their last 18 games accompanied by an injury report that rivals the length of pharmacy receipts.
Let’s look at Thunder player grades.