It took 20 games but the Oklahoma City Thunder finally suffered their first blowout loss of the season. Against the fellow rebuilding and second-worst record in the league Houston Rockets of all teams!
This league can be comedic at times.
In a game that saw Jalen Green almost singlehandedly make more three-pointers than the entire Thunder team, it just wasn’t the latter’s night. The Rockets quickly open the game with a 14-4 lead as first quarters continue to be an issue for the Thunder.
This time around though, the Thunder had no comeback magic.
By halftime, the deficit was 21 points. By the fourth quarter, it remained at 21 points. The best third-quarter team in the league wasn’t able to make things interesting.
Outside of Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, nobody had it going with scoring the ball for the Thunder. Only two other Thunder players scored at least 15 points; on the Rockets, five players reached that mark.
The Rockets offense was as Houston summer weather from outside. The Rockets shot 18-of-36 (50 percent) from three while the Thunder shot 10-of-44 (22.7 percent) from three. A 24-point difference in a 13-point loss.
The Rockets were led by Green, who finished with 28 points on 11-of-19 shooting and went 6-of-9 from three. Alperen Sengun finished with 21 points, 19 rebounds and seven assists. Jabari Smith Jr. had 15 points and 13 rebounds. Kevin Porter Jr. scored 16 points.
A very good game for their young core as all the important pieces had standout games.
Overall, this was just an uncharacteristically bad game by the Thunder. While they’re 8-12, they’ve shown the ability to stay in all of their games this season and make the fourth quarter at least watchable.
That was not the case on Saturday. Nonetheless, stinkers like these tend to pop up in an 82-game schedule and that’s likely the case with this game. All the Thunder can do now is lick their wounds and move on to the next game.
Let’s take a look at Thunder player grades.