Seldom do NBA games live up to the hype Friday’s contest between the Oklahoma City Thunder and Sacramento Kings received.
Thanks to a 11-5 record in their previous 16 games, the Thunder have played themselves into playoff contention. Meanwhile, the Kings — behind one of the best offenses — have been one of the biggest surprises, competing for a top-three seed.
Friday’s game featured two of the top three offenses in the league since the calendar flipped to 2023. The Kings were first at 125.6 points scored per 100 possessions and the Thunder were third at 121.7 points scored per 100 possessions.
While the offensive fireworks cooled off in the second half, the Thunder stayed competitive against the Kings, but ultimately lost, 118-113.
As cliché as it is, it was a tale of two halves for the Thunder.
The Thunder opened the game with a quick 9-0 lead that preluded the high-scoring half they’d enjoy. By intermission, the Thunder scored 66 points and led by seven points. A hot outside shooting half guided the Thunder to a lead, going 12-of-21 (57.1%) from 3.
The ball movement was crisp and the outside shooting rewarded the infectious passing with points. By half, the Thunder made their season average of made three-pointers a game.
In the second half though, those makes turned into misses.
The Thunder scored just 47 points on 20-of-46 (43.5%) shooting from the field. From 3, they shot 4-of-19 (21.1%).
Despite the offensive well drying up for the Thunder, they were able to keep the game competitive as neither team led by more than 10 points with six lead changes and six ties.
The young Thunder fought valiantly against a really good Kings squad backed up by a rowdy home crowd.
Although the offense stagnated late, the Thunder dirtied the game and forced the Kings to play down to their level. It almost worked too.
A late 5-0 run in the final six seconds turned it into three-point game. We were on the verge of seeing the Kings revert back to the ‘Kangz.’ But the Thunder ran out of time and were not able to get the ball back within one-possession.
Alas, despite their best efforts, the Thunder were not able to pull the plug on the beam.
For the Kings, the trio of Domantas Sabonis, De’Aaron Fox and Keegan Murray highlighted their five-point win.
After missing the last game due to an illness, Sabonis recorded a triple-double of 18 points, 14 assists and 13 rebounds. Murray was the best rookie on the floor as he finished with 29 points and 14 rebounds. Fox finished with 25 points on 10-of-22 shooting.
The Thunder — who have been playing an aesthetically-pleasing brand of basketball over the last several games — reverted back to relying heavily on Shai Gilgeous-Alexander in the second half.
Gilgeous-Alexander finished with 37 points, the rest of the starters combined for 47 points. While it was awesome to see Gilgeous-Alexander go off, the Thunder need to go back to how they were previously playing if they want to sustained their recent level of success.
Despite the result, the Thunder should be encouraged with their outing against the Kings. To go into a hostile environment against one of the best teams in the Western Conference shows a level of poise and talent that should encourage fans for how the rest of the season can turn out.
Let’s take a look at Thunder player grades.