Player grades for the Thunder’s 128-125 preseason loss to the Pistons.
During Thursday’s shootaround, Lu Dort was surrounded by a sea of reporters popping off questions. The Montreal native was the star of the day as he prepared to play his first professional game in his hometown.
It only made sense Dort was fed the first shot of the night for the Oklahoma City Thunder in their 128-125 preseason loss to the Detroit Pistons.
The Thunder realized how special a night this was for Dort and wanted to commemorate their defensive leader by making him the focal point of OKC’s offense.
“I (knew) I was going to come out here and try to put on a little show and hopefully play good in front of my people,” Dort said. “I felt like I did. I was really happy for the Thunder and the NBA to make that possible.”
With the return of Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, the Thunder had their first chance to see what their preferred starting lineup could look like. One preseason game in and the starters looked fantastic. All five finished with a positive plus-minus and four were at least plus-10.
“This is the first year in a little bit that we’ve had the majority of the group the next season,” Gilgeous-Alexander said about the roster continuity. “So that kinda propels us, like you said, into the next season.”
The Thunder offense continued to score with ease in their second preseason contest. After scoring 122 points in regulation against the San Antonio Spurs, the Thunder had 125 points tonight.
The 3-point ball was hitting for OKC; it shot 17-of-43 (39.5%) from outside. Free throws were also frequent for the Thunder as they went 32-of-39 (82.1%) from the charity stripe.
Alas, defense continues to be an issue in the preseason slate. After leading by as many as 21 points, the Pistons mounted a comeback against OKC with a 38-point fourth quarter.
The Pistons, who will play the Thunder in their preseason finale at Tulsa on Oct. 19, had six players score in double figures.
James Wiseman had 20 points and 10 rebounds. Jaden Ivey had 13 points on 6-of-17 shooting and five turnovers. Killion Hayes scored 16 points and had four assists. Rookie Ausar Thompson had eight points on 2-of-10 shooting, eight rebounds and two blocks. Cade Cunningham and Jalen Duren were ruled out for the game.
While it’s disappointing to see the Thunder lose control of a game they dominated for 75% of it, it’s important to add the caveat the fourth-quarter collapse occurred with the reserves of both teams.
Plus it’s preseason, so it’s hard to get too worked up over the final result of this game. Nonetheless, blowing a double-digit lead shouldn’t take away from the positive signs that were shown by the Thunder starters when they were on the court.
All in all, this was a successful first trip to Montreal. Dort had his moment in the spotlight and the Thunder’s starting lineup looked like it could be a lethal scoring machine.
“Big thank you to the city of Montreal and the basketball community here,” Thunder head coach Mark Daigneault said. “Historic venue that we’re humbled to be playing in and in the game environment tonight, the crowd environment tonight was awesome.”
Let’s look at Thunder player grades.
