By the end of the second overtime, the story of the Milwaukee-Oklahoma City game no longer centered on how awesome Shai Gilgeous-Alexander is or how Jevon Carter suddenly looked like one of the best players in the world. Instead, it centered on the OKC home crowd expressing its anger by ruthlessly booing the officiating.
A hot Thunder crowd’s flair slowly sizzled out with multiple referee stoppages and culminated at the end of the game when the fans booed the officiating.
The Thunder eventually lost to the Bucks in double overtime, 136-132.
With the Bucks missing its star trio of Giannis Antetokounmpo, Khris Middleton and Jrue Holiday, they could not simply rely on elite talent to coast through a win.
Instead, as was shown early on in the game, the Bucks relied on a physical brand of basketball. The message was sent when a Gilgeous-Alexander drive to the basket resulted in him on the ground and wincing in pain with Grayson Allen. Eventually, both players resumed playing without any problems, but the message was delivered.
Despite the Bucks missing their best players, they were not going to let a hot and young Thunder squad hand them their second loss of the season without a fight.
The ensuing result was a 58-minute long thriller between a championship contender and a rebuilding team. While it was not the result the Thunder was looking for, there were definitely encouraging signs throughout the three-plus hour long game.
The Bucks were led by Carter, who scored a career-high 36 points and 12 assists. Allen contributed with 18 points. Rookie MarJon Beauchamp scored a career-high 19 points in the win. Brook Lopez collected a 24-point and 13-rebound double-double and hit the game-tying free-throw in the first overtime on a questionable foul call.
Let’s take a look at Thunder player grades.
