The Thunder essentially won a game playing six guys with three of them on 10-day deals.
The race for the third-best lottery odds is essentially over as the Oklahoma City Thunder mount a fourth-quarter comeback to defeat the Portland Trail Blazers once again, 98-94.
Things were looking great entering the fourth quarter for the Thunder’s lottery odds. After 36 minutes, the Trail Blazers had an 82-67 lead and were well on their way to a win that would’ve really benefited the Thunder. If the lead held, then that means the Thunder would be just half a game back from the Detroit Pistons currently for the third-best lottery odds. Now, a 26-4 finish to the game that saw the Trail Blazers score just four points in the final 5:41 of the game has Thunder fans focused on keeping its fourth-best lottery odds as the Indiana Pacers are just half a game back.
This win has deflated the fanbase to say the least, with a real shot at getting top-three lottery odds just a couple of weeks ago, the Thunder going 4-3 in its last seven games as ruined any dreams of that happening. The Thunder threw everything at this game to maximize its odds to lose as it only played six guys essentially with three of them currently on 10-day deals. I mean, Lindy Waters III, a two-way player, was pulled after four minutes as he scored eight quick points for Pete’s sake. There was nothing else that the team could’ve done to lose this game and the Thunder have great synergy throughout the organization has really bit them in the butt hard these last couple of seasons in terms of draft lottery odds.
It’s a failure that the Thunder will not be able to get top-three lottery odds for the second straight season during this rebuild and creating a program that brings the best out of its players has proven to be a hinderance when it comes to losing games. Let’s take look at player grades.
In a must-lose game, the Oklahoma City Thunder fall to the Detroit Pistons, 110-101. And just like that, the Thunder are now just half a game back from top-three lottery odds with five games remaining in the regular season.
Losing this game basically gave the Thunder life once again after its top-three lottery odds chances were put on life support following the team’s win over the Portland Trail Blazers on Monday. But due to the Pistons’ upset win over the Philadelphia 76ers on Thursday, new life was breathed into the Thunder.
The importance of this game was clearly understood by both sides as the Thunder ruled out Aleksej Pokusevski and Tre Mann while the Pistons played Cade Cunningham, Isaiah Stewart and Saddiq Bey for just six to eight minutes each.
Ultimately, the Thunder were finally able to out-tank a team in the caliber of the Pistons and it paid dividends. Any hope on staying in the race for top-three lottery odds required this game to be a loss and the franchise was able to do that by only having seven players active by the end of the game.
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Before we get to everything, I want to talk a bit about tanking. The NBA just has not been able to stop it.
To their credit, they’ve tried their best! They flattened the lottery odds out for the top 3 teams, they added the Play-In Tournament, and moved up the trade deadline. Yet, here we are. The Thunder are still sitting half their roster out for the rest of the season. The Magic are giving Admiral Schofield and Iggy Brazdeikas burn in winnable games (with all due respect to the two of them). The Pistons are…trying I guess?
Look, the point is this: Tanking ain’t stopped. We’ve only changed the standards a teeny bit. As long as there is incentive to lose, tanking will exist and the product at the end of each NBA season will be watered down. That just is what it is.
A real way we could stop this from happening is by getting rid of the draft altogether. But, ya know, that’s another conversation for another day.
Moving on!
The Tip-Off
Some NBA goodness from around the USA TODAY Sports network.
(AP Photo/Gerald Herbert)
Jose Alvarado is the steal king of the NBA. If you look at the raw numbers, they don’t say that. But in just watching this dude you can see that he is a grade-A ball thief.
He’s literally been hiding on the sidelines over the last few weeks just waiting to steal the ball from these poor, unsuspecting souls. It’s been a joy to watch. It also kind of bears itself out in the numbers:
“This dude Alvarado has quite literally made this into a thing. The numbers behind it are kind of mind-boggling. I guess this is how you average 3.1 steals per 36 minutes, which is a pretty wild rate.”
Nets (-1.5, -135) vs. Bucks (+110), O/U 242.5, 7:30 ET
Mandatory Credit: Wendell Cruz-USA TODAY Sports
I don’t care what seed either teem is or where they’re positioned in the playoff race right now. Whenever the Nets and Bucks line up across from one another, we’re in for a real treat.
These are two of the best offensive teams in basketball right now. It’s Giannis vs. Durant. It’s Irving vs. Holiday. It’s Khris Middleton taking tough jumpers. We’re in for a real fireworks show. I’m taking the over.
Who’s in and out?
—Finally some good news, Lakers fans! Anthony Davis is a game-time decision for Friday’s matchup against the Pelicans. LeBron James may try to play, too. It won’t help Thursday against the Jazz, but it’s at least good news.
—Don’t look now, but Jalen Green just broke a couple of NBA rookie records for 3-point shooting. That kid is overlooked now, but he’s going to be amazing someday.
With a chance to attain top-two lottery odds, the shorthanded Thunder snap its 10-game losing streak with a win over the Magic.
Technically speaking, the Oklahoma City Thunder won its game against the Orlando Magic, 118-102. But in reality, this was one of the biggest losses of the season due to the reverse standings implications.
Thanks to a 10-game losing streak, the Thunder were able to make up a lot of ground and essentially lock up top-four lottery odds. The losing streak combined with the fact that the Magic and Detroit Pistons started winning games recently created a real possibility of the Thunder getting important top-three lottery odds. In fact, if the Thunder would’ve lost this game, it would’ve been tied for the second-best lottery odds with the Pistons after Detroit blew out the Atlanta Hawks.
Alas, the Thunder come up short of reaching the elusive top-three lottery odds. Now, that doesn’t mean that it’s over — the Thunder are just one game back from the third spot with nine games left in the regular season. But for the Thunder to be so close to getting top-two lottery odds — even if it’s for one night — and to not get it is a tough pill to swallow for the fanbase who are tank enthusiasts.
In terms of the actual game, the Thunder were able to use a 20-2 run in the second quarter to claw back from a 13-point deficit and the team was able to grow a comfortable lead for the rest of the game. The Thunder were on cruise control for most of the second half and the Magic just continued to brick shots and play sloppy basketball when given the chance to mount a comeback.
The Thunder — who were missing Shai Gilgeous-Alexander due to a sore right ankle — were led by the likes of Tre Mann and Theo Maledon for this win. The Thunder essentially played this game with G League talent and were able to win against an NBA team — even if it’s one as bad as the Magic. Let’s take a look at player grades.
Oklahoma City Thunder head coach Mark Daigneault addresses tanking and whether that type of talk leaks over to locker rooms.
This past Sunday’s game against the Orlando Magic had a ton of draft lottery implications as the Oklahoma City Thunder and they are just separated by a game in the reverse standings for the third-best lottery odds. The Oklahoman’s Joe Mussatto decided to address the elephant in the room by asking Thunder head coach Mark Daigneault his thoughts on tanking and whether those types of discussions leak over in the locker room. To put it nicely, Daigneault shot the idea down, saying only fans and media discuss such things.
“One of the things that’s great about being part of a team, as much as we want to engage with you guys and our fans, there’s something sacred about the locker room, the priorities and the tightness in the circle.
“There’s a lot of people that aren’t in there, and it makes it a pretty exclusive place. I give our team a lot of credit, because I think our players, our staff have done a great job over the years — not just this circumstance — of just keeping our locker room our space, where we have our mindset, where we work on our fundamentals, our habits and we hone our mentality, and not get distracted by anything outside of that. That’s certainly not a focus of ours.”
Daigneault has been great with the media his entire tenure with the Thunder as he gives very thorough an thought out answers to almost all of his questions and this is no exception as he tackles on a very taboo topic for NBA players, coaches and GMs to talk about publicly.
Nothing Daigneault said should be that surprising; expecting players — especially ones who are young and fighting for their NBA career — to care about tanking and lottery odds is pretty unrealistic. They have every right to win as many games as possible as fans and front offices have every right to want to lose as many games as possible. Neither side are on the wrong here and both have justified reasons for their stance.
