Tag: thunder basketball

WATCH: Highlights of newest Celtics C Moses Brown

Newest Celtics center Moses Brown’s best plays of 2020-2021

In trading Kemba Walker to the Oklahoma City Thunder, the Celtics got back a pair of bigs at opposite stages of their careers. The veteran presence of Celtics fan favorite Al Horford is back in Boston and with him comes 21-year old youngster Moses Brown.

There is a lot to like about Brown’s ceiling and he displayed why in spurts with OKC. In over 21 minutes per game, the UCLA product averaged 8.6 points and 8.9 rebounds while blocking over one shot per game. A double-double threat every night, Brown was thrown into the fire in just his second year due to OKC’s young roster.

Check out the best of Brown from this past year courtesy of Celtics YouTuber Tomasz Kordylewski:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gTnYPjPco5s

WATCH: Highlights of newest Celtics C Moses Brown

Newest Celtics center Moses Brown’s best plays of 2020-2021

In trading Kemba Walker to the Oklahoma City Thunder, the Celtics got back a pair of bigs at opposite stages of their careers. The veteran presence of Celtics fan favorite Al Horford is back in Boston and with him comes 21-year old youngster Moses Brown.

There is a lot to like about Brown’s ceiling and he displayed why in spurts with OKC. In over 21 minutes per game, the UCLA product averaged 8.6 points and 8.9 rebounds while blocking over one shot per game. A double-double threat every night, Brown was thrown into the fire in just his second year due to OKC’s young roster.

Check out the best of Brown from this past year courtesy of Celtics YouTuber Tomasz Kordylewski:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gTnYPjPco5s

Three takeaways from OKC’s 147-109 loss to Golden State

The Thunder fall at home to the Warriors

After hanging around for the first 12 minutes in OKC, the Thunder fell apart in the second quarter as Stephen Curry and the Warriors exploded to take a 21-point lead into the half.

Just two days after breaking Wilt Chamberlain’s all-time Warriors scoring record, Curry led the way again with 42 points in just 29 minutes. There was no answer on OKC’s roster, or possibly any NBA roster, for the all-star tonight.

The youth movement was led by Darius Bazley and Moses Brown who combined for 40 points, but the Thunder couldn’t find the stops to stay in it.

Here are three takeaways from a loss that dropped the Thunder to 20-35 on the year while taking Golden State to 27-28 overall:

Three takeaways from OKC’s 113-102 loss to Charlotte

Takeaways from OKC’s loss to Charlotte

The young OKC Thunder hung around against an injured Charlotte Hornets squad firmly in playoff contention, but a career night from Jalen McDaniels was the difference in a 113-102 Charlotte win.

This was a night to be excited about as a Thunder fan gearing towards the future, as international rookies Aleksej Pokusevski and Theo Maledon showed out early. Pokusevski set a Thunder franchise rookie record with 7 made threes, finishing with 25 points and 9 rebounds despite not playing the final 5:18 of regulation due to a minor hip injury per Oklahoman Sports Thunder beat writer Joe Mussatto:

Oh, and about that early dunk attempt:

Maledon put together a productive night offensively, matching his fellow rookie teammate with 25 points of his own.

Here are three takeaways from OKC’s loss that dropped the Thunder to 20-31:

 

OKC falls behind early as Denver cruises to a 126-96 win

The Thunder start slow and can’t recover vs Denver

For the 2020-2021 OKC Thunder, there haven’t been many starts like the one they had at home tonight. Despite a 14-20 record, the young Thunder have hung around against the NBA’s best, specifically with solid first-half performances. On Saturday night, they looked the part of a team on the second night of a back-to-back.

Tonight, the script was different. Denver (18-15) jumped on the Thunder out of the gate and took a 38-20 first quarter lead that they would never give up. The first three minutes and change saw the Nuggets put together a 13-0 run to build the lead they would hold all night. It was the usual suspects leading the way with Jamal Murray, Nikola Jokic, and Michael Porter Jr. finishing as the three leading scorers in limited minutes due to a blowout win.

All the Thunder could do after a slow start was try to get back in the game from behind the three-point line. Oklahoma City attempted a whopping 47 threes, making only 11. Compare that to Denver going 15-31 (48.4%) from distance, and you have a key difference on Saturday night. Despite the starting lineup struggling, second-year pro Darius Bazley had one of his better offensive nights of the year. Despite struggling with his efficiency this season, he went 8-16 from the floor to lead the way with 22 points.

Off the pine, Ty Jerome made the most of his second game healthy in OKC. After suffering an ankle injury in camp, Jerome finally made his Thunder debut on Friday and picked up where he left off in tonight’s loss. 15 pints and three made threes for the former Suns draft pick was one of the highlights on a night filled with lows.

The Thunder finally get some extended time off, as up next they travel to Dallas for a Wednesday night matchup

WATCH: OKC G Hamidou Diallo commits one of the strangest goaltends ever in 97-95 loss at Denver

The Thunder guard made an inexplicable play

There are moments made for “Shaqtin’ a Fool,” the place where NBA legend Shaquille O’Neal puts together some of the worst NBA plays you will ever see.

At the end of the third quarter in OKC’s 97-95 loss to Denver, Thunder guard Hamidou Diallo made arguably the most questionable play of the NBA season to date. Where did he end up? You guessed it:

This goaltend came on an end of the third quarter heave by Jamal Murray, and cut the Denver deficit to 9 heading into the fourth quarter. It was not only one of the strangest goaltends you will ever witness, but also ended up being the moment where momentum shifted towards the Nuggets. Seriously, what in the world is Diallo thinking?

Denver would go on to win thanks to a 12-0 run throughout the final four minutes that erased an eight-point OKC lead.

 

 

OKC lets Denver steal one away in 97-95 loss

The Thunder fail to close for a third straight game

It felt like Groundhog Day for Thunder fans in the Mile High. Yet again, the young OKC starters failed to complete one of the western conference’s toughest tests. In a game that the Thunder (10-15) dominated from nearly start to finish, it was the finish from Denver (14-11) that made the difference as the Nuggets came away with a 97-95 win.

Playing without Shai Gilgeous-Alexander for the second consecutive night due to a left knee sprain, OKC’s starters came out firing with the bench unit being led by Justin Jackson’s 20 points. It was a defensive first half where the Thunder controlled everybody in a Nuggets uniform not named Nikola Jokic. The Joker had 16 points, 7 rebounds, and 5 dimes at the half, but wasn’t getting the help from Jamal Murray and crew.

Credit should go to OKC’s perimeter defense, as Lou Dort and Hamidou Diallo locked down to give the Thunder a 53-40 lead after two quarters.

The third quarter saw a number of traded baskets as Jackson and Murray led the way offensively, but at the end of the period one of the strangest plays you will ever see helped swing momentum in Denver’s favor. Murray launched a prayer before the buzzer and Diallo inexplicably tapped it while it was in the cylinder. The shot wasn’t going in originally, but the goaltend cut the OKC lead to nine.

The Thunder responded well after Denver cut it two midway through the fourth quarter. Diallo and Dort continued to lead the way as they gave OKC an 89-81 lead with just under five minutes to play. That’s when the same movie we saw in Los Angeles played out in Denver. There was once again no happy ending.

OKC couldn’t find offense without Gilgeous-Alexander out there, and the Nuggets slowly put together a 12-0 run over the final four minutes to steal one from the Thunder. Will Barton caught fire through the final few minutes and by the time you looked up the Thunder were down 93-89 with under a minute to play.

The Nuggets sealed the game at the line as the young Thunder once again failed to hold a lead. Just 16 fourth quarter points sealed the fate for OKC who fell for the third straight game.

Up next for OKC is Milwaukee and the reigning MVP Giannis Antetokounmpo on Sunday.