Player Grades: OKC Thunder try their hardest, but fail to lose to the Magic

The OKC Thunder came out of half-time with some interesting traps of pick-and-rolls and in the corners, which brought the Magic’s offense to a grinding halt. The Magic only managed 15 points in the frame, giving the Thunder the much-needed but barely-deserved edge going into the fourth. The end of the third was crucial.

The oft-maligned Thunder bench, led by PG, was able to turn a two-point deficit with 2 minutes to go into a seven-point lead going into the fourth. Great defense by George, which led to a nice, athletic play from the rookie, Terrance Ferguson (Only those 2 points on 1-2 shooting), created a huge, momentum-shifting play in the final stretch of the quarter.

The bench stretched the lead to as large as nine to start the fourth, and had it up to 10 when the studs came back in. Patrick Patterson (11 points on 4-4, 3 assists) showed up in this game. Although he has by no stretch been what OKC Thunder fans expected going into the season, 2Pat will have important moments before this season is over, mark the words of this article.

Flirting with disaster:

The OKC Thunder lead got as large as 12 with five minutes left, and Alex Abrines had multiple chances to cement the win – two missed put-backs and a missed three – but failed to capitalize, and the Thunder found themselves dangerously close to a crunch-time situation down the stretch. To close, there was an easy offensive foul on Nikola Vučević (15 points, 7 rebounds), a big three by Paul George, a few stops, and a few fouls.

You may be sensing a lack of enthusiasm. The OKC Thunder held on to win tonight, a much-needed win over the Orlando Magic, but with two games against bad teams coming up (at Dallas and Phoenix) before a crucial matchup in Portland, the Thunder have to start figuring out how to coast in these games. The room for error has disappeared.

https://twitter.com/alexabrines/status/968328819470979075

On to the player grades.