Game Grades: OKC Thunder rattle off fifth straight win

The OKC Thunder entered tonight’s game on a four-game winning streak with a tough matchup against the Pelicans ahead.

The OKC Thunder won their fifth streak game on Monday night with a win over the New Orleans Pelicans, but it didn’t come about without anxious moments.

The OKC Thunder entered their Monday Night tilt with the Pelicans perfectly mediocre at 4-4. Fresh off their most impressive, and dominating win of the year against the Wizards. They responded well against a Pelicans team that start the season well.

The Thunder as a team turned the ball over just twelve times, whereas the Pelicans lost the rock 20 times tonight.

Shockingly, the Thunder actually out shot a team from deep. Not by much though, as the Thunder shot the three ball at a 37 percent clip, and the Pelicans stroked the trey ball at a 31 percent pace.

Down the stretch, the Thunder saw their lead almost disappear by making idiotic fouls and putting Nola at the line, over 28 times in this contest. The Pelicans shot 13 fourth-quarter free throws. That can not happen in a tight game. Especially one against a playoff contender in a tilt that saw 10 lead changes and a pair of ties. The Thunder once lead by 14 and never allowed the Pelicans lead to swell more than five points.

Dennis Schroder’s clutch made free throws iced this game for the OKC Thunder, and gave them their fifth straight win. However, the team still shot just 71 percent from the line. The team also got out rebounded 45 boards to 41.

In the end, the win was great, but occurrences during the game could effect OKC moving forward on a much deeper level. With that let’s dive into the grades.