OKC Thunder: Player Grades reflect how a poor start gave Clippers the win

Best OKC Thunder reserve performance:

Hami didn’t post career-highs or dominate — BUT — it was great to see how aggressive he was. At times when the Thunder offense seemed to get stuck in cement, he was one of the few players moving trying to create a target for a pass, or was creating shots for others, or was taking the ball hard to the rim.

He missed one dunk that would’ve taken us all out of our chairs.

The bottom line is he’s growing and it seems like the game is slowing down for him. The fact he’s also trying to be one of the leaders deserves recognition.

He finished with 10 points, two rebounds, four assists and a steal.

Best opponent performance:

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While Paul George has been hot of late the performance by Kawhi Leonard showcased the true qualities it takes to be a superstar.

Sure he scored a team-high 31 points but it was everything else he did that puts the ‘super’ in superstar. He tallied eight rebounds, two assists, and most impressively three steals with two blocks. He also got to the line 10 times to get easy buckets for the Clippers and make sure his team didn’t fall into a cold stretch.

The defense is constantly on display. As the game progressed there were times I witnessed copious Thunder players hesitate or rush shots looking to see where he was on the court. Leonard’s game might not be of the uber exciting variety — but Thunder Nation will be thrilled to land a player of his ilk (or potential) with one of those many draft picks coming in the near future.

In closing:

In the end, this game punctuated how quickly a game can get out of hand and how little wiggle room exists versus the very elite teams. In spite of playing well through three-quarters, OKC handed the Clippers the win in that first quarter.

Mark Daigneault will run through the film with the team and they’ll look for areas they can capitalize on but the most important lesson learned was OKC can’t afford to lose focus for a second versus a team like the Clippers.

These teams are back at it on Sunday and we’ll see how quickly the OKC Thunder process what happened and respond in kind.

For the full ESPN box score click here.