OKC Thunder: Player grades for surprising win over Rockets

It’s hard to count the OKC Thunder out, even when the team’s best player is out, and the Thunder’s most recent loss, a 116-93 beating at the hands of the Atlanta Hawks, saw one of the worst shooting performances of the season for Oklahoma City.

Still, the Houston Rockets have John Wall, Victor Oladipo and a surging Christian Wood. Surely, the Rockets would have little trouble beating a Thunder team without the services of Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, Al Horford, Darius Bazley and Mike Muscala.

I was wrong.

The OKC Thunder handled business on Sunday and handed the Rockets their 20th consecutive loss, and the Thunder did it all with a young but talented core.

Even without some of the most valuable players of the season on the court, the Thunder found a way to win thanks to stellar play from Luguentz Dort, Isaiah Roby, Svi Mykhailiuk and Justin Jackson.

The Thunder surged towards victory on the back of a strong first-quarter performance in which they outscored Houston 31-22 after Roby and Dort combined for 18 points.

The Rockets came back to narrow the gap after dropping 40 on the Thunder in the second quarter, but Oklahoma City still went into the break up by four, 66-62. The Thunder carried that edge throughout the third and fought off the Rockets in the fourth to sneak out of Houston with a victory.

But the game taught us a lot, especially where players like Moses Brown and Roby are concerned. Roby finished one point shy of his career-high in points of 19, which was set in December against the Orlando Magic, and Brown’s stock keeps climbing after his performance of 13 points and 14 rebounds.

With that said, let’s dive into player grades from the team’s win over the Rockets.