The OKC Thunder have made a habit out of playing competitive basketball – even with the odds stacked against them, and that didn’t change on Wednesday.
The Thunder played host to the Memphis Grizzlies, and after one half of solid basketball, it looked as if Oklahoma City would play the Grizzlies tough to the finish. But somewhere along the way, it always transitions into a struggle for this young club.
In the end, it was the Grizzlies who had the final word.
The Thunder were without the services, once again, of Shai Gilgeous-Alexander and Darius Bazley. It doesn’t help that the Thunder will be without Gilgeous-Alexander for the foreseeable future.
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But the Thunder have played well in his absence, so even though you’d rather have him on the floor, there’s no reason to believe the team will implode without him.
For the first half, the Thunder kept the game exciting. It was a close battle between the two teams that ultimately ended at the break, with Oklahoma City holding on to a four-point lead, 53-49.
The Thunder opened the third quarter with four straight steals, which were converted into buckets that pushed the Thunder’s lead to 12. But that’s when the Thunder offense stalled.
The Grizzlies went on a 25-6 run that put them ahead of the Thunder by seven points. From that point forward, Memphis’s lead grew while the Thunder offense continued to struggle.
The Thunder matched the Grizzlies in the fourth quarter, with each team scoring 34 points, but it was well below what the Thunder needed to pull off the win.
Moses Brown had another big game for the Thunder as he continued to make a case for himself as Oklahoma City’s center of the future. Aleksej Pokusevski put on a good show, as well.
With that said, let’s dive into the player grades from the Thunder’s late-game collapse against the Grizzlies.