OKC Thunder grades features Ty Jerome career-best in loss to Warriors

Best OKC Thunder reserve performance:

No true competition for this hat tip tonight as Ty Jerome didn’t just lead the bench — he led all scorers with 23 points. As noted up top, his presence on the court particularly in conjunction with Deck offers an intriguing backcourt option for Mark Daigneault.

Jerome scored most of his points in the first half (16) and forced Steve Kerr to make adjustments as he tried to shoot the Thunder back into the match.

If you are wondering how Daigneault is managing the losses not playing the red hot Jerome until the final minute of the third quarter is an example.

Jerome’s line is impressive: he tied his career-best point total with 23 adding four rebounds, three assists, a steal, and no turnovers in 22 minutes. His shooting splits were equally effective with 8 of 14 from the field, 3 of 6 from deep, and 4 of 4 from the line.

Destined to be a reserve player, it felt like Jerome got robbed on this night from having a resume padding performance in exchange for ensuring the loss for the tank. He’s a team player and likely won’t mind — but still — he deserved a bit more run especially in the third quarter when he sat for 11 of the 12 minutes.

Hat tip to Deck who also impressed and showed off some savvy passing and two-way ability.

Best opponent performance:

No surprise here – the hottest player in the NBA lit up the Thunder for 34 points in 31 minutes of action. Lu Dort (and others) made him work for it though as he shot 11 of 21 and 6 of 13 from deep. Given how well Steph has been shooting the ball through the last 17 games (as TI noted in the preview) holding him to 52.3 percent from the field and 46.1 percent from the perimeter was commendable.

Heading into Saturday, if Dort plays — he’ll need more help and maybe Daigneault should task Bazley with helping to put some length on Steph.

Curry also collected four rebounds, seven assists, and a steal.

NOTE: Mychal Mulder scored 25 points including 21 points scored on the perimeter. In each of his seven made 3-pointers he was left wide open with the OKC Thunder defender running at him well after he caught the ball. Why tweaks weren’t made sooner to put an on-ball defender on him is beyond me. He certainly shouldn’t have been standing wide open on the perimeter the entire game.

In closing:

More from Thunderous Intentions

• Stealing one player from every Southwest Division team for the OKC Thunder
• Should the OKC Thunder chase after a disgruntled hometown hero?
• 3 OKC Thunder players who can step up in Aleksej Pokusevski’s absence
• Aleksej Pokusevski sidelined approximately 6 weeks with ankle injury
• Damian Lillard does not fit with the OKC Thunder

This wasn’t a game the Thunder wanted to win — none of them are now that they ended the losing streak. Still, it’s important to play with energy and build upon the team systems in order to improve for the future.

Like many games of late, there was lots of Canadian content in this match as Andrew Wiggins is another NBA player hailing from North of the border (Vaughan — just outside of Toronto). It’s possible Wiggins, Dort, and Shai Gilgeous-Alexander (depending on his injury) could all be playing for the National team as they try to land one of the final Olympic berths.

While the 3-point shooting for the Thunder was off (9 of 39 – 23.1 percent) the main takeaway was the glass. Golden State is NOT a long team so the fact they outrebounded OKC by 10 (49 to 39) is unacceptable.

The full ESPN box score can be viewed by clicking this link.

The Thunder will be back in action on Saturday playing the Golden State Warriors once again at the Chase Center. Tip-off is at 9 p.m. CT (10:00 p.m EST).