OKC Thunder fall to Memphis despite Tre Mann’s outburst

Playing without Jalen Williams, who had a stellar Summer League opener, the OKC Thunder turned to Tre Mann yet succumbed to the Memphis Grizzlies, 86-94, to split their first two games at Salt Lake City.

Mann carried the cudgels with 28 points, on an incredible 80 percent true shooting, alongside four rebounds and two assists. Jared Butler also chipped in 16 points, six assists, and four rebounds to back him up.

OKC Thunder falls to Memphis despite Tre Mann filling up the stat sheet.

Butler scored nine of the first 13 points of the Thunder after Mann converted a floater and a jump shot to ignite an OKC Thunder offense devoid of firepower early, trailing by as big as 16 points in the opening period.

Mann drilled all of his eight two-point attempts in the game, attesting to his offensive spark plug prowess that could help the Thunder in the future.

From there, the Grizzlies never looked back.

Memphis shot 45 percent from three (17/38) against the Thunder’s 10-of-34 shooting clip to lift trump the latter’s hopes of a second straight victory.

OKC Thunder big man Chet Holmgren — now with two games under his belt after recovering from his foot injury — finished with 10 points, 11 rebounds, two steals, and three blocks, bumping his total block tally in the Summer League to seven. He also committed six turnovers.

The 7-foot-1 Holmgren was relatively pedestrian on offense, only going 3-of-8 on the floor, but had a couple of phenomenal sequences, including a huge block on a three-pointer by David Roddy and a towering offensive rebound over three Grizzlies players in the third quarter.

After a poor start in the first game, Ousmane Dieng had a solid outing of 13 points, six rebounds, and two blocks. He was 5-of-10 from the field and made one three-pointer as his confidence and prowess continued to be full display.

The OKC Thunder will play the Philadelphia 76ers next to round the Salt Lake city Summer League.