Playing the second night of a back-to-back is always a daunting challenge for an NBA team. Add on the fact that it was the final outing before a much-needed NBA All-Star break and it's no surprise that the OKC Thunder failed to put their best foot forward during Thursday night's matchup against the Minnesota Timberwolves.
Even with these built-in excuses, Oklahoma City had several opportunities to take the lead during the contest. They even managed to tie things up during the third period though, sadly, failed to take advantage.
In the end, Mark Daigneault's squad fell to the surging T-Wolves by a final score of 116-101, marking their first double-digit demise in 43 games.
Now, this loss shouldn't necessarily be considered all that demoralizing or depleting. After all, OKC still finds itself tied for the best record in the association at 44-10 heading into the week-long break.
However, if there's one troubling takeaway to be had from the contest, it's that the Thunder still severely struggle to find reliable offensive production outside of Shai Gilgeous-Alexander.
Thunder still need secondary scoring help for Shai Gilgeous-Alexander
Right from the jump it was evident that Minnesota's primary game plan was to hound the MVP frontrunner when he had the ball in his hands.
Behind their on-point help defense and their ability to thrust lengthy defenders like Naz Reid and Nickeil Alexander-Walker into his airspace, the Wolves were able to hold Gilgeous-Alexander to a highly inefficient 28.6 percent shooting performance.
In doing so, they subliminally dared the Thunder to have someone outside of the superstar step up and beat them. Unfortunately, no one managed to answer the call.
This has been a major problem all year long for the ball club, as Oklahoma City sports a 121.5 offensive rating with Shai on the floor (ranks second in the NBA) and plummets to a lowly 105.2 with him on the sidelines (the worst mark in the NBA).
Sure, during Thursday's outing against Minnesota Jalen Williams served as a quality number two option with his 20 points scored on 47.1 percent shooting from the floor. However, outside of him, the Thunder simply couldn't find anyone capable of creating for themselves on offense.
Chet Holmgren (11 points) led all other players in shooting percentage on unassisted field goals at a painfully low 33.3 percent clip.
On the season as a whole, Gilgeous-Alexander, Jalen Williams, and Ajay Mitchell are the only three regular rotation players who boast a percentage higher than 32.1 percent on unassisted field goals.
While certain factors such as Holmgren's absence due to injury and now his subsequent easing back into the rotation, along with Mitchell's shelving following toe surgery have played a role in their putrid secondary scoring production, the fact of the matter is that the Thunder need to give Shai Gilgeous-Alexander more help in this area of play if they truly wish to be viewed as legitimate title threats.
This was made abundantly clear on Thursday night against a direct conference foe they could realistically see down the line during this year's postseason.