The Graham Jam
Before we begin, I should clarify: There's nothing wrong with Oklahoma City losing some games this season. Indeed, that's really the whole point — the Thunder have intentionally designed their roster to get another good draft pick next summer.
It's one thing to lose, but another thing to be noncompetitive. And it's another thing entirely to be noncompetitive against the Houston Rockets, whose James Harden-less roster is nearly as young and embryonic as OKC's.
Yet that's exactly what happened to the Thunder last Friday night, as they marched into Houston for the second game of the season and were sent packing with a 33-point loss, 124- 91, that was never really close throughout.
The Thunder trotted out all 15 of their players on Friday but few found success, save perhaps veteran center Mike Muscala. His hot third quarter left him with 13 points, tied for the team high with Shai Gilgeous-Alexander. Needless to say, Moose should probably never lead the Thunder in scoring. But that's just how Friday went. The Rockets were hot (50.5% from the floor, almost 45% from 3), the Thunder were not (about 37% shooting), and Houston picked up a bigger-thanexpected win.
But hey, it's the second game of the year. The team kept a level head and returned home Sunday to open the newly named Paycom Center against Philadelphia.
They didn't ultimately pick up the W against a tough Sixers team, but the Thunder looked much better on Sunday night and proved they can hang with anyone with a little determination.
The Thunder got down early after giving up 23 first-quarter points to the hot-shooting Seth Curry. But Curry finished with only 28, as the Thunder managed to limit him for the rest of the contest. Meanwhile, the stars started cooking for OKC. Gilgeous-Alexander had a tremendous bounce-back performance, finishing with 29 points on 9-for-19 shooting. Josh Giddey, the Thunder's rookie point guard, had 19 points with eight rebounds and seven assists. Even Muscala came to play again, leading the bench unit with nine points in 16 minutes, all from made 3s. So, despite a big first-half deficit, the Thunder were able to cut the margin to just three points in the third quarter before the Sixers pulled away again and won, 115-103. Though the Philly loss knocked OKC to 0-3 to begin the season, Head Coach Mark Daigneault sounded positive notes after the game. "They showed good fight there, coming out of that," Daigneault said, talking specifically about Philly's run early in the fourth quarter. "I think we went down 18 in a hurry. We had the game kind of under control, and the start of the fourth was not great. We responded well to what the game called for.
"There's a lot of time left in the game, obviously. It's a hard game to win at that point, but certainly we responded. That was good."
While the losses aren't all bad, the Thunder will aim to snap the streak this week, and it won't be easy. OKC is about to get a heaping helping of some talented California teams, with nary a Sacramento in sight. They start Tuesday night, Oct. 26, at home against the Warriors before taking on the Lakers here on Wednesday. Then it's off to the Bay for a Saturday-night showdown with Golden State, followed by a SoCal swing against the Clippers on Monday, Nov. 1.
All the games can be viewed on Bally Sports Oklahoma.
Until next week — Thunder Up!