Handing out Game Balls for Thunder loss, Dort and Bazley's return

Oklahoma City's losing streak extended to six games with their 117-93 loss to the Philadelphia 76ers, but the Thunder got back two key pieces ahead of their trip to Utah

Saturday night the Oklahoma City Thunder ran into a buzzsaw inside the Chesapeake Energy Arena.

Getting back Darius Bazley and Luguentz Dort didn’t matter as OKC fell victim to the second place team in the Eastern Conference, losing to the Philadelphia 76ers 117-93.

Despite the loss, the Thunder actually didn’t play that bad. At the half, though they were down 13 points, OKC was statistically on par with the 76ers in almost every facet of the game except for their turnovers.

As a result, there were a few bright spots in the defeat.

Game Ball: Darius Bazley

Darius Bazley impressed in his return to the court for the Thunder, often playing the role of playmaker for OKC :: Alonzo Adams / USA TODAY Sports

After being sidelined for over a month, the second year forward revealed he suffered a fractured scapula in his media availability after the defeat. On Saturday night, he showed almost no signs of any lingering injury.

The former New Balance intern led the Thunder in scoring with 17 points, adding on nine rebounds and five assists to help try and keep his team in the game. Bazley’s playmaking ability was on full display in the first quarter, as he bobbed and weaved to the basket on two separate occasions, drawing the attention of MVP candidate Joel Embiid and allowing the OKC forward to dump the ball to center Moses Brown for easy dunks.

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READ MORE:

• Bazley's impressive return

• Takeaways from OKC's battle with the 76ers

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In his return to action, Bazley did turn the ball over nine times, but five of those giveaways happened in the third quarter as the team pressed to call their way back into the game.

Bazley could benefit from playing alongside Brown and Tony Bradley down the stretch run of the season, as Oklahoma City has played without a more traditional center for most of the season, contributing to the rough run of form Bazley had in the first half of the season.

Game Ball: Tony Bradley

The former Philadelphia center turned up to log his first double-double in a Thunder uniform on Saturday night. Bradley finished the contest with 16 points and 14 rebounds in 25 minutes of action. While very few bigs are able to hold their own against Embiid, OKC head coach Mark Daigneault turned to Bradley to help account for the former Kansas Jayhawk after Brown struggled to keep up with Embiid throughout the first half.

Bradley’s 14 rebounds were a season high for the former North Carolina big, as he put in without a doubt his finest performance in a Thunder jersey to date.

Up next, Bradley and Brown will face another stiff test as the Thunder hit the road to face off against the team with the best record in the NBA, the Utah Jazz.

Tip-off on Tuesday night between Utah and OKC is slated for 8 p.m.