Three Takeaways from the OKC Thunder's Stumble to the Brooklyn Nets
The Oklahoma City Thunder faced the Brooklyn Nets for the second time in four games on Friday evening, and fell 124-115.
It was an all-around sluggish game for the Thunder, making it the second loss in a row for the young team to start its four-game road stretch – the third time Oklahoma City has tallied consecutive losses on the season.
Coming out of an arduous slate of contests against some of the top teams around the league, the Thunder entered Friday night with its effort depleted.
It started in the opening frame. Oklahoma City found themselves down by 18 by the end of it, unable to contain the three ball and allowing an easy 11 fast break points, as well as 10 made free throws in just the single quarter.
But the second quarter is where it got out of hand, and the Thunder couldn't quite recover – as Cam Thomas put up 16 points in the half, as well as Nic Claxton and Spencer Dinwiddie adding 12 and 10.
Oklahoma City would make a concerted run down the stretch of the final minutes, but ultimately ran out of time.
Let’s dive into three lessons that can be learned from yesterday’s game.
Wendell Cruz-USA TODAY Sports
Brooklyn Scores 39 in First
The opening quarter immediately put the Thunder at a disadvantage.
An apparent lack of effort to begin the game led to a number of easy free throw chances and points in transition for Brooklyn. Oklahoma City struggled on both sides of the ball, leaving a wide open opportunity for the Nets to blow the game open – which they did.
The 18-point advantage after the first set Brooklyn up for its' 28-point lead they had built by the end of the half, and made it too large for Oklahoma City to recoup.
Cam Thomas Breaks Shooting Slump
In his past two contests, the crafty Brooklyn guard had shot 0-for-11 and 0-for-7, his worst two shooting performances on the year by far coming back-to-back.
18 missed shots in a row prompted Thomas for a strong game to rebound from his slump.
He wasted no time either, getting started early with three field goals in the first and winding up with 16 points and three 3-pointers at the half – eventually ending with 19 in total on 6-for-14 shooting and 60% from three.
OKC Has Too Little Too Late
The Thunder entered the final frame down 101-79, slowly breaking down Brooklyn's lead throughout the quarter.
A couple plays from Chet Holmgren and Jalen Williams saw Oklahoma City cut it down to 14 with just under eight minutes to play, but free throws, rebounds and continual shots at the rim for Brooklyn proved just too much.
The Thunder got the lead down to as low as six at one points, though Thomas' shots at the charity stripe would combat that and leave the Nets to win by nine.
Brooklyn made 12 more free throws than the Thunder on the night.
This was a rough outing for Oklahoma City. A day of rest coming off a back-to-back and a loss to the Atlanta Hawks, most were expecting the Thunder to be well-rested and compete at the high level its audience is becoming accustomed to.
But not every game is going to be as picture perfect as a team could lead on to be – ebbs and flows are a part of the game.
Oklahoma City will look to curve that fluctuation as the team takes on the Washington Wizards at 6 p.m. CT on Monday night inside Capital One Arena.
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