Season-Low Shooting Night Ends in Embarrassment for Thunder

The Thunder GuysFebruary 24, 2018 No Comments

The Oklahoma City Thunder entered tonight’s game with a 2-0 advantage over the Golden State Warriors so far this season, and despite beating the Warriors by an average of 18.5 points per matchup, the Thunder were on the other side of a blowout tonight as they fell 112-80.

The Thunder started off hot against the Kings in Sacramento on Thursday, but they were as cold as the last week of Oklahoma weather in the first quarter tonight. Russell Westbrook and Paul George got off to an especially rough start, shooting a combined 1/14. As a team, the Thunder shot only 21% from the field, but thankfully, Oklahoma City was all over the glass grabbing rebounds, and they were able to stick around. After 12 minutes, the Warriors held a 24-19 advantage over the Thunder.

Raymond Felton proved to be a spark for Oklahoma City early in the second quarter as he scored eight straight points to give the Thunder a 29-28 lead less than three minutes into the period. Oklahoma City would take a 35-30 lead over the next four minutes of the quarter, but Golden State got hot over the last five minutes of the first half. Kevin Durant got hot, and despite getting into a tiff with Carmelo Anthony, which resulted in double-technicals, Durant finished the half with 19 points to lead all scorers, and the Warriors were on top 52-45.

The third quarter has been a do or die 12 minutes for the Thunder for much of the season, and tonight would prove to be no different. Despite Oklahoma City’s best efforts to keep it close, the Warriors were on the brink of blowing the game wide open on multiple occasions, and then, seemingly out of nowhere, they did just that. After leading 59-58 with 7:35 left in the third, the Thunder allowed the Warriors to outscore them 26-7 to end the quarter and take an 84-66 lead into the fourth quarter.

The fourth quarter continued the downward spiral for Oklahoma City, and no matter what the Thunder did, they could not buy a bucket, let alone stop the Warriors from hitting shots. Billy Donovan finally waived the white flag and substituted all the starters out by the six minute mark as the game was well over by then, and when the final buzzer sounded, the Thunder had shot a season-low 33% and scored a season-low 80 points.

Headed Home

The Thunder now heads back home to Oklahoma City where they will host the Orlando Magic on Monday. The Magic defeated the Thunder 121-108 on November 29 in Orlando, but the two teams have had very different seasons since then. The Magic is 18-41 and has won only nine games since that win over the Thunder. Tip-off is set for 7 CT and will be televised on Fox Sports Oklahoma. The game will also be broadcast on WWLS 98.1 FM.

Be sure to check out our latest episode of Thunder Things with the Thunder Guys.

Article written by Zack Low. Follow @TheThunderGuys on Twitter and Instagram, and be sure to like us on Facebook.

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