OKC Thunder player grades: Lottery odds only positive from otherwise forgettable 118-96 loss to Spurs

Well, that was not a pretty game for the Oklahoma City Thunder. Much like AT&T Center, the Thunder defense was pretty much dead all game long. The Thunder were outscored from the San Antonio Spurs, 106-78, with the final score being 118-96. Giving up over 100 points in three quarters against the 18th ranked offensive rating team that has gone 2-10 in their last 12 games is never a good sign for a team’s overall performance.

On offense, the Thunder were never really able to settle down and played a lot of ugly basketball. Shai Gilgeous-Alexander had a poor game as he finished with 13 points on 21 shots. Which is a shame as he has built up some really good momentum in recent games as he has scored at least 30 points in three of his past four contests.

For the Spurs, Dejounte Murray and Doug McDermott led the way in the offensive efforts. Murray finished with a 23 point, 14 assist and 10 rebound triple double. McDermott, the former Thunder player, finished with 20 points and shot 6-of-9 from three.

Overall, this was a pretty poor performance for the Thunder. Losing to the Spurs on the road is one thing. But losing it in this fashion where a bottom-half offense managed to score 106 points in three quarters is a bad look. The fact that this is the fourth road game in five games does not excuse for this poor defensive performance and stagnant offensive production. With all that said, let’s take a look at player grades.

Tanking efforts: A+

Trying to put a little positive spin on this and the biggest thing I can think of is the fact that this loss goes a long way for the Thunder in terms of having high lottery odds. Heading into this game, the Thunder led the Spurs in the reverse standings by 1.5 games. Now with this loss, the Thunder have grown some cushion against the Spurs with a 2.5 game lead now.

These type of games against teams in similar position, record-wise, are extremely crucial to lose as the loser gains a full game in the standings against the winner. If the Thunder are going to keep its top four lottery odds spot this season, loses like this will go a long way in materializing that.

Shai Gilgeous-Alexander: D

Scoring 13 points on 5-of-21 shooting with seven assist is just not going to cut it for Gilgeous-Alexander; especially considering how great he has played in his last four games where he has averaged 30 points on 54.5 percent shooting with 7.3 assists and 5.8 rebounds.

It was quite clear that Gilgeous-Alexander’s poor shooting night frustrated him all game long as there were multiple instances throughout the game of the 23-year-old animatingly talking to the officials after some of his hard, physical drives led to a miss instead of a trip to the line for two free throw attempts.

Lu Dort: D

Much like his backcourt teammate, Lu Dort did a poor job scoring efficiently as he finished with 15 points on 4-of-13 shooting. From the outside though, Dort had a good game as he went 3-of-6 from three. So clearly, Dort’s shooting woes came from inside as he went 1-of-6 within the paint. Much like Gilgeous-Alexander, that type of efficiency is just not going to cut it in this league as it was clearly shown tonight in a blowout loss.

Aaron Wiggins: A+

Enough with the negativity! Rookie Aaron Wiggins was phenomenal in this otherwise forgettable game as he scored 19 points on 8-of-11 shooting along with eight rebounds. Wiggins was great in his start tonight and did a really good job at creating easy looks for himself just by moving around the court and being at the right spots at the right time as he shot a perfect 7-of-7 inside the paint. Overall, a really good game for the 55th-overall-pick.

Josh Giddey: C-

Josh Giddey did not do a good job at shooting the ball as he finished with nine points on 4-of-16 shooting to go along with eight assists and 11 rebounds. Giddey struggled to finish in the paint and missed all of his jumpers. But with all that said, I would much rather see Giddey shoot this poorly on good volume instead of the other way around; especially in a season like this where the results are inconsequential. Giddey has mentioned multiple times that he will not let misses discourage him from shooting the ball on good looks and hopefully continues to have that mindset this season with games like these.

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