Thunder trouble?
Don't read too much into it
The best team in basketball somehow trailed one of the also-ran franchises, the Charlotte Hornets, by 17 going into halftime on Monday night.
But the Thunder have a trick—they are the best in the league at outscoring opponents in the third quarter. No team dominates any quarter more decisively.
I’ve been watching the Thunder closely, when the teams emerged from the locker rooms for the second half, I had a feeling the game was about to be decided.
I was half right. The Thunder trailed by 23 with eight minutes to go after LaMelo Ball hit a 3, but then Shai Gilgeous-Alexander hit a free throw, the Thunder got a stop, then SGA nailed two free throws, followed by another stop. Chet Holmgren flushed a lob dunk and the Thunder train seemed to be rolling into the station.
Then 210-pound Moussa Diabaté outrebounded the Thunder’s tiny front line. After Kon Kneuppel nailed this 3, the rout was on. The Hornets outscored the Thunder 32-21 in the third, and won by 27.
The Thunder were 25-2 in mid-December, winning 93 percent of their games, on pace for the best regular-season in NBA history. Then they lost six of their next eleven, to the Spurs three times, the Wolves, the Suns, and the Hornets.
Now the Pistons, Spurs, and Nuggets are in the rearview at the top of the standings.
OKC is still in first place, but … what changed?
I watched a ton of video.
