The Oklahoma City Thunder failed to complete the season series sweep against the LA Clippers in a 127-105 loss.
Thanks to Kawhi Leonard going supernova with 32 points on 15 shots, the Clippers won their first game against the Thunder this season after three consecutive losses.
“We didn’t execute well enough. Weren’t physical enough. Especially throughout the game,” Thunder head coach Mark Daigneault said. “… So turn the page and we have another opportunity tomorrow.”
The final score suggests this was a blowout loss, but the Thunder were in it for the majority of the game.
With the Thunder trailing 80-78 with 2:13 left in the third quarter, the Clippers went on a 34-11 run to blow the game open. The Clippers’ largest lead in the win was 28 points.
The Clippers scored efficiently — going 47-of-84 (56%) from the field and 18-of-37 (48.6%) from 3. A much better night compared to the Thunder, who shot 41-of-93 (44.1%) from the field and a poor 13-of-39 (33.3%) from 3.
“We had our moments. We had good possessions on both ends of the floor,” Daigneault said. “There’s a reason why we were in the game for almost three quarters. I think they had that flurry that got it to like 11 or 12 (points) at the end of the third but it was a pretty close game until then.”
Leonard and Russell Westbrook led the way as Paul George sat out with a knee sprain he suffered in the first game of this mini-series on Tuesday.
Leonard’s night included a strong start: 15 first-quarter points on 7-of-7 shooting. Westbrook was the Clippers’ second-best player. He finished with 24 points on 8-of-13 shooting and seven assists against his former team.
Meanwhile, outside of Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, the Thunder struggled to score. Gilgeous-Alexander finished with 30 points while the other four Thunder starters combined to score 45 points.
The Clippers enjoyed a significant bench advantage; their reserves outscored the Thunder, 51-30. The bench trio of Bones Hyland (16), Terence Mann (14) and Nicolas Batum (12) scored double-digit points. Meanwhile, the Thunder’s leading scorer off the bench was Ousmane Dieng with nine points.
Credit to the Clippers; they desperately needed this win to avoid falling into the play-in tournament race. Every win matters — even more now that George will likely miss the remainder of the regular season.
Leonard was phenomenal and set the mood early in this game as he was a perfect 9-of-9 from the midrange and 10-of-11 overall from two-pointers. Westbrook also had a much better outing against the Thunder this time around.
Meanwhile, the Thunder failed to win their fourth consecutive game against the Clippers and will need to quickly move on as they play a critical game against the Los Angeles Lakers on Friday.
“The good thing is 24 hours from now we get to go again,” Josh Giddey said. “It’s another good team so we’ll put this one in the past, wake up tomorrow and get ready for LA tomorrow.”
Let’s take a look at Thunder player grades.
Shai Gilgeous-Alexander: A-plus
Shai Gilgeous-Alexander was his usual dominant self. He finished with 30 points on 10-of-15 shooting and went 9-of-9 from the free-throw line in 27 minutes. He also had three assists, four rebounds and three blocks.
Gilgeous-Alexander was limited to 27 minutes: He didn’t see fourth-quarter action due to the lopsided score. The impromptu rest could increase the odds of Gilgeous-Alexander playing in Friday’s game against the Lakers.
Considering the series tiebreaker is on the line against the Lakers, I’d lean toward Gilgeous-Alexander playing.
Coast-to-coast like avocado toast 🥑 pic.twitter.com/CFD0OgTXZc
— OKC THUNDER (@okcthunder) March 24, 2023
Tough fadeaway from Shai! pic.twitter.com/g7tvDdzkhm
— OKC THUNDER (@okcthunder) March 24, 2023
Jalen Williams: B-minus
It wasn’t the best J-Dub game, but it wasn’t the worst either.
Jalen Williams finished with 16 points on 7-of-12 shooting and went 2-of-4 from 3. Williams also collected four assists and three rebounds. In his 32 minutes, the Thunder were outscored by 26 points — the worst plus-minus among the starters.
JDub with the slippery spin🌪@OGandE Power Play of the Game pic.twitter.com/7WDGjSqh4Y
— OKC THUNDER (@okcthunder) March 24, 2023
Flowing on offense👌 pic.twitter.com/mkzOJc49el
— OKC THUNDER (@okcthunder) March 24, 2023
Back-to-back from downtown! pic.twitter.com/w9FvuNyf6O
— OKC THUNDER (@okcthunder) March 24, 2023
Josh Giddey: C
After the opening minutes, it felt as though Josh Giddey was going to have a massive scoring night.
Giddey scored seven points in the opening six minutes as the Thunder quickly created an 18-11 lead. Giddey scored just 11 points the rest of the game.
Overall, Giddey finished with 18 points on 8-of-15 shooting and 2-of-5 shooting from 3. He also added four assists and three rebounds in his limited 26 minutes.
“The end of that third … we collapsed too much,” Giddey said. “Kawhi drew so much attention and guys were getting sucked into it and were spraying out and hitting 3s. … They blew the game open.”
Lu Dort: D-plus
A tough night for Lu Dort after being crowned the hero following his game-winning defensive stop against Leonard in Tuesday’s win.
In 30 minutes, Dort finished with three points on 1-of-11 shooting and went 1-of-4 from 3. He grabbed six rebounds.
After shutting off Leonard last game, Dort — along with the rest of the Thunder — were at his mercy in this game. He hit tough midrange jumper after tough midrange jumper on his way to an efficient 32-point night.
