As the crowd synchronized Jared Goff chants, OKC waved the white flag of a failed comeback attempt by clearing its bench with over five minutes left.
The Oklahoma City Thunder couldn’t collect enough stops in the second half as they suffered their worst loss of the season to the Detroit Pistons, 120-104.
“I give them a lot of credit, they played with great energy, they beat us to balls, played with great intensity,” Thunder head coach Mark Daigneault said on the loss. “As the game wore on, they got more and more energy and we just couldn’t drum it up. Obviously, they deserved to win today so credit them.”
Entering the contest, Detroit had a lowly 5-40 record and didn’t record a win against a team above .500. What makes this result even more surprising is the absence of the Pistons’ franchise player Cade Cunningham, who was an extremely late scratch with a knee injury.
Early on, it looked like the Thunder were going to make quick work of the Pistons with a 15-5 lead less than four minutes into the contest. But after a Detroit timeout, it returned to the court refocused.
The Thunder finished the first quarter with a 31-24 lead. The lead quickly vanished as the Pistons scored an eye-popping 46 points in the second frame to enter halftime with a 70-61 lead.
Coming out of the break, OKC managed to cut it to as little as three points, but a 13-2 run by Detroit pushed its lead to 14 points entering the final frame. After three quarters, the Pistons — who have the fourth-worst offensive rating — tallied 100 points.
Daigneault tried to ignite a flame by subbing in Keyontae Johnson and Lindy Waters III, but it went to no avail as the non-SGA players collectively played poorly.
The fourth quarter was much of the same as both teams continued to exchange buckets. A little over halfway through the frame, the end of the bench was cleared as OKC surrendered the final five minutes.
Overall, the Thunder shot 48% from the field and went 8-of-28 (28.6%) from 3. It was an ugly offensive outing where the role players couldn’t step up as OKC only had three double-digit scorers.
Shai Gilgeous-Alexander led the way with 31 points and he only played the first three quarters. Jalen Williams tallied 20 points.
While the outside shooting wasn’t pretty, the offense wasn’t the problem for the first 42 minutes of this contest. It was on the defensive side where OKC couldn’t come up with enough stops to mount a comeback.
“We just didn’t play as together as we could’ve and that’s a very fixable thing,” Williams said. “There’s 82 wins and 82 losses on an NBA schedule. Anybody can beat anybody, anybody can lose to anybody. We kinda took that for granted.”
The Pistons relished despite Cunningham’s absence. They shot 50% from the field and went a sizzling 11-of-26 (42.3%) from 3. Detroit had six players score double-digit points in its rare win.
Jalen Duren was a monster on the boards as he finished with a 22-point and 21-rebound double-double. He helped Detroit create a massive advantage on the boards as it outrebounded OKC, 53-44. This included 15 offensive rebounds that led to 19 second-chance points.
Jaden Ivey collected 19 points, eight rebounds and six assists. Bojan Bogdanovic tallied 17 points and Isaiah Stewart scored 11 points.
“They brought the juice today and they outplayed us on this day,” Daigneault said on the Pistons. “Credit to them and the way they played, the energy they brought, they deserve to win the game.”
There’s no way around it, this was a bad loss for OKC. Losing to the worst team in the league will always leave a nasty taste. But alas, that’s life in the NBA.
The Thunder will get a chance to quickly forget about this ugly loss when they play the Minnesota Timberwolves on the second night of this road-and-home back-to-back. The tiebreaker will be on the balance, which will likely prove to be pivotal by the end of the season.
“Tomorrow is a new opportunity obviously,” Daigneault said. “A big challenge for us tomorrow against a team we just beat on the road and we’ve played a bunch of times already this year.
“We got to throw our best punch in that game. We got to move past this one, learn what we can from it, move past it, and get ready to play tomorrow.”
Let’s look at Thunder player grades.
Shai Gilgeous-Alexander: A
As the rest of the team didn’t bring the juice, Gilgeous-Alexander tried his best to single-handedly avoid the upset loss.
In 29 minutes, Gilgeous-Alexander had 31 points on 13-of-20 shooting, five rebounds and four assists. He went 4-of-5 from the free-throw line.
After bumping knees with Ivey in the first quarter, the contact didn’t stop the 25-year-old from collecting another efficient 30-point outing. Despite Gilgeous-Alexander’s strong third quarter of 13 points, the Thunder couldn’t muster up enough stops to make his takeover worthwhile.
Traditionally resting the opening six minutes of the fourth quarter, Daigneault decided to just give his All-Star starter the frame off as OKC couldn’t cut into its deficit.
“If I thought we had what we needed to get back in the game, then I obviously would have (played him),” Daigneault said on Gilegous-Alexander sitting out the fourth quarter. “But with the way the game was going, I just didn’t feel it.”
😵💫 pic.twitter.com/Jry2zmcDoB
— OKC THUNDER (@okcthunder) January 28, 2024
That's our All-Star ⭐️#ThunderUp | @okcthunder | @BallySports 📺 pic.twitter.com/8fEGrHo6GE
— Bally Sports Oklahoma (@BallySportsOK) January 28, 2024
Off the 🪟@OGandE Power Play of the Game pic.twitter.com/gUPSahJgUa
— OKC THUNDER (@okcthunder) January 28, 2024
Jalen Williams: B-minus
If the Thunder wanted to escape the upset, they needed Williams to go supernova in the opening minutes of the final frame. Instead, OKC couldn’t eat into Detroit’s lead as both squads exchanged points.
In 28 minutes, Williams had 20 points on 8-of-16 shooting and three assists. He shot 2-of-3 from 3. The 22-year-old scored 10 points in the second frame to contribute to OKC’s 30-point frame.
The Thunder looked lethargic for most of the game and Williams’ quiet fourth quarter was the final nail in the coffin for OKC’s upset loss. It was a tough outing for the non-SGA starters.
“We’ll take this as a challenge kinda get the car back on the road,” Williams said. “… Kinda just flush this one and get ready for the next one.”
JDub driving to the rim 🚗 pic.twitter.com/wLgvBaZQqE
— OKC THUNDER (@okcthunder) January 28, 2024
Chet Holmgren: D-plus
Speaking of struggling starters, Holmgren’s quiet scoring night leaked over to his defensive performance as Pistons players got to the basket with ease.
It’s not as simple as one-on-one, but Duren collecting a ridiculous 21 rebounds — including nine on the offensive side — falls primarily on OKC’s frontcourt.
Overall, Holmgren finished with nine points on 4-of-11 shooting, 12 rebounds and one block. He shot 1-of-5 from 3 and had the worst plus-minus of negative-20.
A surprising outcome considering how hot Holmgren started the game with seven points and eight rebounds in the opening quarter. The 21-year-old couldn’t go off against the lowly Pistons and only played in two minutes of the final frame.
Chet setting the tone early 🚫 pic.twitter.com/7RN1IUNVz7
— OKC THUNDER (@okcthunder) January 28, 2024
3️⃣ in the 3️⃣1️⃣3️⃣ for Chet#ThunderUp | @okcthunder | @BallySports 📺 pic.twitter.com/5OGVr6fr9e
— Bally Sports Oklahoma (@BallySportsOK) January 28, 2024
Josh Giddey: C-minus
On paper, Giddey had a solid outing. He finished with 12 points on 5-of-10 shooting, nine rebounds and five assists.
But dissecting it a bit further, Giddey did what the Pistons likely wanted him to do and took a healthy amount of possessions away from others. This was bluntly evident in the final frame when the 21-year-old went 2-of-6 as it looked like he was rushing it in the hopes of coming back.
Instead, the Pistons kept up and made the final five minutes of the frame irrelevant. Giddey was the only starter who played serious minutes in the fourth quarter, totaling 10.
Spinning to the basket pic.twitter.com/zprmHPw0yb
— OKC THUNDER (@okcthunder) January 28, 2024
Fadeaway Giddey 💦#ThunderUp | @okcthunder | @BallySports 📺 pic.twitter.com/lRvUv1LfCW
— Bally Sports Oklahoma (@BallySportsOK) January 28, 2024
