The Oklahoma City Thunder just fall short in a heck of a game against the short-handed Bucks. Bucks were without Giannis Antetokounmpo, Khris Middleton, and Jrue Holiday. That may seem like an embarrassing loss but the Bucks have the best record for a reason. This loss still hurts, but it was a good learning experience for the youngest team in the NBA.
(Photo by Ian Maule/Getty Images)
Summary:
I was not able to watch the first half, but it was a very even matched half. It was tied at at 55 after a great first half for Jevon Carter and Aleksej Pokusevski. It remained close throughout the third quarter, and the Thunder actually led by 3 going into the fourth. That was unfortunately when Milwaukee started to get it going, and they took a twelve point lead with under five minutes to play. But thanks to SGA's clutch buckets and Josh Giddey's rebounding, OKC was able to tie the game with under a minute to play after an incredible dime from Giddey to set up a wise open Dort dunk. After trading defensive stops, the Bucks had the ball with eleven seconds to play and a tie game. Dort put the clamps on the red hot Jevon Carter to force the miss. Now heading into OT, the teams traded buckets and wounded up tied at 123 with less than a minuet left. Dort had a solid look from three, but airballed it, and led to a layup on the other end from Bobby Portis with eight seconds. Almost all hope was lost, but then that was when SGA did the unthinkable. Draining a stepback three-pointer over Wesley Matthews with 0.6 seconds remaining. It seemed like it was over as OKC had a 1 point lead with less than a second. Shai had saved the day and put the Thunder back up to .500. Then on the inbound, Milwaukee runs a play to lob it up to Brook Lopez and draws the foul on Lu Dort with 0.2. All Lopez had to do was make both free throws and the game was over. But he ends up missing the first free throw, but makes the 2nd to send the already wild game to double overtime. Unfortunately, the Thunder went ice cold from 3, and committed bad fouls, leading to 136-132 loss.
Box Score:
OKC:
Shai Gilgeous-Alexander: 39p, 4r, 4a, 2b
Tre Mann: 21p, 6r, 2s
Josh Giddey: 18p, 15r, 6a
Aleksej Pokusevski: 17p, 10r, 2s, 2b
Luguentz Dort: 12p, 7r, 3a, 4s
Jalen Williams: 9p, 5r
Bucks:
Jevon Carter: 36p, 4r, 12a
Brook Lopez: 24p, 13r, 5b
MarJon Beauchamp: 19p, 8r, 2s
Grayson Allen: 18p, 3r, 6a
Bobby Portis: 13p, 9r
George Hill: 12p, 5a, 3s
Jordan Nwora: 5p, 7r
Team Stats:
One thing that was a great sight to see was that the 3-point shot was finally falling for us. Thunder made 18 3s on 40% shooting. The reason that was not enough though, was because the Bucks answered with 17 of their own 3s, shooting 47%. The Thunder also dominated in the paint, scoring 64 points in the paint. They also scored twice as many fast break points as Milwaukee.
Awards:
Most Valuable Player:
Shai Gilgeous-Alexander
Know Your Role:
Aleksej Pokusevski
Defensive Lockdown:
Luguentz Dort
Don't forget to follow @OKCDistrict_ on Twitter to keep up with the latest news, updates, and more! Until next time, Thunder up.
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