Thunder Split Weekend
Jordan King - November 11, 2019 10:03 am
Another offensively impressive weekend ended up with the Oklahoma City Thunder nearly sweeping two games they were expected to lose in the preseason.
Saturday night OKC beat up on the Golden State Warriors, which are still trying to figure out how to play without Klay Thompson and Steph Curry. The Thunder used a +6 mark in the fourth quarter to win 114-108.
OKC led at halftime 60-43, but let that lead slip away with an awful defensive third quarter that saw the Warriors score 41 points. DeAngelo Russell, now the star for GS until Curry returns, scored 30 points on 50 percent shooting from 3.
For the Thunder, balanced scoring from Danilo Gallinari with 21 and Chris Paul and Dennis Schröder with 16 each, OKC had just enough offensively to hold off the defending Western Conference champs.
Paul also had 9 assists on the night. OKC won despite Shai Gilgeous-Alexander shooting just 40 percent from the field.
“We talked about pushing the tempo, and that’s what we did.” –@cp3 pic.twitter.com/C8xqtJcFnU
— OKC THUNDER (@okcthunder) November 10, 2019
On Sunday, OKC looked poised to knock off the Milwaukee Bucks, but once again blew a halftime lead with a poor third quarter and Milwaukee escaped with a 121-119 win.
The Thunder led by 6 at halftime, but the Bucks outscored them by 13 in the third and hung on in a testy fourth quarter for the win.
Giannis Antetokounmpo was efficient, shooting 13-for-19 and scoring 35 points, but OKC was able to turn him over 7 times. Milwaukee as a team turned it over 22 times in the contest.
Schröder was great for the second-straight game for OKC. He shot 75 percent from the field and led the team with 25 points. It’s the second time he has led the team in scoring. The Thunder were +25 with him on the court.
Gilgeous-Alexander was better on Sunday, scoring 22, grabbing 6 boards and dishing 6 assists. Gallinari struggled, needing 17 shots and 5 free throws to earn just 14 points.
This ain’t over. @shaiglalex drills back2back threes. #ThunderUp pic.twitter.com/WKN5tKFizi
— OKC THUNDER (@okcthunder) November 11, 2019
OKC heads to Indianapolis to take on the Pacers on Tuesday before returning home for next weekend.
