The Thunder played their first regular season game in front of fans in over 590 days. While the effort was admirable against such a tough opponent, the Thunder ultimately ended up losing this one, 115-103.
The Thunder’s loss to Houston was anything but inspiring. If there’s one thing that can wake a team up, it’s playing in front of the fans in Oklahoma City. It took a while to feel that OKC energy, but a play by Lu Dort in the fourth, hustling to dive on a loose ball, got the Paycom Center on their feet and loud.
SGA would bust out of his mini-slump and The Thunder would threaten a comeback late in the fourth. Ultimately the Sixers pulled away, but this is the kind of effort that will make this young Thunder squad worth watching in 2021-22.
Postgame Thoughts:
- There’s the SGA we all know and love!
- Shai: 29 points, 6 rebounds, and 8 assists in this one. He was much more assertive and looked unguardable by anyone on Philly’s roster.
- Dort is an energy machine.
- Lu Dort’s stat line wasn’t anything to bat an eye at, but MAN was he Lu Dorting tonight.
- The guy just knows the right times to bring the energy. I really think we’ll see a lot of incredible Lu moments this season in front of fans.
- JOSH GIDDEY: 19 points, 8 rebounds, 7 assists, and 4 steals.
- That kid is good at basketball.
- Early in the first, Darius Bazley tried to kill a guy. Not just any guy. He tried to posterize Joel Embiid. I respect the effort.
- Thunder fans missed being in the arena. They picked up right where they left off: being the best half-court shooting fans in the whole darn league.
- Midfirst bank is out $20,000 after this shot:
- Seriously. Add some kind of fan competition to All-Star Weekend. I want to see OKC compete in something this year.
- The fourth quarter felt like our first “That was special” moment of the season.
- Moments from Dort, Giddey, and SGA began to put some pressure on the 76ers.
- It really felt like the Thunder might have a comeback in them.
- Lu Dort had a hustle moment that really got the arena louder than I thought it could given the size of the crowd at the time.
- It was the fourth quarter. The Thunder were down 18. Lu wasn’t having it. He was still going 100%.
- I think Philadelphia felt the threat of a comeback. After a couple easy Thunder buckets, Josh Giddey went up for a dunk and was met with a hard foul from Joel Embiid.
- Ultimately, nothing flagrant was called, but I thought it looked a little dirty. I’m not sure of the intent, but at the least I thought it would have been reviewed.
- Seth Curry would hit a three late that really halted things for OKC, killing the Thunder’s momentum.
- I really hope we see this Thunder more often. The Thunder had no business winning a game against the Philadelphia 76ers, but played like they belonged.
- I’m still a bit baffled about the minutes situation with a few of the young guys.
- JRE played 13 minutes. Tre Mann… 9 whole minutes. Ouch.
- Poku played 6 minutes in this one… Also Interesting.
- We need a name for the Paycom Center. I still want to call it the Peake because… well… It just sounded cool.
- The Com? The PC? Blah.
- Next up: Home vs. The Golden State Warriors on Tuesday.