OKLAHOMA CITY — The young Oklahoma City Thunder quickly grew up following the first quarter of a 128-120 loss to the Golden State Warriors.
At least, that’s what Thunder head coach Mark Daigneault alluded to following their failed 21-point comeback attempt.
“I thought there was a little bit of a boogie man in the first quarter,” Daigneault said. “But once we opened the closet and realized there was no one there, we started playing.”
The scoreboard reflects Daigneault’s thoughts as the Thunder outscored the Warriors by 10 points in the final three quarters after finishing the first quarter trailing 38-20.
Alas, despite a valiant comeback attempt that saw the Thunder cut the Warriors’ lead to as little as two points in the fourth quarter, several timely three-pointers from the Splash Brothers cooled off the possibility of an OKC win — a site too familiar for Thunder fans.
It was a vintage night for the Warriors big three.
The Warriors were led by Steph Curry, who finished with 38 points on 12-of-20 shooting and 8-of-14 3-point shooting along with 12 assists. Without Lu Dort, Klay Thompson enjoyed 28 points on 10-of-21 shooting and 6-of-14 from 3. Draymond Green also finished with seven points, 12 assists and nine rebounds.
The Warriors shot 46-of-90 (51.1%) from the field and went 20-of-47 (42.6%) from 3. 37 assists were dished out in the win.
For the Thunder, they shot 46-of-93 (49.5%) from the field and went 11-of-24 (45.8%) from 3.
The Thunder’s fight to get to .500 continues on as they now drop two games below at 24-26. Although, they do have a decent shot at finally breaking even with their next two games being against the Houston Rockets.
Let’s take a look at Thunder player grades.
Shai Gilgeous-Alexander: A-
Credit: Alonzo Adams-USA TODAY Sports
Shai Gilgeous-Alexander’s performance was symmetrical with the Thunder’s performance.
After struggling in the first quarter, scoring just four points on 1-of-8 shooting, Gilgeous-Alexander bounced back and finished with 27 points on 7-of-16 shooting in the final three quarters.
Overall, Gilgeous-Alexander finished with 31 points on 10-of-24 shooting and 10-of-10 shooting from the free-throw line. Gilgeous-Alexander also finished with seven assists and five turnovers.
A tame 30-point performance for Gilgeous-Alexander.
Josh Giddey: B
Credit: Alonzo Adams-USA TODAY Sports
In 29 minutes, Josh Giddey finished with 21 points on 9-of-18 shooting, six assists, eight rebounds and five turnovers.
Giddey’s game could be sliced in half as he struggled in the first half but finished with a strong second half.
In the first half, Giddey had seven points on 3-of-8 shooting and two assists. In the second half, Giddey had 14 points on 6-of-10 shooting and four assists.
It was a tough night inside the paint for Giddey, as he went just 6-of-13 in that area.
Jaylin Williams: A
(Photo by Ian Maule/Getty Images)
One of the few individual bright spots for Thunder in this loss was Jaylin Williams.
Off the bench, Williams finished with 12 points on 5-of-9 shooting, 2-of-3 from 3, eight rebounds and three assists.
When the Thunder needed a boost of energy, Daigneault relied on Williams to provide that.
After the game, Daigneault admitted he wasn’t really planning on using Williams but with the team lacking energy and the game plan not fully working, he needed a spark off the bench and that’s what the second-round rookie provided.
In his 18 minutes, the Thunder outscored the Warriors by one point.
Jalen Williams: B
(Photo by Ian Maule/Getty Images)
The other J. Williams on the team had a pretty nice night too.
Jalen Williams finished with 19 points on 8-of-14 shooting, four rebounds and two assists.
Williams scored almost exclusively near the rim, as he shot 7-of-8 inside of the paint.
Williams continues to have a phenomenal rookie season and a 19-point performance being considered a relatively quiet night for him proves that.
HIGHLIGHTS
Story originally appeared on Thunder Wire