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Tim McMahon
Las Vegas–a few minutes later oklahoma city thunderSecond defeat of the season, some veterans of the defending champion loudly and playfully scolded the injured rookie Thomas Sorber Due to not being able to put towels in your locker on time.
He laughed while announcing that failure to properly execute a rookie duty would result in Sorber being “rotated” upon returning to the team’s home, referring to the Wheel of Fortune-style device in the team’s practice facility that is used to assign additional work.
The Thunder were disappointed with him 111-109 loss till San Antonio Spurs in Saturday’s NBA Cup semifinals — which snapped Oklahoma City’s franchise-record 16-game winning streak — but were far from a disappointment.
“Personally, I think it’s exciting,” the Oklahoma City superstar Shai Gilgeous-Alexander Said. “It’s easier to learn when you don’t feel how you want to feel. It stings a little more.
“We will also see these people [twice in the next five] game. So, this will be a good challenge. Like an automated test, almost like in school. You fail the exam, you have to retake the exam after a few days. It will probably feel like this. Losing is where you find growth and where you really get better.”
The Thunder, who had their preferred starting lineup available for the first time since June’s Game 7 victory in the NBA Finals, equaled the 2015–16 Golden State Warriors‘ Record the best 25-game start in NBA history by going 24-1 with a plus-17.4 average point differential.
“What are we, 24-2?” thunder ahead jalen williams Said. “I mean, we can go home and hang our hat on it or we can look at it as a way to get better and understand that we played against a playoff team that beat us and gave us 2 points [record]So, that’s how we’ll look at it from a competitive standpoint,”
Oklahoma City began Saturday’s game playing to its level, taking a 16-point lead with just a few minutes left in the second quarter. But the Spurs led within three points at halftime and went on a 10–0 lead in the third quarter.
“We started well, but they won the last three quarters,” Thunder coach Mark Daigneault said. “They outshot us tonight. It was a close game, but they outshot us and deserved the win.
“I’m not sure exactly what happened and how it turned out. But out of the 48 minutes, I thought they outshot us most of the time. It’s hard to win games or at least control the game when there’s a situation like that.”
Spurs big man returns Victor WembanyamaJoe, who sat out the first quarter due to his minutes restriction after missing the previous 12 games due to a left calf strain, was the primary factor in San Antonio turning the game around.
Vembanyama was a dominant force on both ends of the floor in his 21 minutes, finishing with 22 points, 9 rebounds and 2 blocks. The Spurs outscored the Thunder with Wembanyama scoring 21 points.
“He’s a mismatch for everybody. He’s a 7-year-old – no matter what it is, he’s got good skills. On that one possession, I threw the ball away once and then hit him on the go up, and he still found a way to make the shot,” Thunder guard alex caruso Referring to the bucket that gave the Spurs the lead with 2:32 remaining in the contest. “A great player, and he’s going to get even better.”
The Thunder had a chance to send the game to overtime in the final seconds, but Caruso was unable to make a miraculous tip-in off Williams’ intentionally missed free throws. Caruso and others in an Oklahoma City uniform thought there was contact during the game that could have led to a foul call, but said they did not expect to receive such a whistle during the game.
When Daigneault was asked if there should have been a foul on the play, he said, “I don’t know, maybe.” “But when we play like this, I’m not going to come here and complain about the substitutes. Nobody wants to hear that, to be honest.”
power forward/centre Chet Holmgren Described as “eager and excited” to watch film from the loss to the Thunder and learn how to address the flaws highlighted by the Spurs.
The Thunder felt that their offense became too stagnant, especially against an elite rim protector in Wembanyama. Gilgeous-Alexander, who scored a game-high 29 points but committed a season-high five turnovers, took most of the blame for that.
“We can’t afford to be bad,” Gilgeous-Alexander said. “We can’t think that we’re above anything. With every team in the league, if you come in on a night and don’t do the work required to win, you’re probably not going to win, no matter how talented you are or what your record is. That was the situation for us tonight.”
