Thunder lose 122-106 to Kings

On Tuesday, the Oklahoma City Thunder lost 122-106 to the Sacramento Kings.

OKC entered Tuesday’s game against the Kings, looking to secure their first win of a current four-game road trip.

In the first half, both teams were scoring at a high rate. The Thunder would start off strong with 32 first-quarter points.

They would score at a similar rate in the second quarter and take a 65-62 lead into halftime. Kenrich Williams and Darius Bazley both scored in double figures in the first half.

Oklahoma City even got a surprising 10 first-half points off the bench from Tony Bradley.

For the Kings, it was Terence Davis leading the way with 19 points in the first half.

However, in the third quarter, the game would completely change as the Thunder couldn't keep up offensively with the Kings.

Sacramento would take over in the third quarter to change their halftime deficit into a commanding lead.

A 19-6 scoring to end the third quarter would have Sacramento leading by 19 points heading into the fourth quarter.

“Third quarter give them the credit they came out and pop us pretty good, they played with more aggressiveness, and it just took us too long to stabilize the game,” Thunder head coach Mark Daigneault said.

The damage had already been done by the time the fourth quarter came around. After scoring over 100 points in three quarters, the Kings would cruise to a 122-106 victory in this one.

Oklahoma City’s loss can be explained by looking at two key stats. First is the 18 turnovers they had, which can be attributed to the Kings' defensive pressure.

The second was the difference in three-pointers made between the two teams. The Kings knocked down 19 three-pointers on 49% shooting from three. Meanwhile, Oklahoma City hit just nine three-pointers on 39% shooting from three.

It was nice to see the aforementioned Kenrich Williams have a good game tonight. Williams, who was starting, had 20 points leading all Thunder players. This was his second-highest scoring output of the season.

He also was more of a playmaker this game, dishing out four assists. This was needed as the Thunder were without a true point guard in the rotation tonight.

“I thought it was pretty fun just as a group with different guys being able to bring the ball and initiate the offense,” Kenrich Williams said.

Oklahoma City will be back in action on Friday when they look to pull off an upset against the Utah Jazz, who are battling for the No. 1 seed in the Western Conference.