Thunder lose to Clippers, 99-94, as SGA scores 28 against former team

With the Oklahoma City Thunder and LA Clippers entering this season with a 1-5 and 1-4 respectively, both teams entered the night trying to collect their second win.

In tonight’s matchup, the Clippers prevail, 99-94. After trailing by nine with 2:44 to go, the Clippers closed the game on a 17-3 run behind Paul George’s 32 point performance.

Considering the fact that the Thunder own the Clippers 2022 unprotected first-round pick, the result of the game was a win either way for the franchise.

The Thunder lose, they improve their pick’s lottery odds.

The Thunder win, they improve their pick’s lottery odds.

It’s still super early in the season, but as was shown to be the case last season when these two teams squared off to cap the regular season, every game matters.

In terms of the actual game that was played tonight, Shai Gilgeous-Alexander and Josh Giddey looked fantastic. Thunder Head Coach Mark Daigneault has spoken about just how much more comfortable both of these players have gotten with each other after every game. That clearly showed tonight as both went off.

SGA went off for 28 points against his former team. This included several splashy threes that included step-backs and sidesteps. With this being the only game on, a lot of national media people saw this game and couldn’t help but praise just how good SGA is.

Giddey continues to be impressive as he finished with 15 points, seven assists and five rebounds. Much like every other game, Giddey’s passing talent and court vision were the highlights of the night. The scoring potential was also on display tonight. With Lu Dort out tonight due to a right shoulder contusion, the rookie needed to step up with his scoring game and finished with the second most shot attempts on the team with 15.

Outside of those two, Darius Bazley continues to put the fanbase on a rollercoaster of emotions. There would be some moments that would wow viewers and others that would leave them confused.

Overall, Bazley had a good scoring game with 15 points, but there were some costly errors, such as turning the ball over seven times, on his part too.

I also thought this was a great game for Aleksej Pokusevski and looked as confident and comfortable as he has all season long. In 15 minutes, Poku finished with nine points and five rebounds.

Sucks that the team blew a lead late but this was still a fun game to stay up for. As mentioned countless times before, SGA and Giddey are the most important players on the franchise. The fact that both stepped up and went toe to toe against a potential playoff team on the road is a sign of encouragement.

Next Game: The Thunder take a couple of days off to enjoy LA before they take on the Los Angeles Lakers at Staples Center on Thursday, Nov. 4.