Player grades: Thunder hit rock bottom in 124-97 loss to Hornets

6 days ago 2

OKLAHOMA CITY — Saving the ball from going out of bounds, LaMelo Ball let his intrusive thoughts get the better of him. On just one leg, he flung up a corner attempt to avoid a shot-clock violation. In what turned out to be a deep 2-pointer, he swished in the basket.

That about summed up the night. The Oklahoma City Thunder suffered a humiliating 124-97 loss to the Charlotte Hornets. Use any synonym you want — inexcusable, bad, awful, a joke. This is about as bad as it's gotten in two seasons.

Early on, the defense returned to being a problem. The Hornets have had their offense humming all season. You can't let Kon Knueppel get several wide-open looks. Bad habits continue to form for the Thunder on that side of the ball. They escaped the first frame with a 33-point tie.

All that did was buy the Thunder some time. Usually on the right side of an avalanche run, the Hornets went on a 21-5 run that was unreal to see unfold. Shai Gilgeous-Alexander went from the NBA's best scorer to looking like someone stole all of his powers a la the 'Thunderstruck' classic.

The Thunder only scored 17 points in the second frame. They entered halftime in an unreal 67-50 deficit to the Hornets. The freaking Hornets. One of the worst teams in the league that can never stop the opposition. Things only got worse after that.

Charlotte came out with an 11-3 run to start the second half. Ball got into a groove. He caught fire from the outside. Meanwhile, the Thunder couldn't keep up. It's the most lifeless the reigning NBA champion has looked all season. A recent 6-5 stretch showed some weaknesses, but nothing to this extent. You can excuse the other losses as tough ones against playoff opponents. But this was several levels below.

The Thunder only scored 21 points in the third frame. Brandon Miller made a buzzer-beater 3-pointer to end it. They were in a 99-71 deficit. The fourth quarter was much of the same. OKC cleared its bench and tallied 26 points. It trailed by as many as 30 points. Again, that happening at home to a team well below .500 is just something that doesn't occur.

The Thunder shot 37% from the field and went 11-of-39 (28.2%) from 3. They shot 18-of-27 on free throws. They had 18 assists on 34 baskets. Five Thunder players scored double-digit points.

Gilgeous-Alexander struggled once again with 21 points on 21 shot attempts. Chet Holmgren had 15 points and six rebounds. Jalen Williams finished with 16 points and four assists. Ajay Mitchell had 11 points and three rebounds. Aaron Wiggins scored 11 points.

Meanwhile, the Hornets shot 53% from the field and went 19-of-37 (51.4%) from 3. They shot 23-of-25 on free throws. They had 25 assists on 41 baskets. Six Hornets players scored double-digit points.

Miller scored 28 points and made seven outside shots. Knueppel had 23 points, five rebounds and five assists. Miles Bridges tallied 17 points and 11 rebounds. Ball had 16 points. PJ Hall scored 13 points and Collin Sexton scored 10 points off the bench.

Well, I don't think you can wave away this loss as just being part of a slump. As said earlier, it's one thing to lose a close game on the road against one of the better teams in the league. It's another where you're embarrassed in your own gym against a bottom-tier team.

The last few weeks have bubbled over to this result. There have been signs that the Thunder were not playing up to par. But you could've shooed those away. This result was a cold slap to the face from reality that there are things that need to be corrected. You can still believe OKC is the title favorite — heck, the season sample size says that. But perhaps the gap between them and the rest isn't as large as it was last season.

Let's look at Thunder player grades:

Shai Gilgeous-Alexander: D

Getting doubled at the midcourt logo, Gilgeous-Alexander threw an erratic pass that went out of bounds. The avoidable turnover has the OKC crowd groan in frustration. In a disturbing trend that continues to grow, the reigning NBA champion's offense has reached a point of crisis.

Gilgeous-Alexander finished with 21 points on 7-of-21 shooting, six assists and two rebounds. He shot 1-of-6 from 3 and went 6-of-6 on free throws. He also had a block.

How does Gilgeous-Alexander follow up an ultra-rare stinker? With an even worse one. This time, you can sound the alarms, as it was against a bottom-five defense. The same problems popped up for the reigning MVP. Too often, his jumper was off. On shots that he makes in his sleep, the ball would clank off the front of the rim.

As the Thunder quickly fell behind on the scoreboard, Gilgeous-Alexander couldn't drag them back into the game. The drives to the basket seldom happened. His jumper once again betrayed him. Everything that has made him into an NBA superstar and probable back-to-back MVP winner was gone.

I'm a little baffled, to be honest. I can't remember the last time Gilgeous-Alexander has had such an awful stretch for two straight games. There's zero evidence behind this, but something feels off. Again, it's one thing for this to happen on the road against one of the best defenses. It's another at home against a rebuilding squad.

Regardless, this has been repeated ad nauseam, but the Thunder need Gilgeous-Alexander to be at his tip-top shape to be the title favorite. Any slippage in that regard exposes OKC's entire infrastructure. You can complain about that team-building philosophy another day, but it brought home one NBA championship. He needs to return to being a superb-efficient walking 30-point scorer or none of this works out.

Chet Holmgren: C-minus

Getting sliced and diced, things were too easy for the Hornets. Granted, they have one of the more fun offenses in the league. But to completely carve up the league-best defense on its own floor had the entire NBA world shellshocked. One layer of that was Holmgren's nonexistent paint protection.

Holmgren finished with 15 points on 5-of-11 shooting, six rebounds and two assists. He shot 1-of-4 from 3 and went 4-of-6 on free throws.

Besides a few dunks, Holmgren was shut out as a scorer. The Hornets did an excellent job of making him comfortable. Even when he had enough space to go for a pull-up jumper, he couldn't drill them at the efficient clip that's turned him into a probable first-time All-Star player.

But that's the least concerning part of what happened. Even with league-best metrics, OKC's defense has remained inconsistent in the past few weeks. The opposition has made things look too easy on what's supposed to be the Thunder's bread and butter. A lack of creating turnovers is one thing. It's a whole different problem when they can't stop drives to the basket and leave shooters completely open from deep.

The rebounding woes also continued for the Thunder. You can definitely sense Isaiah Hartenstein's absence there. They were minus-19 in the rebound department as a team. Even when they had awesome first-shot defense, Charlotte would grab a demoralizing offensive board and sink a second-chance bucket.

Holmgren has never been a rebound machine. And without Hartenstein, you're starting to see that trickle down to the rest of the roster. It's just another example of a long list that — despite their record and net rating — the vibes have seemed off in OKC for a little bit.

Jalen Williams: D

Even when Williams worked his butt off to create a turnover, bad luck rained down on him. His foot was out of bounds when he landed on the sidelines. Instead of a fastbreak opportunity to hopefully jolt some energy, it was another frustrating moment lost within a sea of them.

Williams finished with 16 points on 6-of-14 shooting, four assists and two rebounds. He shot 1-of-3 from 3 and went 3-of-5 on free throws. He also had two steals.

Slicing through Charlotte's defense, Williams showed some promise as a drive-first scorer. When he went straight at the teeth of their defense, he usually converted at the rim. The problem was the rest of his game. The jumper continues to not be there. I know patience was required in that, but it's getting to a point where each passing game has caused more and more concern.

Four months should be plenty of time for Williams to regain his jumper. But with each badly missed jumper, the idea in the back of your mind that he won't figure things out by the playoffs only grows. We'll see how the rest of the regular season goes, but the Thunder don't look as daunting if he's not at his All-NBA form.

You're starting to see the opposition realize that. Updated scouting reports have gone all in on slowing down Gilgeous-Alexander — to the point it's more extreme now than ever before. And the Thunder don't have the one-on-one scorer who could make them pay for that strategy. At least not yet. Ideally, Williams will be that guy. Let's wait and see.

Ajay Mitchell: C

Needing someone to wake them up, Mitchell provided OKC a glimmer of hope. Alongside Gilgeous-Alexander, he went on a scoring run in his first stint on the floor. A couple of jumpers and drives to the basket were the type of self-creation the Thunder badly needed. Alas, it went to vain.

Mitchell finished with 11 points on 4-of-9 shooting, three rebounds and two assists. He shot 2-of-4 from 3 and went 1-of-2 on free throws.

Let's be clear here — Mitchell has been awesome. Among the entire roster, you could make a sound argument that he's made the largest leaps in his personal development. The stats back it up, too. He's already doubled his point total from last season. He's graduated from fringe two-way rookie to important rotation player.

But you can't keep relying on Mitchell this badly to get your offense flowing. It's a band-aid to a wound. The Thunder have survived with a streaky halfcourt offense before, but they usually had multiple guys who could go out and get their own bucket at a respectable level.

So far this season, you can only really say that about Mitchell among the non-Gilgeous-Alexander players. That's scary to think about. And this recent stretch of mediocrity has exposed that to the entire NBA world. It'll be interesting to see what type of fixes they draw up for it — whether internally or externally.