OKC Thunder Can’t Overcome Lack of 3-Point Shooting In Third Clash With Spurs

The Oklahoma City Thunder, who couldn’t find a way to lose just a couple of weeks ago, have now lost to San Antonio for the third time in a row. 

In the teams’ previous two bouts, it seemed like San Antonio just had more aggression, and it showed in the stat sheet. However, on Thursday night, OKC won the turnover battle, out-rebounded the Spurs on the offensive glass and even had more blocks. Still, they fell short, and this time it had to do with the Thunder’s offensive production. 

Oklahoma City was held to just 102 points, well below its usual average of 121.9. This was a team-wide issue as Shai Gilgeous-Alexander had his lowest scoring performance of the year with just 22 points. Gilgeous-Alexander and the Thunder’s troubles seemed to stim for the same place, a lack of three-point shooting. 

OKC’s three-point percentage has continued to rise throughout the year, as before Thursday’s game, the Thunder had the fifth-best percentage in the league with 37.3% shooting. However, Oklahoma City’s Christmas Day performance will be one they want to forget soon, as they shot 25% from beyond the arc, making only 11 of 44 attempts. 

With a dominating presence in the paint like Victor Wembanyama, OKC couldn’t rely on scoring abundantly in the paint. Unfortunately, nobody on the Oklahoma City squad could seem to find a consistent rhythm from beyond the three-point line. 

Gilgeous-Alexander hit only one of six shots from three, followed by Lu Dort, who only made two of seven. Alex Caruso couldn’t seem to find the mark either, as the tenured guard hit only two shots from beyond the arc, even after 12 attempts. 

The lack of made three-point shots killed the Thunder down the stretch of the game, as San Antonio hit the same amount of threes in 15 fewer attempts. This allowed the Spurs to dominate the paint and not be left behind with their own lack of threes made. 

It does give OKC hope that the Spurs aren’t necessarily its kryptonite. The Thunder bested the Spurs in almost every other category, but just couldn’t hit a couple of big shots as the game stretched on. 

With the Spurs being on the Thunder’s schedule two more times this season, OKC will have more opportunities to prove that they can deal with the Spurs like any other team. If the Thunder have an offensive performance like they usually do and don’t replicate Thursday night, we could see a completely different outcome.