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Thunder vs Magic, final score: OKC offers no answers, trounced by Orlando 121-108

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“Harmony makes small things grow. Lack of it makes big things decay.” - Gaius Sallustius Crispus 

NBA: Oklahoma City Thunder at Orlando Magic Kim Klement-USA TODAY Sports

The Thunder dropped their 3rd game in a row, falling to the Orlando Magic 121-108. Here is all you really need to know — a game (and 3 days off) after losing to a lottery team whose best player is 137 years old, the Thunder looked far worse than a team who had just come off a 9 game losing streak, and the best player on the court was a 22 year old who came within a bucket of setting his personal career high on the night.

If I were to ask you, what do the Thunder do well at this point, what would you say?

Here is what I am left with. If you take OKC right now, and you hide all the names on the jerseys, what do you see? Because here is what I see - a bottom-5 lottery-bound team that looks like it is playing for a paycheck and little else. Their sense of purpose and commitment is spiraling to the point where they can barely outplay a lottery team even for a single quarter.

The Magic — again, a team that lost 9 straight games, 6 of them by double-digits — shot nearly 60% as a team for the entire duration, compared to the Thunder, who couldn’t even crack 40% against a bottom-5 defensive team that gives up, on average, 46% shooting by its opponents.

This is getting so bad that it could lead a man to stop drinking and go get serious about life.

We are steps...maybe not one step or two steps, but steps...away from shifting our view toward the Thunder from cautious optimism to morbid curiosity as the losses mount. Kind of like the Knicks over the past few years. Oh, snap.

Next game: Friday night vs the Timberwolves @ 8PM EST.