Thunder get by Magic in ugly game, 102-94

The night opened up with a revealing of the new City Edition uniforms that are going to be worn by the players in January. Tonight the jerseys were handed out to family members of the victims of the Oklahoma City Bombing. It will be 25 years this coming April. I liked the look of the jerseys, in fact I think they are the best edition of any jersey that OKC is going to roll out this season.

During the unveiling and handing over of the jerseys pregame a lot of Thunder players moved around from where they were to get a better look of the festivities.

There was also a basketball game tonight against the Orlando Magic. The game did not live up to the beauty of the pregame ceremony. The Thunder engaged in a defensive slugfest and outlasted the Magic, 102-94. The Thunder have now won consecutive games for the first time this season.

The Thunder came out with some hot shooting from pretty much everyone. Danilo Gallinari, Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, Chris Paul and Darius Bazley all hit three pointers in the first six minutes of the game.

The Thunder also created five turnovers and scored eight points off of those to jump out to a 31-26 score at the end of the first quarter.

Nerlens Noel to was everywhere on both ends of the floor. He didn’t pick up a block in the first but he disrupted a lot of shots and passes. Bazley also caused a ton of havoc. It’ll be amazing when he develops, that dude is a star waiting to happen.

The second quarter opened with the Magic clawing back and taking a lead on a three from Mo Bamba. I didn’t realize Bamba had that type of range.

Steven Adams came back into the game and the offense began to be pointed through him and racked up seven points in a hurry. He also had an amazing block that led to a nice drive and finish by Hamidou Diallo. Diallo then stared down Markelle Fultz for some reason. I didn’t see anything on the drive that was dirty from Fultz’s end, but you have to love the fire of Diallo. Let that number one over pick know what’s up.

Shai led the Thunder with 17 points at the half as they held a 58-53. Gallinari was the only other member of the Thunder in double-digits with 10 points.

Thunder had some turnover and foul issues in the half. They had nine turnovers and allowed the Magic to shoot 15 free throws.

The game slowed down quite a bit in the third quarter. The Thunder tried to run away with it early, but the Magic put the breaks on. Their methodical offense took the air out of the ball and out of the building. The Magic worked their way into the bonus with almost six and a half minutes left in the third. Every possession they whipped it around the top and then set screens and attacked the paint.

Behind Aaron Gordon the Magic really picked up the physicality in the quarter. Lots of bumping and shoving. The refs were letting it go on both ends.

In the third the Magic never made baskets in consecutive possessions and somehow cut the Thunder lead by three.

The fourth quarter continued to devolve into an ugly game. Both teams were not crisp and a lot of shots were missed. It was quite hard to watch, honestly.

The Thunder did manage to put some semblance of some offense together and pushed the game out of reach on a 9-2 run. The Magic don’t have the offensive firepower to come back.

This was the 7th time this season the Magic were held under a hundred and not once made baskets on back to back possessions.

Random Thoughts

• The NBA needs to extend halftime. There is no one in the seats when the second half starts. It doesn’t matter what building it is the stands are empty right after halftime.
• Steven Adams would make an excellent blocking tight end in the NFL. He shouldn’t ever be asked to run
• I’m not sure Fultz is a starter in the NBA yet.
• Aaron Gordon got some good distance on the Steven Adams toss for the evening.
• Michael Cage is not good at the color commentary.
• The NBA challenge is ridiculous and needs to be redone and scrapped all together.
• Fisher jinxed Gallo on the fourth quarter free throws. Gallinari had been 23-23 until the play-by-play man said something.
• First time the Thunder won consecutive games this.

Next Up

The Thunder travel to San Antonio to take on the Spurs Thursday night. Game time is 7:30 and the channel is FSOK.