OKC Thunder player grades: Giddey, Dort lead Thunder to competitive loss against the Warriors, 110-98

The Oklahoma City Thunder fall to the Golden State Warriors, 110-98. But make no mistake about it — the final score does not do the Thunder’s effort justice in terms of how close and competitive they kept it for the first 46 minutes of the game.

With 2:36 left to go, a Josh Giddey layup capped off a personal six-point run for the rookie guard that cut the Warriors lead to just five points. Then the Warriors duo of Steph Curry and Klay Thompson went nuclear from three and went on a 9-2 run to finish the game. Just like old times.

But even with the loss, the Thunder deserve a ton of credit for making this game interesting for the full four quarters. The Warriors are a title contender and the Thunder are a rebuilding team missing four of its top six rotation players — which includes Shai Gilgeous-Alexander. So the fact that they were able to make the Warriors sweat this one out goes to show just how resilient this team is. Let’s take a look at player grades.

Josh Giddey: A-

While the shooting wasn’t there the entire game, Giddey’s person six-point run to cut the Warriors lead to just five points should excite Thunder fans and the team at just how good Giddey can be and already is. Overall, Giddey finished with 16 points on 6-of-16 shooting along with 11 rebounds and seven assists. Solid performance all around for the rookie guard and you can see why the Warriors wanted to draft him so badly last summer.

Another thing to note is that Thunder head coach Mark Daigneault mentioned after the game that he was going to start playing Giddey fewer minutes for the foreseeable future after playing just 30 minutes this game. Giddey entered the game averaging 31.4 minutes per game.

“That’s by design. That’s a collaborative conversation with him included,” said Daigneault. “We’re gonna keep him within that range, plus or minus.”

Giddey also added extra context by saying that this is the most games and minutes he’s played in a season and thinks that this is a smart approach to take to avoid burnout and injuries.

“”We spoke about it. Being smart. Just gotta keep my minutes in check. We’re both on the same page with that,” said Giddey.

Lu Dort: A

With a masked Lu Dort returning after a one-game absence due to a nasal fracture, he returned to his usual ways of leading the team both in points and shots with Gilgeous-Alexander out. In this case, he finished with 26 points on 9-of-21 shooting that included going 3-of-12 from beyond the arc.

Honestly was a little surprised Dort returned this soon from his injury and thought the team would give him some more time off. But give Dort credit for returning and not letting the mask impact his game.

The highlight of the night for Dort came in the fourth quarter. After five-straight Thunder possessions that all ended in misses and an offensive rebound, Dort decided to furiously end the final possession with a putback dunk that got national attention:

Darius Bazley: A+

Darius Bazley tied his season high in points with 20 this game along with eight rebounds. Bazley was just really good at not forcing any shots and taking what the defense gave him as he went 8-of-16 overall from the field.

Daigneault also praised Bazley for the job he did on Klay Thompson, who was held to just 15 points in the first 46 minutes of the game. Daigneault continues to praise Bazley for his defensive versatility of being able to take on assignments of all different sizes and shapes.

Kenrich Williams: A

Kenrich Williams had a great audition for a potential trade suitor this game as he finished with 12 points, five assists and seven rebounds. This was a typical Williams game as he did a little bit of everything and was very efficient with his shooting as he went 5-of-11 from the field and 2-of-6 from three.

With the NBA trade deadline this Thursday, it’s going to be interesting to see things unfold for Williams. Both Dort and Ty Jerome said that the team does not really talk about trade rumors in the locker room, and I believe them, but it’s hard –if not impossible– to ignore them.

Tre Mann: C

Tre Mann continues his recent shooting struggles as he finished the game with 11 points on 4-of-13 shooting. But as iterated multiple times, the team is glad to see Mann take 13 shots — even if it means poor shooting games like this one. Mann is too good of a scorer and space creator to not have those shots eventually go in.

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