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Player grades: SGA has career night at charity stripe in 123-102 loss to Grizzlies

Clemente Almanza
·4 min read

It seems like the Oklahoma City Thunder has a bugaboo in FedExForum.

With both teams entering Wednesday on three-game winning streaks, the Thunder had a chance to make a statement win against their young colleagues in the Memphis Grizzlies.

Instead, like it’s been the case for the last few trips to Memphis, the Thunder were never really able to gain control of the game. In the end, the Thunder worsened their record at Memphis to 1-4 since the 2020-21 season.

Despite the general feel of the game being a blowout loss, the scoreboard surprisingly did not reflect this until the fourth quarter. To the Thunder’s credit, they were able to keep it interesting for the first three quarters despite offensive dulls.

Three-point shooting and free throws were the main reasons as to why that was the case. The Thunder shot 20-of-54 (37 percent) on two-pointers. From. outside, that number was 14-of-38 (36.8 percent) from three. At the free-throw line, the Thunder went 20-of-23 (87 percent). 

Shai Gilgeous-Alexander was responsible for most of the trips as he went 17-of-19 from the free-throw line — both career marks.

The Thunder were not able to get anything going with their shorthanded roster that was missing Lu Dort, Kenrich Williams and Ousmane Dieng.

Let’s take a look at Thunder player grades from this 21-point loss.

Shai Gilgeous-Alexander: A-

Credit: Petre Thomas-USA TODAY Sports

This is a tough one to grade Shai Gilgeous-Alexander.

On one hand, he did score 26 points despite receiving more defensive attention than usual due to the number of players out. On the other hand, it came on poor 4-of-14 shooting and five turnovers.

Gilgeous-Alexander did most of his work during game stoppages, as he went 17-of-19 from the free-throw line. Both were career highs in makes and attempts.

To the Grizzlies’ credit, they did a good job at limiting Gilgeous-Alexander’s trips in the middle quarter, where he went 5-of-5 from the free-throw line. After going 9-of-10 in the opening 12 minutes, Gilgeous-Alexander did not receive as friendly of a whistle until the game was essentially decided in the fourth quarter.

Eugene Omoruyi: B

(Photo by Justin Ford/Getty Images)

The first substitution of the game for the Thunder was a unique one as Eugene Omoruyi saw his first playing time since Nov. 23 in the first quarter.

With the Thunder shorthanded in wings, the two-way player was called upon to provide quality minutes.

In 24 minutes, Omoruyi had a solid showing as he finished with 11 points on 5-of-11 shooting, five rebounds and three steals. When matched up against Steven Adams, Omoruyi stood his ground.

Considering how much time passed between NBA appearances, Omoruyi was as productive as one could realistic hope.

Josh Giddey: C-

Credit: Petre Thomas-USA TODAY Sports

While the three-point shot was encouraging for Josh Giddey as he went 2-of-3 from outside, the rest of his night was not so positive.

In 27 minutes, Giddey finished with 10 points on 4-of-13 shooting, 10 rebounds and four assists. Giddey was also a negative-23 — the worst plus-minus of the game.

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Story originally appeared on Thunder Wire