Thunder In Review: Injury Bug Sweeps Bricktown, Josh Giddey Makes History
The effects of COVID-19 have been evident for the last two years. This NBA season, the virus took its toll – leaving all 30 franchises in improv mode.
Throughout the week on SI Thunder, we’ll be breaking down the twists and turns, wins and losses, and emerging storylines throughout the Oklahoma City Thunder 2021-22 campaign.
Today, the league’s call-up craze comes to the table, paving the way for multiple stories to start the calendar year.
After watching Devonte’ Graham drain a 61-foot game-winner, the Thunder were itching for a bounceback game. In what became a major game in hindsight, the Los Angeles Clippers appeared on the schedule – and Shai Gilgeous-Alexander had revenge on his mind.
In a game dominated by lead changes, the Thunder found themselves down four points with 17 seconds to go. Enter the realm of Gilgeous-Alexander. In the closing moments, the 23-year-old charged for a layup to cut the game to two. Following a Clippers miss, Shai caught the ball at the logo, sidestepped, and left the Clippers in shambles at the horn.
Revenge alley continued into the next game, facing the Memphis Grizzlies, who thrashed them by 73 points two weeks prior. Now armed with SGA, the Thunder rose in clutch time for a three-point win. Next up, Oklahoma City ousted the Denver Nuggets by 14 points, driven by an SGA triple-double and a 17-point outing from Darius Bazley.
For Bazley, his 17 points pushed a breakthrough. After two months of shaky play, the forward was relegated to the bench – this game included.
Oklahoma City followed this up with a loss versus the Suns and a revenge victory against the Pelicans.
Then, the injury bug hit Bricktown.
After a league-wide COVID breakout to open December, there was an outcry to pause the season in its entirety. For the Thunder, they stood tall COVID-free for most of the month. But, Christmas called for some rotational coal – and some granted wishes for a quartet of G League members.
With multiple players in Health-and-Safety Protocols, Sam Presti showed his developmental card to close 2021, attempting to call up Blue players Melvin Frazier Jr. and Zavier Simpson for 10-day deals. But even they had the virus. Instead, Presti tacked on four new members: Rob Edwards, Jaylen Hoard, Scotty Hopson, and Olivier Sarr.
The rotational ripple was evident, moving into the new year with three consecutive losses. Those struggles snowballed, piling into an eight-game losing streak. However, history headlined the spurt.
In the first game of 2022, fans assigned Josh Giddey a New Year's Resolution: to net a triple-double. He did so in the first game of the year. In a match against the Dallas Mavericks, Giddey became the youngest player in NBA history to record a triple-double, ending the night with 17 points, 13 rebounds, and 14 assists in a nine-point loss.
Two weeks into 2022, the Thunder always came close, but no cigar in the box score. In Brooklyn, things changed. In a battle versus James Harden, SGA and Lu Dort combined for 60 points to clock a 21-point game.
Oklahoma City hit yet another wall after their streak snapped, losing five-consecutive games before a 111-110 heartbreaker against the Chicago Bulls moved them to 14-33 on the year.
A total of 21 players suited up for the Thunder in this Winter-stint, with Gabriel Deck returning to Real Madrid after mutual disconnect on both sides.
Shai Gilgeous-Alexander rallied the roster averaging 24.7 points and 6.4 rebounds in the 19 games of play. As for the other guard spot, Josh Giddey bolstered his historic feat by averaging 12.6 points, 8.4 rebounds, and 6.6 assists.
Aaron Wiggins became the biggest story moving into 2022 as the second-round pick was playing above his two-way deal logging 15.6 points in the last five games of the calendar year.
Due to Health-and-Safety Protocols, the Thunder were prepared for adversity. However, their next slate of games called for a dilemma that was outside of the game plan.
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