Thunder Need Home Stand as Away Woes Continue
Oklahoma City returns to the Paycom Center Wednesday after a five game road trip where the Thunder finished 2-3.
The Thunder dropped the final three games of the trip after winning the first two. The losing record on the road rings through the season as a whole in the first 27 games.
Oklahoma City has played 16 of its 27 games on the road to begin the season, and it hasn’t done any favors. The Thunder are just 5-11 on the road this season, a key factor to the teams 11-16 record.
The 11 road losses are second in the Western Conference to only the Rockets who are 3-13 on the road. Only the Pistons have more in the Eastern Conference also coming in at 3-13.
At home it’s a different story, OKC is 6-5 at the Paycom Center, including winning its last two home games. The Thunder played just six home games in November out of 16 games, and have not played a home game in the month of December.
However, the Thunder now play seven straight games at home, and eight of their last nine games in December are at home, which could bode well for the young team.
The main difference between the Thunder at home versus away, comes with scoring. The Thunder are scoring 115.8 points per game over all games. However, the average sits at 119 points per game at home opposed to just 113.6 points per away game.
The field goal percentage also dips from 46.9% at home to 45.5% at home.
It’s no surprise OKC’s young roster performs better in front of a home crowd opposed to a hostile one, which makes the next nine games of the month that much more vital.
If they continue to perform well at home, the home stand can bring them closer to .500, or even above with a winning streak of more than five.
Road games have not been kind to Oklahoma City, but with a home stand on the horizon, they could turn around their season heading into 2023.
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