Third Quarter Haunts OKC in Loss to Detroit

Several storylines took place Friday in the Paycom Center between Oklahoma City and Detroit.

The two teams are vying for the best draft picks possible, and Cade Cunningham’s made his return to Oklahoma.

Both teams are next to last in their respective conferences and are battling for lottery odds — with the playoffs well out of sight for both squads the Pistons won 110-101.

Oklahoma City entered the contest with just three active players on the bench. The first quarter, however, was competitive between two squads. Isaiah Roby was the leader for the Thunder in the first, scoring eight points. While the Pistons relied on Killian Hayes, who scored 12 in the quarter.

The 2021 Draft’s top pick Cunningham struggled making just 1-of-4 field goals in the quarter, but the Pistons used a late quarter run to lead 21-20 at the end of the first.

In the second quarter, the Pistons started to stretch their lead with the Thunder struggling to gain any offensive traction. Eventually the Thunder’s offense picked up to keep the Pistons from pulling away.

The corp of the Pistons lineup, Cunningham, Sadiq Bey and Isaiah Stewart, saw little playing time in the first half.

With those key pieces on the bench, Hayes and Jamorko Pickett carried the load for the Pistons. Hayes scored 16 points in the half with Pickett scoring 10.

For OKC, the offense was spread throughout all eight players. Jaylen Hoard finished the first half with five points and nine rebounds picking up the rebounding slack left from Aleksej Pokusevski’s absence. Lindy Waters led the Thunder with 13 points in the half.

When the buzzer sounded marking halftime the Pistons held a 55-52 lead over the Thunder.

The second half did not start well for OKC with Detroit going on a 21-4 run to blow the door open on their lead. The Thunder’s offense once again was struggling to connect on shots. Hayes continued to dominate the Thunder in the third quarter.

Hoard, despite OKC trailing continued to bring in rebounds finishing the third with 17.

In the third the Pistons outscored the Thunder, 28-14, to open the lead to 83-66 entering the fourth with a comfortable margin.

The fourth quarter saw OKC limit the Pistons lead with OKC’s offense finding some consistency. Theo Maledon exploded in the fourth to finish the game with 28 while OKC won the quarter 35-27.

Waters hit four 3-point shots for the fourth straight game. Hoard finished the game with an impressive double-double scoring 11 points and putting up a whopping 20 rebounds.

With the loss the Thunder are now one step closer to better lottery odds.

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