Thunder Drop Sixth Consecutive as Hornets Make 20 Triples

A game which started bright for the Thunder quickly went awry.

Oklahoma City, a team still reeling with injuries and depth, scored an explosive 41 points in the first quarter and held the Hornets to just 29. However, things would quickly shift toward the Hornets favor in the second.

Ending with the Hornets winning 134-116 Monday night.

The second quarter saw the Hornets outscore OKC 36-23. The Thunder lead was gone, and wouldn’t come back.

At the half the Hornets were leading 65-64, after a Shai Gilgeous-Alexander tip in. Darius Bazley led first half scorers with 17 points. Terry Rozier and Gilgeous-Alexander trailed just behind with 16 apiece.

In the second half, the lack of depth and how hot the Hornets got put the game away. The Hornets were explosive from 3-point range knocking down 20-of-25 attempts, a hard number to overcome. LaMelo Ball and Miles Bridges led the Hornets from beyond the arc with five made attempts each.

Charlotte outscored OKC by 10 in the third quarter expanding the lead to 11 and they didn’t look back.

Lindy Waters had been hot for the Thunder scoring career highs in back-to-back games, but the NBA newcomer was ice cold Monday. The Thunder needed him to be efficient from 3-point range, but Monday he missed all six of his attempts.

The fourth quarter was much of the same from the Hornets, an explosive offense leading to a big loss for OKC, their sixth straight. Over that span the Thunder’s lowest margin of defeat had been 13.

The Thunder had some impressive individual performances including Gilgeous-Alexander, who once again eclipsed the 30-point mark — a seemingly normal occurrence. His final tally of 32 points, eight rebounds and five assists led OKC performers.

Bazley added 25 on 10-of-18 shooting.

However, those two performances couldn’t keep up with Rozier, Ball and Bridges. Rozier scored 30 points, Ball added 21 and Bridges nearly reached 30 with 27 on the night.

The Thunder did win the rebounding margin 49-37 and will be back in action Wednesday in San Antonio.

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