Thunder Fail to Reach .500 For Sixth Time This Season

The Oklahoma City Thunder's Monday evening loss to the New Orleans Pelicans, who were without superstar Zion Williamson and key role player CJ McCollum, dropped the team's record to 27-29 on the season. OKC sat in 10th place in the West just a few days ago, but have dropped two spots after failing to reach .500 once again.

The youngest team in the NBA, the Thunder have had trouble getting over the hill to a positive record this season, failing to do so six times already. Oklahoma City has not had a winning record since it was 4-3 all the way back in early November.

Since then, the Thunder have had six opportunities to get back to the .500 mark, but have fallen by single digits in five of six contests.

On Nov. 7, OKC was 4-5 heading into a game against the youthful Detroit Pistons. The team from the Motor City controlled the whole matchup, going on to win 112-103.

In the loss, all-star guard Shai Gilgeous-Alexander showcased one of his patented all-around performances, pitching in 33 points, seven rebounds, five assists, four blocks and one steal. Over three months later, the Pistons have the worst record in the Eastern Conference at 15-43.

A week later, Oklahoma City was defeated 126-122 by the Boston Celtics to drop the Thunder's record to 6-8. Gilgeous-Alexander scored 37 points and dished out eight assists while Aleksej Pokusevski recorded an impressive double-double, but a 6-for-17 shooting night from Josh Giddey that saw the second-year guard commit seven turnovers ended up costing the OKC the game.

Fast forward four days, and Oklahoma City found itself in position to reach .500 once again, this time against the Memphis Grizzlies. Memphis gave Gilgeous-Alexander trouble all night, holding the fifth-year guard to only 15 points on 6-of-18 from the field.

The Grizzlies topped the Thunder 121-110 with all-star big man Jaren Jackson Jr. scoring a game-high 25 points.

A few months would pass until OKC was back within reach of an even split in the win and loss columns, but on Jan. 20, Oklahoma City traveled to Sacramento to take on the Kings. The Thunder gave a good fight to the third place team in the Western Conference, but fell 118-113 despite 37 points, seven assists, two steals and zero turnovers from Gilgeous-Alexander.

After beating Denver in the squad's next contest, the Thunder had another chance to reach .500 against the Atlanta Hawks. OKC lost by five once again behind 33 points and 11 assists from Oklahoma native Trae Young.

Gilgeous-Alexander stuffed the stat sheet as well, tallying 36 points, seven rebounds, five assists, two steals and two blocks. Oklahoma City took down the Cleveland Cavaliers a few days later to push the team's record to 24-25 on the season.

In the Thunder's next game, however, the defending NBA Champion Golden State Warriors defeated OKC 128-120. All-Star starter Steph Curry knocked down eight triples en route to a 38-point performance to combat a 31-point outing from Gilgeous-Alexander.

Monday evening's loss to the Pelicans adds another game to the list of opportunities the Thunder have missed this season. For such a young team, this phenomenon is understandable, but Oklahoma City will have to start winning some of these matchups to compete for the postseason this year.

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