Due to winning too many games for the first two-thirds of the regular season, the Oklahoma City Thunder have put itself in a corner in terms of lottery odds and essentially need to lose these final two games in Los Angeles in order to keep its fourth-best odds spot. The team was able to complete half of that goal with a 120-101 loss to the Los Angeles Lakers who were missing LeBron James, Anthony Davis and Russell Westbrook.
It looked pretty uncertain if the Thunder were going to be able to lose this game as both teams fought back and forth for the first three quarters of the game. Ultimately, the backup Lakers were able to pull away in the fourth quarter and win by 19 points.
Much like the last few games, Thunder head coach Mark Daigneault ran a short rotation of essentially just six players with just five of them playing over 15 minutes. Jaylen Hoard continues to impress and really squeezing every drop of juice out of his current 10-day deal that expires after the regular season ends. Hoard isn’t the only getting his money’s worth though as the Thunder played five of the six players who touched the floor this game at least 43 minutes with four of those five players being 10-day deal guys. Let’s take a look at player grades.
Jaylen Hoard: A+
As just mentioned, Hoard continues to make the most out of his 10-day stay with the Thunder as he finished with a career-high 27 points and 17 rebounds in 46 minutes. This is his third consecutive game of over 20 points and has also recorded 17-plus rebounds in three of his six games this season.
Not sure just how much can be taken away from these games over the last couple of weeks, but Hoard has been the Thunder’s best player recently. His play has definitely increased his chances of receiving a two-way spot to start next season — whether it’s with the Thunder or another NBA team.
Georgios Kalaitzakis: A+
Just like Hoard, Georgios Kalaitzakis has really played well during his short tenure with the Thunder with the…