OKC turns cold down stretch against Wizards
Shai Gilgeous-Alexander hit a stepback jump shot to tie the game 83-83 with 4:27 to go, but the Wizards blitzed the Thunder with a 14-2 run to end the game Friday night.
“Us being a new team, we still gotta figure out how to win games together ,” Gilgeous-Alexander said after a 97-85 loss in the Thunder's home opener. “In those last three or four minutes of basketball games is when it gets tough. You see the teams that have been together longer know what they're doing, know exactly what plays they're running, things like that.”
The Thunder turned the ball over three times and made two baskets in the final 4:30.
Thomas Bryant's big game
The Wizards are a relatively unknown bunch outside of their star, Bradley Beal.
But Thomas Bryant introduced himself to Thunder fans Friday night.
The third-year center from Indiana showed off a revamped offensive game. Bryant was Washington's leading scorer with 21 points. He was 9-of-16 from the floor and 3-of-7 from behind the 3-point line. He added 11 rebounds.
His counter part, Steven Adams, struggled offensively with seven points on nine shots. Adams is 4-for-17 from the field through the first two games.
“I'm not really worried about Steven,” Thunder coach Billy Donovan said. “He'll be fine.”
Defending Bradley Beal
Terrance Ferguson is still looking for his first basket of the season, but he did a masterful job defending Beal.
Beal was 7-of-22 from the floor and 3-of-11 from three.
Be al, who played under Donovan at Florida, is a career 38 percent 3-point shooter.
Participation points
Twelve of the 13 Thunder players who suited up logged meaningful minutes. All played in the first half.
Donovan is still sorting out his rotation, and there are plenty of spots available.
Hamidou Diallo was OKC's first man off the bench. Dennis Schroder received the sixth man honor Wednesday night.
Justin Patton was the only Thunder player who didn't see action.
Opening night crowd
The post-Russell Westbrook era at Chesapeake Energy Arena began with a lively crowd in the fourth quarter. It reached its loudest point when Gilgeous-Alexander tied the game at 83-83 with just under five minutes to go.
It was a sellout crowd of 18,203.
Free-throw woes
OKC shot 1 4 of 22 ( 63.6 percent) from the freethrow line two nights after a 21-for-31 (67.7 percent) foulshooting performance in the season opener.
Chris Paul uncharacteristically missed all three of his freethrow attempts.
Another career-high
Gilgeous-Alexander set his career high Wednesday night with 26 points. He bettered that two nights later with 28 points, seven rebounds and four assists against the Wizards.
Injury update
Andre Roberson missed the Thunder's home opener.
The 6-foot-7 guard hasn't played a competitive game since rupturing his left patellar tendon in January 2018.
Donovan said there i s no timeline for his return.
“He did more contact yesterday in practice, which was good,” Donovan said Friday night. “Again, he's progressing and getting better.”