Spurs Hand Thunder Fourth Straight Loss, Beat Thunder 116-102
The Oklahoma City Thunder (38-24) were given the business on Saturday night in San Antonio, as LaMarcus Aldridge dropped 27 points and 10 rebounds to lead the Spurs (35-29) to the 116-102 final score. San Antonio took the lead at the 8:36 mark of the first quarter and never trailed again, holding the Paul George-less Thunder to 45.5 percent shooting and just 7-of-29 (24%) from long range. The Spurs led by as many as 19 in the contest, handing OKC their fourth straight loss in convincing fashion. Russell Westbrook paced OKC with 19 points (7/17 FG, 1/5 3P), nine rebounds, and eight assists. He was joined in double-figures by Dennis Schroder (18), Steven Adams (17), Raymond Felton (13), Jerami Grant (12), and Markieff Morris (10).
Stats
| Team | FG% | 3P% | FT% | REB | OREB | AST | STL | BLK | TO |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| OKC | 45.5 | 24.1 | 62.5 | 45 | 11 | 17 | 7 | 2 | 13 |
| SAS | 49.5 | 42.1 | 72 | 49 | 11 | 15 | 8 | 6 | 11 |
| Team | PITP | FBPS | Bench | Biggest Lead |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| OKC | 56 | 9 | 29 | 1 |
| SAS | 44 | 12 | 36 | 19 |
Notebook
Starting Five. Westbrook, Ferg, Schroder, Grant, & Adams drew the start for Billy Donovan, and, well, it didn’t go very well. The group combined to shoot 5-of-22 from long range and was outscored by 16 points in just under 14 minutes on the floor as a unit.
Russ. 19-9-8 for Russell Westbrook on 7-of-17 shooting, 1-of-5 from downtown. It wasn’t a horrific night from the floor, but he turned the ball over seven times and didn’t put forth the type of performance that leads to victory when Paul George is unavailable. Westbrook was just 1-of-4 in the second half.
Spurs Scoring. Aldridge led the way with 27 points and he was joined in double-figures by Rudy Gay (22), DeMar DeRozan (18), Bryn Forbes (16), and Derrick White (14). They shot just under 50 percent as a team and went 8-of-19 from long range.
Standings. With the loss, the Thunder have moved back into a fourth place tie with the Trail Blazers in the Western Conference playoff race. Granted, OKC owns the tie-breaker there. That being said, the Thunder need to take care of business against the Grizzlies tomorrow at the ‘Peake.
