Game 11 Recap: Pacers (7-4) def. Thunder (4-7) 111-85

Official Box Score

If the Thunder get blown out by 26 points to the TJ Warren led Indiana Pacers, will anyone read the game recap? I hope so, because I’m writing one regardless.

This is the kind of game that many fans expected the Thunder to play on a regular basis this season. The fact that the first time this team wasn’t competitive was 11 games in is a pleasantly surprisingly feat.

These kinds of games happen to most teams throughout the season, and there isn’t much to say about them other than OKC couldn’t make any shots and Indiana couldn’t miss any shots. Sure, other factors came into play, but that was the long and short of it. Simple and boring, but true. You just move on.

So instead of focusing on a down game from the current version of Thunder U, let’s take a moment to pour one out for a past member:

• Domantas Sabonis played his rookie season in Oklahoma City before being packaged with Victor Oladipo in the Paul George trade. And he has grown into an excellent player. Domas scored 18 points and grabbed 16 rebounds against his former team tonight.
• Of all the players the Thunder have lost over the years, the one player that would’ve been really nice to have around for the rebuild would’ve been Sabonis. Presti knew he was going to be a stud, and he has absolutely become one. Just like the Clippers did not want to trade away SGA in the Paul George trade, the Thunder did not want to trade away Sabonis in a Paul George trade. That’s how highly both franchises thought of the two players coming off their rookies seasons.
• In hindsight, the trade is still a no brainer win for OKC and the main reason why the Thunder is set up so well for the future. The point being, don’t get too depressed when you see Baby Sabonis lighting it up on the court. If not for that trade, OKC doesn’t have SGA, Gallo, or a thousand first round picks.
• Like most things this season, the future is far more important than the past or even the present. Which is good when the present is a 26 point loss to the TJ Warren led Pacers.
• Adams vs Sabonis: Thunder center present/maybe not future vs Thunder center past/should’ve been future.
• With no Terrance Ferguson tonight, the Thunder played a lineup of Schroder-Nader-Burton-Bazley-Noel. That team would absolutely dominate the G League.
• I wrote the above note before I knew that lineup was going to be the Thunder’s most used lineup of the night. Things have either gone really great or really bad if that happens.
• Dennis Schroder has to be leading the league in saving balls from going out of bounds and looking really cool while doing it.
• Eye test stats: Adams 6 foot flip shots: 100% tonight. Every other shot: 0% tonight.
• Reminder that the Pacers got TJ Warren for free. No, worse.They got a first round pick for the trouble of taking him. He scored 23 points on 10-14 shooting tonight. Good job, Suns.
• Nader has never seen a shot he doesn’t like. Maybe he needs contacts.
• I tried watching a Thunder game, and it kept getting interrupted by a missed layup contest between Burton and Nader.
• If not for Gallo’s scoring from the free throw line and Burton’s late game 3 ball falling, the Thunder would’ve scored 68 points.
• Maybe one positive will come out of this Thunder game and Burton will have passed Nader on the “play if Ferguson or Diallo are out” pecking order.
• This Thunder team has been infused with a lot of youth. Young players always play better at home than on the road. Related note: OKC is now 4-3 at home and 0-4 on the road.
• The 76ers game on Friday night just won’t carry the same weight without the Russ vs Embiid rivalry. Chris Paul needs to start some social media beef with Embiid over the next couple days. Wait, CP3 doesn’t do beef anymore.