Thunder hit with Skip Bayless truth bomb after brutal Game 3 loss

On Saturday afternoon, Shai Gilgeous-Alexander and the Oklahoma City Thunder had an opportunity to go up two games to one in their Western Conference semifinals series vs the Dallas Mavericks with a huge Game 3 in Dallas. Instead, the Thunder more or less folded down the stretch, relinquishing a double-digit second half lead and suffering through arguably Gilgeous-Alexander’s worst performance of the playoffs so far en route to a four-point loss.

The game was a disappointing result for a Thunder team looking to bounce back after having previously sustained their first loss of the playoffs overall on Thursday at home vs Dallas.

After the game, none other than sports media personality Skip Bayless of FS1 took to his account on X, the social media platform formerly referred to as Twitter, to hit the Thunder with a brutal truth bomb after their loss vs the Mavericks.

“So, so, so many blown opportunities for the Thunder. So many dumb mistakes. Hack-a-Lively burned them. Too much Kyrie. Too many missed 3s. OKC just didn’t WANT this one as badly. Surprising and extremely disappointing,” wrote Bayless.

The “Hack-a-Lively” reference would of course refer to the Thunder’s strategy of intentionally fouling Mavericks big man Dereck Lively in the fourth quarter, which culminated in the rookie nailing four straight free throws and rendering the strategy a failure.

Bayless also spoke on how at times it looked as though the Mavericks were simply outworking the younger Thunder squad.

“What is so disappointing and frustrating for me, as a Thunder believer, is that the Mavericks and playing so much harder than the Thunder,” wrote Bayless.

A frustrating result

For the first five games of the playoffs, it looked like the concerns about the Thunder’s lack of experience (their average roster age is around 24 years old) were not warranted, as the team blitzed the New Orleans Pelicans to the tune of a four-game sweep and blew out the Mavericks in Game 1 of their Western Conference semifinals series last Tuesday.

However, in the two games since, particularly on Saturday afternoon in Dallas, the Thunder started to show a bit of their inexperience, as the team committed several costly turnovers, including a backbreaking mistake in which backup shooting guard Isaiah Joe threw a pass right to Luka Doncic on what would have been an easy fast break opportunity for Oklahoma City.

Overall, the Thunder seemed to more or less abandon their offense down the stretch and revert to Gilgeous-Alexander isolation situations, which can work during the regular season to close out games but isn’t as effective against a talented defensive team who has the time and resources to gameplan for such a scenario.

At times, it also looked like the Thunder were simply out-manned from a talent perspective against the Mavericks, as players like Jaylin Williams, Josh Giddey, and Cason Wallace aren’t necessarily capable of making the same plays as certain players on the Mavericks’ supporting cast.

In any case, the Thunder will have a chance to tie things up at two games apiece on Monday evening, once again in Dallas.