OKC Thunder Needs a Heroic Performance From a Role Player

Oklahoma City suffered its worst loss of the Finals on Saturday night, failing to reach the 100-point mark and losing by 17. The craziest part? That 17-point margin wasn’t even close to indicative to how out of hand the game was. The Thunder simply fell apart, trailing by over 30 points throughout the game.

There’s plenty of blame to go around, but the main point is that the Thunder didn’t show up to play. In a game to clinch the franchise’s first ever championship, it wasn’t ideal at all. Shai Gilgeous-Alexander turned the ball over eight times, Chet Holmgren shot 2-of-9, and Oklahoma City’s starters combined to shoot 1-of-13 from 3-points throughout range.

All of those things are the complete opposite of a recipe towards winning basketball. The biggest takeaway, though, is that this Thunder team needs a role player, any role player at all, to step up. Over the course of the playoffs, a few players off the Thunder bench have had legendary performances, but on Thursday night they all fell short.

It feels like in every Thunder loss, the 3-points shots dry up and the role players shrink. In wins, there’s usually always a standout performance on the bench. Gilgeous-Alexander and Jalen Williams both need help, and Sunday night is the last opportunity for the bench to make an impact.

Alex Caruso played 22 minutes and didn’t register a single point. Aaron Wiggins tried to be a spark plug, but went just 1-of-4 from the floor. Cason Wallace struggled mightily, too. In a night where it seemed like everything was going wrong for this Thunder team, there were zero reinforcements providing help off the bench. On the flip side, TJ McConnell and Obi Toppin combined for 32 points and propelled Indiana’s massive run to pull away from the Thunder.

For the Thunder to win Game 7 and be forever immortalized, one of the team’s very capable role players will have to have a heroic performance. Whether it’s drilling triples or racking up steals and changing the game defensively, this Thunder team needs a standout performance from someone else outside of Gilgeous-Alexander and Williams.