Despite the lack of Kevin Durant and Kelly Irving, led only by James Harden single-handedly, the Nets' home game against the Thunder, who are second-to-last in the West, is considered a one-sided game. The suspense of the final victory and defeat was indeed lost early, but it was the Thunder that impressed people, winning the Nets by 21 points on the road, which can be said to have exploded a huge cold goal.
The Thunder can be said to be a national soldier, relying on the attack to blow up the Nets at home, among which the Thunder's three-headed monsters Shay Gilgers Alexander, Josh Gidy and Luganz Dort are in amazing shape, they jointly cut 79 points, 14 rebounds and 18 assists, and finally staged a weak victory on the road, it seems that as long as the Thunder go all out to correct the attitude, it is not as good as the record is reflected in the bully.
Shay Kyrgyz-Alexander is undoubtedly the new nucleus of this Thunder team, and we all remember that before the start of the 19-20 season, the Thunder were looked down upon by the media, and they predicted that this team had only a 0.2% chance of making the playoffs. As a result, the Thunder's three armies used their lives, ranking fifth in the West in the regular season, of course, among the main rotation players of the Thunder, only Alexander is still in Russia. The Thunder are very optimistic about him, before the start of this season, the management has renewed his 5-year maximum salary contract, Alexander is also very competitive, so far this season he has averaged 22.5 points, 4.8 rebounds, 5.3 assists, 0.9 steals and 0.8 blocks, and his skills are very comprehensive.
Like Alexander, his backcourt partner Josh Gidey is an all-around player. At last year's draft, the Thunder came under tremendous pressure to get "Australian magician" Josh Gidey with the No. 6 pick in their hands. Although it is still far from the All-Star players and the outside shooting ability is more average, Josh Gidey can help the team in many ways, averaging 11.5 points, 7.3 rebounds and 6.4 assists so far this season, which is no wonder why the Thunder can always be a blockbuster when Alexander and Gidy are both smooth.
Dolt is known as Harden's nemesis, which is really not a waste, hit 6 three-pointers in this game, and sure enough, he saw Harden and scored 27 points. In fact, Dort was the league's top defensive sapper before, but this season he has taken on a heavy responsibility in terms of offense, in addition to the outside three points are more accurate, sometimes can also carry the ball to attack. So so far this season, Dort has averaged 16.6 points, 4 rebounds and 1.7 assists per game, and the Thunder can even continue to use him at a low price in the next two years, which is really profitable.
Don't look at the Thunder are now 14 wins and 27 losses, only in the second to last place in the West, but they have not played the role of spoilers. The first two wins of the Thunder this season were won by the Lakers, and at that time, the Purple and Gold Legion was simply the object of ridicule by the whole network. But it turns out that it is not only the Lakers who have suffered, the Thunder have beaten the Los Angeles Clippers, Memphis Grizzlies and Denver Nuggets this season, and now the Nets have joined the list. Knowing that the Clippers and Nuggets are both teams with a good chance of reaching the playoffs, the Grizzlies and Nets simply rank third in their respective divisions. That's not even counting the Toronto Raptors and New York Knicks, who are not too high in the rankings but also have the opportunity to qualify for the Eastern Conference playoffs. In fact, since entering 2022, the spirit of the Thunder is also a new look, don't look at their 7 games 2 wins and 5 losses, but in addition to the home game against the Timberwolves, the other losses are single digits, including the Nuggets and against the Wizards, the Thunder only lost 4 points.
For the current Thunder, they not only have sufficient salary space and a lot of draft picks, but also several veterans in the Thunder team, if the team really decides to send away, in fact, can also get some returns. Obviously, the Thunder theoretically have a bright future, although the delay in the championship, but over the years as a strong team in the West, the ability of the Thunder management is still unquestionable. But if you want to quickly return to the playoffs or even the championship race, the Thunder definitely have at least two points to do. First of all, compared with the abundant manpower on the outside, the Thunder lack reliable big men, which is also their most obvious shortcoming at present. Derek Favors and Mike Muscala are clearly not on the way forward, while Robinson Earl and Pokushevsky are fine as regular rotations, but they are reluctant as the main force. So whether it's a future draft, a free-market signing, or a partnership with other teams, the Thunder have to upgrade their interior strength first.
In addition, as long as the swing is bad for a few years, many teams can have good potential and talent, the key is that when there are too many rookie players, how should the management and coaching staff choose, and when negotiating a contract extension, what kind of contract should be issued to them. The Thunder now have a lot of salary space, and the team as a whole is very young, but when it comes to the need to produce results in a few years, the management has to pay special attention and weigh it again and again.