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Tim MacMahon, ESPN Staff Writer
LAS VEGAS — The only good thing about the Oklahoma City Thunder‘s offensive performance in Tuesday’s NBA Cup final is that it doesn’t count toward regular-season statistics.
The Thunder had their worst offensive outing of the season in a 97-81 loss to the Milwaukee Bucks, hitting what would be season lows in points, field goal percentage (33.7%) and 3-point percentage (15.6%).
“I never look at it as like, we just missed shots,” Thunder coach Mark Daigneault said. “I could have done a better job shaking us free at different times in that game, but we can learn from it.”
Oklahoma City superstar Shai Gilgeous-Alexander had an uncharacteristically inefficient 21-point performance. He was 8-of-24 from the field, including 3-of-12 when Milwaukee’s Andre Jackson Jr. was the primary defender, according to ESPN Research tracking.
“He did a good job tonight, but I don’t think he was the reason for my type of night,” said Gilgeous-Alexander, who is averaging 30.3 points on 51.0% shooting this season. “The way I felt tonight, I still got to my spots. I just didn’t make anything. Things like that happen. Nights like that happen. Yeah, he played hard, was aggressive. Nothing I haven’t seen before. I felt like it was me missing more so.”
Gilgeous-Alexander went 2-of-9 from 3-point range. He was the only Oklahoma City player to make multiple 3s, as the Thunder shot 5-of-32 from long distance.
“It’s hard to win that way,” said Thunder center Isaiah Hartenstein, who scored 14 of his 16 points in the first half. “You just sometimes have those nights.”
According to Second Spectrum tracking, the Thunder had an expected 3-point percentage of 34.9% based on the quality of their looks against the Bucks. The 19.3% drop-off to Oklahoma City’s actual 3-point percentage was the Thunder’s most drastic of the season.
“I think for the most part we got good looks,” said Thunder forward Jalen Williams, who finished with 18 points on 8-of-20 shooting. “When you’re playing a good team, you’ve got to continually generate good looks and also make shots. I feel like that was just one of those nights. Defensively, I thought we were pretty good. Sometimes, it just doesn’t go in and you have to have enough will to keep doing the right thing and moving the ball and let the chips lay where they lay.”
Oklahoma City made only one of 17 3-point attempts in the first half, but the Thunder stayed in the game primarily by attacking the paint against the bigger Bucks. The Thunder scored 26 points in the paint and were 13-of-16 from the free throw line in the first half.
Those numbers plummeted in the second half, when the Bucks held the Thunder to only 31 points as Milwaukee turned a one-point halftime margin into a lopsided final. Oklahoma City scored only eight points in the paint and attempted only six free throws in the second half.
“We missed some shots that we normally make,” Thunder guard Alex Caruso said. “They do a good job of crashing down in the paint and we got some easy ones early and then just missed some open [3s] that could have spread them out, bring them out of the paint a little bit. … At the end of the day, you need a couple to go in if you’re going to win at a high level.”