A game like Sunday's loss to the Nets is why some don’t consider the Thunder to be serious NBA title contenders.
Oklahoma City fell 116-106 in Brooklyn, snapping a seven-game winning streak for the Western Conference’s third-place team.
Brook Lopez was stellar, as usual, scoring 31 points, grabbing 10 rebounds and blocking three shots in the win for the 12-33 Nets. Brooklyn also got a big boost from its bench as Bojan Bogdanovic scored 18 points in 28 minutes on the floor.
Kevin Durant had a great game with 32 points, 10 rebounds and seven assists and Russell Westbrook was solid with 27 points, 11 rebounds and seven assists. But the rest of the team scored just 47 points combined.
The Thunder have been a really good team all season, and at 33-12 they have more wins than the Eastern Conference-leading Cavaliers. But they've already lost to Sacramento and Portland this month and, with the Spurs (38-6) and Warriors (40-4) playing lights out, they clearly are the third wheel.
Losing games like this doesn't exactly help their case to join the elite.