Despite ending a four-game road trip with a loss at Houston on Sunday, Oklahoma City Thunder coach Mark Daigneault was pleased with his team’s performance away from home.
“We’re a better team right now than we were eight days ago when we took off for this trip,” Daigneault said.
The Thunder will hit the road for another four-game stretch later this week, but they’ll first make a pit stop back home in Oklahoma City to face the Utah Jazz in an NBA Cup clash on Tuesday.
A win over the Jazz would propel the Thunder to the knockout round of the NBA Cup, but only if San Antonio loses at Phoenix later Tuesday. Oklahoma City is 2-1 entering the final game of West Group B play, while Utah is 0-3.
The Thunder could also advance as a wild card with a win combined with losses by Portland and Dallas, or by winning one of several tiebreaker scenarios based on group point differential. Oklahoma City is currently +18 in point differential.
The Thunder won the first three games of their road trip before a late-game lapse hampered them in a 119-116 loss at Houston.
In the final minute of a tie game, Oklahoma City star Shai Gilgeous-Alexander forced a tie-up with Dillon Brooks. The Thunder lost the ensuing jump ball, after which Brooks scored to give the Rockets a two-point lead. Gilgeous-Alexander missed on the other end, and Oklahoma City took more than 20 seconds before committing a foul.
Houston hit a pair of free throws with 4.6 seconds remaining to go up by two possessions and knocked down two more foul shots after a Thunder 3-pointer from Jalen Williams.
“In an ideal world, we would’ve liked to foul earlier,” Daigneault said. “Thought we had a couple opportunities to do it. But those are tough ones, because the guys are kind of on their own in that situation.”
Utah is also coming off a narrow loss, falling 105-104 to the visiting Lakers on Sunday after Collin Sexton’s apparent go-ahead layup with 2.1 seconds left was wiped out by a Jazz timeout. Utah has lost four consecutive games and eight of its last nine.
Tuesday’s game could be another learning experience for second-year Jazz point guard Keyonte George.
George struggled defensively when LeBron James was switched onto him in Sunday’s game and also had a hard time on offense, finishing with six turnovers. He has at least five turnovers in four of his last five games.
With Utah prioritizing development this season, it doesn’t seem like George’s role will change much for now.
“For us to get to where we want to go, that’s a moment of kind of long-view thinking,” Jazz coach Will Hardy said, per The Salt Lake Tribune. “You can’t hide in the playoffs. You can’t hide in the NBA Finals. We’re not going to build a defensive scheme where everything is about keeping you out of harm’s way.”
George still leads Utah with 5.7 assists per game and chips in 15.4 points. Lauri Markkanen paces the Jazz with 19.6 points per game.
Gilgeous-Alexander’s 30.0 scoring average ranks third in the NBA entering Monday’s action. The seventh-year guard has scored at least 32 points four straight games and has netted at least 28 in 10 straight contests.
Tuesday’s game is the first of four meetings between the teams this season.
Oklahoma City won three of the four meetings last year.
