Even though the losses are fewer and further between for the Oklahoma City Thunder these days, star Shai Gilgeous-Alexander still finds them hard to stomach.
“It feels a lot worse,” Gilgeous-Alexander said after Wednesday’s loss to the host Golden State Warriors. The Thunder dropped their third game in their last six but return home to face the Sacramento Kings on Saturday.
“I guess it starts with the expectation. I’ve been on a team where you don’t expect to win every night. No matter what you say — you’re not stupid — you know what the game plan is and what you’re throwing out there. Expecting to win every night is a privilege, and I think we’ve earned that. It hurts a little bit more because of that,” Gilgeous-Alexander said.
Oklahoma City, which leads the Western Conference, has nine losses this season. Five of those have come against the Warriors and Dallas Mavericks.
The Thunder are opening a four-game homestand. They are third in the league in home victories at 19-3 this season.
This will be Oklahoma City’s first game since third-year standout Jalen Williams was named to his first All-Star team.
Williams is averaging 21.1 points, 5.6 rebounds, 5.2 assists and 1.8 steals per game, playing a large role in the Thunder thriving this season even with Chet Holmgren missing all but 10 games.
Williams has spent time defending all around the court, including filling in defensively at center when Oklahoma City has been without a big man.
The Thunder led the NBA in defensive rating at 104.2 going into Friday’s slate of games. Gilgeous-Alexander and Williams are two of Oklahoma City’s four players who are averaging at least 1.8 steals per game.
Saturday’s game is the second of three meetings between the teams this season. The Thunder won the first matchup 130-109 in Sacramento on Nov. 25.
The Kings will be playing the fifth game of a six-game road trip. Since winning 10 of 11 games in a stretch that lasted much of January, Sacramento has dropped three of its last four.
The Kings are playing under the uncertainty of leading scorer De’Aaron Fox’s future with the team. He has been the subject of trade speculation as the NBA trade deadline approaches. Fox said before Wednesday’s game that he “expect(ed) the unexpected,” when it came to being moved.
Sacramento coach Doug Christie said the team hasn’t been distracted by the talk of moving Fox, an All-Star in 2022-23 who has spent his entire eight-year career with the Kings.
“When you look at stuff like that, you can read into a lot of different things. I don’t do that. Those guys are out there to win,” Christie said. “They’re going to play their hearts out. They’re going to play extremely hard.”
In Wednesday’s 117-104 loss to the Philadelphia 76ers, the Kings led by 12 midway through the third quarter.
Christie said his team was going through the process of learning how to win.
“Once we get a lead, we have to just learn to step on somebody’s neck and put them away,” Christie said.
