The Oklahoma City Thunder’s road woes continued Wednesday courtesy of Aaron Gordon and the Orlando Magic.
The Oklahoma City Thunder have been Jekyll and Hyde this season. At home, they have proven to be a strong team. They are 7-3 at Chesapeake Energy Arena, including a decisive, blowout victory over the Golden State Warriors. However, on the road, the Thunder have been a complete disaster.
The Thunder are 0-8 against Western Conference foes this season away from Chesapeake Energy Arena. They entered Wednesday’s matchup with the Orlando Magic 2-8 overall on the road, with their two victories coming against the lowly Chicago Bulls and Milwaukee Bucks prior to their acquisition of Eric Bledsoe.
After Wednesday’s game, that road record fell to 2-9. The Thunder were handled easily by the Magic at the Amway Center, 121-108. It was an embarrassing effort from the Thunder, who are now riding a three-game losing streak and seven-game road losing streak.
The biggest reason for the blowout loss was Aaron Gordon. Gordon had an outstanding performance against the Thunder, who had no answer for him on either end of the court.
Thursday night’s game against the Thunder will be one that Gordon remembers for a long time as he set multiple career-highs. The 44 minutes he played were a new career-high in addition to the six 3-pointers made and 12 attempted. The 15 defensive rebounds recorded also set a new career mark, while the 11 free throw attempts tied a career high.
All-in-all, it was a dominating performance for Gordon. He scored 40 points, which was one point shy of his career high set earlier this season on Oct. 27 against the Brooklyn Nets. The efficiency is what really stood out in his performance.
Gordon needed only 23 shot attempts to score his 40. He made 12 of those 23 attempts, half his 3-pointers and 8-of-11 from the charity stripe. The poise and control that Gordon played with is something that head coach Frank Vogel and veteran point guard D.J. Augustin believe led to his success against the Thunder.
"“I think that’s what was special about his night — he wasn’t out there trying to play superhero,” coach Frank Vogel said. “He played within himself for the most part, and as a result he shot a high percentage.”“He played under control, that was the biggest thing,” Magic guard D.J. Augustin said. “It didn’t even look like he had that many points because he wasn’t forcing anything.”"
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Another impressive thing about Gordon’s performance was how balanced it was. He did not tire despite setting a new career-high in minutes. He scored 20 points in each half and did not come out of the game in the second half. The Thunder probably wished that Vogel had sat Gordon down even for a minute or two in the second half, as they just had no way of stopping him.
In addition to the 40 points and 15 rebounds, Gordon also added four assists, four steals and one block. Gordon had a great game as he led the Magic to what was an embarrassment of the Thunder.
Gordon was not the only Magic player to have a strong game. The team, as a whole, did whatever it wanted offensively. Orlando shot 59.2 percent from the field and 43.3 percent from deep. The only place they really struggled to shoot from was the foul line, where they shot an underwhelming 69.2 percent.
The Thunder, on the other hand, struggled offensively. The 108 points look good, but it was a hollow 108 points. Oklahoma City shot only 39.6 percent from the field and 37.5 percent from beyond the arc. The offense was buoyed by extra opportunities, as they pulled down 21 offensive rebounds.
Russell Westbrook led the way for Oklahoma City with 37 points, 11 rebounds, five assists and five steals. Paul George scored 22 points while Carmelo Anthony scored 16. You know you are in trouble when Andre Roberson and Jerami Grant have the best shooting percentages on the team.
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Even if Westbrook, George and Anthony had more efficient nights, it may not have mattered. Wednesday was Aaron Gordon’s night and the Thunder were unfortunately on the receiving end of it, making an ugly road record even worse and a key area for concern moving forward.