There are losses you can chalk up to “just didn’t have it.” And then there are the kind where you just sit there blinking: is this really that same Oklahoma City? The defending champions, the top seed in the regular season, the team with the best net rating and an iron defense—and then suddenly it’s 97–124 at home to the Hornets, a team living in the East’s basement.
A season story that suddenly took a wrong turn
The résumé had been champion-level to the point of caricature:
- a historic 24–1 start;
- the league’s best net rating: +13.3 points per 100 possessions;
- the best defense: opponents averaging 107 points.
And against that backdrop—six losses in their last 12 games. Not a “small dip,” but a real, noticeable slide.
The trigger was the NBA Cup semifinal: a 109–111 loss to San Antonio.
After that, Wembanyama and company got the Thunder two more times—and suddenly it was clear: the “invincible” myth had cracked.
Then Phoenix happened: OKC erased an 18-point deficit, and Devin Booker buried a monster three with 0.7 seconds left on the clock.
And you think: alright, it happens.
But today… Charlotte?!
Yes, yes. Not Boston. Not Denver. Not Milwaukee.
The Hornets—outside the play-in—and a team that, up to that point, had beaten a Western Conference team exactly once in two months: Utah.
And that’s another detail: Oklahoma City lost twice in two days—something that hadn’t happened since 2024.
Why this time was different: the key guys were back
In November, Charlotte had already lost to the Thunder 96–109, but LaMelo Ball and Brandon Miller weren’t there. Today they played—and the Hornets’ offense looked like someone had pressed the “combat mode” button.
LaMelo Ball: 16 points, 5-for-10 from the field—but he wasn’t remembered for the numbers.
Early in the third quarter, he pulled off a moment from the “okay, that’s just cruel” category: saved the ball on one leg and flipped in a shot while already out of bounds.
It was +19 at that point, and it looked like a moral execution shot for Oklahoma City. Like: if even that goes in—what are you going to do?
Brandon Miller:
- seven threes (50%),
- 28 points in 31 minutes,
- and here’s the kicker: with him on the floor, Charlotte was +33—the best plus-minus against Oklahoma City by any player all season.
Kon Knippel:
posted his 10th game of his rookie season with 20+ points and 5+ three-pointers, matching a franchise record previously set by teammate Miller.
For comparison: Curry and Iverson have nine such games each. And there’s still half a season to go.
Yes, basketball has genuinely gone to outer space.
And yes—Charlotte has a very specific statistical diagnosis:
They’re 9–4 when Ball, Miller, and Knippel play together, and 4–19 when one of them is out. So in an open Eastern Conference, they can still crawl their way into the play-in.
Okay, so why did Oklahoma City fall apart like this?
No panic here—but the reasons are sitting right on the surface.
It was a shooting nightmare
The Thunder took 93 shots from the field (16 more than Charlotte) and hit 36%.
At the line, it was bleak too: 18 of 27, i.e. 66%.
They got crushed on the glass
Rebounds: 52–33 for the Hornets.
And if you look at the last 48 hours, the rebounding gap looks like a beating: 64–101 (and it was the same story against Phoenix).
They didn’t convert the opponent’s turnovers
Charlotte committed 21 turnovers, and Oklahoma City answered with only eight made field goals off them—despite the fact that these are the kinds of games OKC usually wins with their style: defense → quick points → goodbye.
Plus a simple lack of bodies
Starting center Isaiah Hartenstein missed his fourth straight game.
Alex Caruso also didn’t play against Charlotte.
And yes, a very pretty streak ended
The biggest winning streak in NBA history against teams from the other conference was snapped:
The Thunder had won 24 straight regular-season games against the East (the streak had run since January 2025).
And guess who broke it.
Right: Charlotte.
One more detail: for the first time since April, Oklahoma City didn’t score 100 points in a regular-season game.
But Shai’s 20+ point streak is still alive—108 games, 18 to go to catch Wilt’s record. He just, as usual today, never appeared in the fourth quarter. I think the nuance is clear.
After the game, Shai said exactly what a leader of a team that suddenly started coming in waves is supposed to say:
there were more mistakes than positive moments, the breakdown will take longer, and we have to wake up better tomorrow, because we’re still far from “the state we want to be in at the end of the season.”
Coach Mark Daigneault—also without hysteria:
six losses in 12 games is unpleasant, but the team will learn lessons and “turn the page.”
So what’s the takeaway
Oklahoma City is still strong. But this week is the perfect cold shower:
you’re not robots, you’re not immortal, and if there’s a hole at center + shots aren’t falling + you’re missing key bodies—then even a team from the “East’s abyss” can bite you.
And yes, the dream of the Thunder chasing Golden State’s regular-season wins record can be put away for now. Far away. On the top shelf.
Oklahoma City — Charlotte 97–124
(33:33, 17:34, 21:32, 26:25)
