Jeremiah Robinson-Earl tied a franchise rookie rebounding record to help the Oklahoma City Thunder overcome an 18-point deficit and defeat the Sacramento Kings on Friday night.
The Thunder outscored the Kings 57-41 in the second half for their fourth consecutive win of the season, and fourth comeback of at least 15 points. Lu Dort sealed the win after a strip on De’Aaron Fox that led to a fastbreak dunk with just 1.7 seconds left.
Robinson-Earl recorded just two points but hauled in a career-high 14 rebounds to tie Serge Ibaka (2009-10) for the franchise record by a rookie in the 105-103 victory. He had eight alone in the first half, which was already a career-high for him.
The performance, despite going just 1-of-9 from the field, earned praise from head coach Mark Daigneault for staying with it after struggling to manufacture points.
The organization does a good job of identifying ‘Thunder guys’ and he is a ‘Thunder guy.’ We’re not instilling that in him — he has got that. He is walking in the door with that. Now, it’s us trying to bring out consistency with that and also try to sharpen the edges a little bit in his game and get him to channel those qualities into the type of player he can be.
The second half was just the character of our players. Those guys are just monsters. His ability to stay with it like that was just impressive because, obviously, he had a tough night offensively.
Following the performance, the Thunder are tied for the second-longest active winning streak in the league. After losing their first four games, the team has since won five out of their last seven games and appears to be turning things around.
Of course, the Thunder are building toward the future with such a young roster but the group has shown an incredible will to fight in games, and that stems from the culture being built in OKC. Certainly, the play of Robinson-Earl on Friday embodies that.
This post originally appeared on Rookie Wire! Follow us on Facebook!
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