The Oklahoma City Thunder leave Gainbridge Fieldhouse with an overtime win and a season series split over the Indiana Pacers, 129-125.
In terms of the bigger picture of lottery odds, this win hurts the cause as the Pacers are just now a half-game back from the Thunder in the reverse standings. With the opportunity to grow some distance between themselves and the field for the fourth-best lottery odds, this win makes things much more interesting in the final stretch of the regular season.
With Josh Giddey a late scratch due to hip soreness, Shai Gilgeous-Alexander was able to play on his Plan A as the lead ball-handler and turned in one of his best scoring games of the season as he finished with 36 points on 13-of-24 shooting. Tre Mann also stepped up and added 22 points.
For the Pacers, Buddy Hield led the way with 29 points and had seven players in double-digit scoring.
In terms of the actual 53 minute game, it was a very competitive contest as both teams went back and forth without either really growing that big of a lead. The Thunder’s offense was humming along as it scored 92 points in just the first three quarters. The worst three point shooting team in the league shot the ball well from outside as the Thunder went 11-of-31 (35.5%) and also dished out 23 team assists. The Thunder finished with five players scoring at least 10 points. Let’s take a look at player grades.