In their first of at least 10 games without Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, the Oklahoma City Thunder were able to complete the 18-point comeback against the Portland Trail Blazers in a 98-81 win. The Thunder were really able to turn things around in the second half as they outscored the Trail Blazers, 59-34.
The Thunder defense deserves a lot of credit. It’s easy to dunk on the Trail Blazers for failing to beat a rebuilding Thunder team without its best player, but keep in mind that they averaged 117.7 points in its last three games.
It was an evenly distributed scoring game for the Thunder as four players finished with double-digit scoring with no one exceeding 18 points. Just like Thunder head coach Mark Daigneault has preached since Gilgeous-Alexander went down, no one single person is going to make up for his production and it’s going to take a collective effort where everybody excels in their role. That was clearly the case in Monday’s win over the Trail Blazers. 22 of its 35 made field goals were assisted on. Now it’s time to see if this can carry over for the remainder of Gilgeous-Alexander’s absence. Let’s take a look at player grades.