It looked like the Oklahoma City Thunder were on their way to arguably their most disappointing losses of the season when they trailed the short-handed and rebuilding San Antonio Spurs by 20 points in the third quarter.
The Spurs entered the game on an eight-game losing streak and a 1-13 record in their last 14 games. With the long list of injuries they had, this should’ve been an easy win for the Thunder.
Instead, the Thunder — missing Shai Gilgeous-Alexander — struggled to contain the Spurs, giving up 77 first-half points to the 29th-ranked offensive rating team in the league.
The second half was a different story though. The Thunder held the Spurs to 34 points — a season-low allowed by the Thunder this season. The Spurs went from shooting 27-of-42 (64.3%) from the field in the first half to 14-of-50 (28%) in the second half.
Such a stark contrast in offense gave the Thunder plenty of time to mount a comeback and that’s exactly what happened as they outscored the Spurs 59-34 in the second half.
Rookie wing Jalen Williams led the way. He played the best game of his young career in terms of points and timely baskets. Williams did his best SGA impersonation in the second half as the go-to scorer. Lu Dort and Josh Giddey also chipped in.
For the Spurs, Devin Vassell finished with 25 points and outside marksmen Keldon Johnson, who entered the game shooting 36.5% from outside on 8.4 attempts, was held to 19 points on 5-of-22 shooting and 4-of-13 shooting from outside.
Let’s take a look at Thunder player grades from this 119-111 win over the Spurs.