Walking towards the perimeter, Shai Gilgeous-Alexander suddenly made a quick turn and created enough space from Paolo Banchero with a mini-stepback to swish in the fading baseline jumper.
The All-Star starter then turned to the crowd and gestured for them to go home. The Oklahoma City Thunder will enter the 2024 All-Star break on a high note after collecting a 127-113 win over the Orlando Magic.
“I thought it was a really focused effort, I thought the guys were really locked in,” Thunder head coach Mark Daigneault on the win. “After the start, (it) wasn’t great, other than that, stuck to the gameplan, hung in there through a couple of runs.”
After trailing by as many as 11 points in the opening frame, OKC cut it down to a one-point deficit following the first quarter.
The Thunder scored 29 points in the second frame to enter halftime with a 60-52 lead. OKC’s reserves did an excellent job surviving Gilgeous-Alexander’s first-half struggles.
Then in the third quarter, Gilgeous-Alexander turned it up and led the Thunder to a 32-point frame by accounting for 15 of those points. OKC entered the final frame with a 92-82 lead.
With Gilgeous-Alexander on the bench, the Thunder went on a massive 19-8 run in the final frame to build a double-digit lead. By the time Gilgeous-Alexander checked back in, OKC held a 16-point lead with a little over six minutes left.
After leading by as many as 21 points in the fourth quarter, Orlando went on a 14-4 run in the final minutes to cut OKC’s lead to as little as 11 points, but alas, there wasn’t enough time to make a serious push.
Jalen Williams headlined the Thunder’s 35-point final frame. He scored an eye-popping 17 points in 10 minutes with slices to the basket as Orlando struggled to limit him.
Overall, the Thunder shot 55% from the field and went 13-of-32 (40.6%) from 3. They went a nearly perfect 22-of-24 from the free-throw line. They dished out 28 assists on 46 baskets.
This was an impressive offensive showing considering the Magic have the fourth-best defensive rating in the league. OKC got plenty of quality looks and looked in rhythm for the entire contest.
The duo of Gilgeous-Alexander and Williams once again led the way for OKC with 65 combined points on 55% shooting — Gilgeous-Alexander had 32 points and five assists and Williams had 33 points on 18 shots.
Chet Holmgren also contributed with 13 points, nine rebounds and five blocks.
Meanwhile, the Magic shot 45% from the field and went 11-of-36 (30.6%) from 3. They went 20-of-25 from the free-throw line. They had 29 assists on 41 baskets.
Banchero had 23 points on 9-of-15 shooting, 10 assists and six rebounds. Wendell Carter Jr. had 22 points and six rebounds. Jalen Suggs scored 17 points and shot 4-of-12 from 3. Franz Wagner was limited to 15 points on 16 shots.
The Thunder enter their week-plus long break with an impressive road win over a hot Magic squad that had won five of their last six contests entering tip.
OKC managed to play spoiler for Shaq’s jersey retirement ceremony and enter the All-Star break a clean 20 games above .500, which is the fifth time it’s happened in franchise history.
“I thought we ran through the finish line with these last two games,” Daigneault said. “That was evident tonight. Now got to take a deep breath, put some gas back in the tank and get ready for the stretch.”
Let’s look at Thunder player grades.