OKLAHOMA CITY — On a play ripped straight off 2K, Chet Holmgren threw the ball off the backboard and downed it for the vicious dunk. An animated Holmgren sent the active crowd into a frenzy.
The rare self-assist play sparked a 13-0 run for the Oklahoma City Thunder on their way to a 134-115 win over the LA Clippers. It was a massive victory as both teams will likely fight it out the rest of the way in the standings.
“I thought our execution was really good tonight,” Thunder head coach Mark Daigneault on their win. “I thought our recognition was really good. They really changed defenses tonight and kept us on our toes. … They made it challenging on us and our guys did a great job at recognizing what they were doing.”
The Thunder picked up the critical win over the league’s hottest team, which entered with a nine-game winning streak. LA was without Kawhi Leonard, who missed his first game of the season with a hip contusion.
The final score miscasts an exciting outing that featured teams exchanging leads and matching baskets for a half. At halftime, OKC led 64-59, and the Clippers briefly took the lead in the third quarter.
However, OKC buried the Clippers with a 45-point third quarter and entered the final frame with a 109-92 lead. A little over two minutes into the fourth quarter, the Thunder created a game-high 20-point lead.
“They’re a really good team that’s playing really well,” Daigneault said. “We knew they were gonna make a run and they did so I thought we did a good job at just taking the punch and just staying true to our stuff.”
The Thunder had an extremely efficient night from the field. OKC shot 59% from the field and went 16-of-34 (47.1%) from 3. It also went 16-of-18 from the free-throw line and dished a season-high 35 assists on 51 made baskets.
Shai Gilgeous-Alexander’s 31 points headlined the offensive outing but OKC had six players score double-digit points. Besides the flashy self-made dunk, Holmgren had an overall solid night of 23 points, seven assists and six rebounds.
Meanwhile, the offense wasn’t a problem for LA either. The Clippers shot 48% from the field and went 17-of-43 (39.5%) from 3.
James Harden led LA with 23 points, nine rebounds and six assists. After missing the first game of their road back-to-back with an illness, Paul George returned and totaled 22 points.
“I thought we pressured them and were physical without fouling them,” Daigneault said on George and Harden. “Tried to throw different looks at them. A lot of different guys had to guard them in the game. They’re really, really good players but I thought we kept them in an area that allowed us to extend leads.”
Per usual, Russell Westbrook was delighted with a celebratory reaction from the OKC faithful. The future Hall-of-Famer checking into the game received one of the loudest reactions from a rowdy crowd. Off the bench, he had 15 points and 13 rebounds.
Overall, this was a massive win for the Thunder as they began a five-game gauntlet of tough opponents. Even though Leonard was out, the Clippers were still a formidable opponent.
Outside of just the vibes gained from picking up a massive win over the hottest team in the league, this game could pay dividends down the road if tiebreaks are necessary.
“Obviously, they’re a super talented group, a bunch of Hall-of-Famers over there,” Gilgeous-Alexander said on the win. “We knew what the task was waking up this morning and we did enough for sure.”
Let’s look at Thunder player grades.