Receiving the inbound pass, Chet Holmgren let off a miracle turnaround 3-pointer that swished into the net as the final buzzer sounded to send the game into overtime. The improbable bucket stunned the Chase Center crowd.
After trailing by as many as 18 points, the Oklahoma City Thunder rallied for the comeback and came away with a 130-123 overtime win over the Golden State Warriors.
“I really appreciate the mental resilience to just kinda hang in the game,” Thunder head coach Mark Daigneault said about the win. “It felt like a game we weren’t going to win but there’s always time on the clock… Games are long. I thought our guys had great maturity and toughness to do that tonight.”
After an Andrew Wiggins 3-pointer gave the Warriors a three-point with three seconds left, it looked like the Thunder would have to take solace in the fact that they pushed Golden State to the brink and split this mini-baseball series.
Instead, Holmgren — who made a pair of miscues seconds earlier with a missed layup and shot clock violation — redeemed himself and put an exclamation mark on his best game of his rookie season yet.
The shocking 3-pointer jolted the Thunder in overtime as they outscored the Warriors 13-6 in the five-minute period. Shai Gilgeous-Alexander helped put this one to bed with 10 points in OT. He scored 40 points in the win and tag-teamed with Holmgren for 76 combined points.
The final six minutes of this game will get all of the buzz and headlines, but OKC laid down the foundation of this comeback win in the third quarter.
A poor first-half finish by OKC ignited a Warriors run that helped them build a 10-point lead at halftime. Golden State proceeded to go on one of its signature second-half runs and had a 79-61 lead with 6:54 left in the third quarter.
By that point, it felt like the Thunder were beginning to let go of the rope. And if they did, it would’ve been hard to be too upset at them. OKC already did its job by splitting this two-game set at San Francisco. With this being the first night of a road back-to-back, it wouldn’t have been outrageous to see the Thunder lose in a valiant effort.
Instead, the Thunder closed out the third quarter on a 22-6 run to suddenly turn it into a two-point deficit heading into the final frame.
“Just take it one play at a time,” Gilgeous-Alexander said on their mindset on mounting a comeback. “Like you said, we’ve done it multiple times. We know what it takes. We know how to get it done… We try to focus in defensively.”
A back-and-forth fourth quarter concluded with Holmgren’s miracle shot that forced overtime and the Thunder’s strong final five minutes closed out their most impressive win of the season thus far.
Overall, the Thunder shot 52% from the field. 26 of their 52 buckets were assisted on. The trio of Gilgeous-Alexander, Holmgren and Jalen Williams combined for 98 points on 60% shooting.
Meanwhile, the Warriors were led by Stephen Curry and Wiggins. Curry — who missed the first game on Thursday with a knee strain — scored 25 points on 8-of-21 shooting and went 5-of-11 from 3. Wiggins had a season-high 31 points on 12-of-19 shooting and went 5-of-8 from 3.
Overall, the Warriors shot 45% from the field and went 18-of-46 (39.1%) from 3.
Sitting at 9-4 and enjoying one of their best starts in recent memory, the Thunder continue to rack up impressive road wins. Getting two against the Warriors is a potential season-defining feat.
“This was a game we knew we had to earn,” Daigneault said. “That was what was cool about it. Just the experience of having to earn it. Whether you come out on top or fall short, that’s a good experience for a team that’s as early in their season as we are.”
Let’s look at Thunder player grades.