No rims were harmed in the Oklahoma City Thunder’s comeback victory over the Memphis Grizzlies.
No, seriously. The Thunder went 16-for-31 from 3, and during a long stretch in the fourth quarter, they made seven in a row and seemingly hit nothing but net. Oklahoma City was missing four of its usual starters but was able to take down the Grizzlies 128-122.
Theo Maledon was out with an ankle injury. Lu Dort, who had playmaking duties on Saturday, sat with a toe injury. Darius Bazley remained out with a shoulder injury and Al Horford sat for rest on the second game of a back-to-back.
Forward Aleksej Pokusevski took on quite a bit of the playmaking, including running the point during the 14-2 run in the fourth quarter during which the Thunder tied the game. When Gilgeous-Alexander checked back in midway through the fourth, the star guard took over, making eight points in less than three minutes to help increase that to a 32-12 run.
The Thunder stepped onto the court with all the qualities of a tank job: Not only were four starters out, but three players who were in the G League a month ago were inserted into the starting lineup.
It wasn’t enough. Oklahoma City simply refuses to go down easily.
Pokusevski had the best game of his career. His 23 points made him the youngest player in Thunder history to break the 20-point mark. He hit five 3-pointers, becoming the second-youngest player to LeBron James to record that many since 3s became an official stat.
The 19-year, 78-day old forward’s shot looked silky and confident. He set his feet and released without hesitation. It’s unclear what changed between Saturday and Sunday, but he looked like a different player.
His passing was also excellent. He was decisive, ran the floor well, and the ball movement on the court was remarkably crisp for a team that relied upon a 7-foot tall 19-year-old to handle the flow.
In the fourth quarter, head coach Mark Daigneault put out a rotation of wings Pokusevski, Darius Miller and Kenrich Williams and bigs Mike Muscala and Isaiah Roby. It didn’t hamper the ball movement.
“I didn’t think the ball stuck at all. They didn’t care who made the play, who took the shot, they just had it spraying around,” Daigneault said. “And I thought Poku’s playmaking tonight was particularly helpful in that unit.”
That second clip actually cut off half the play, which was filled with similarly quick ball movement set up by Pokusevski. The fact that no Thunder player recorded more than five assists doesn’t show just how impressive their passing was as a team, and similarly, the four Pokusevski recorded doesn’t properly reflect his performance with the ball.
Throw on 10 rebounds to that line and Pokusevski has his first NBA double-double.
“He all in all looks so much more comfortable out there — rebounding, blocking shots, getting his hands balls,” Gilgeous-Alexander said. “Driving, making the next pass, extra pass.”
Miller also shined in that unit. He had 11 points, went 2-for-3 from deep and had a four-point play in the fourth quarter, but his most impressive play was a pass.
Seemingly everyone had a moment.
Moses Brown got his first career start. He scored 13 points on 5-for-6 shooting and grabbed four rebounds in 24 minutes of play before fouling out trying to contain Jonas Valanciunas , who finished with 16 points and 14 boards.
Jerome also had his first career start. He had 12 points, six rebounds and five assists, and showed impressive quick-thinking with this pass:
Roby, who finished with 10 points, eight rebounds and two blocks, had this ridiculous finish:
And then there was Gilgeous-Alexander. By the time he checked in during the fourth quarter, the Thunder had turned a 12-point deficit into a four-point lead.
Gilgeous-Alexander took it from there. He finished with 30 points on just 17 shots.
After trailing the Grizzlies by 10 points entering the final quarter, the Thunder outscored Memphis 38-22 to get the win.
“Defensively, you can’t trade baskets in this league. Fourth quarter, we started getting some stops,” Williams said. He added that the big unit in the fourth quarter helped secure boards. The Thunder out-rebounded Memphis 46 to 32, even with Valanciunas playing 30 minutes.
“We were able really to rebound the ball well, and I thought Poku did a really good job of getting the team organized, getting us in our positions and making plays,” he said.
The 38 points were the most the Thunder had scored in a fourth quarter all season. The fact that it came with the wacky guard-less rotation, down four starters and George Hill, and kickstarted without Gilgeous-Alexander on the court said all the much more about the team and about Daigneault as a coach.
The Thunder now have 17 wins and moved to two games back from the Grizzlies’ spot as the 10th seed.
“This win was born out of an exploratory mindset, which was one of our objectives coming into the season,” Daigneault said.
No matter what they explore, the Thunder have found a way to compete consistently. On Sunday afternoon, they got the win.
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