Thunder highlights: Top 6 defensive plays in 110-94 win over Jazz

The Oklahoma City Thunder’s defense was dominant in the win over the Utah Jazz in OKC’s first real game back in the NBA bubble.

The Oklahoma City Thunder dominated the Utah Jazz on Saturday, winning 110-94 in their first game back after the NBA’s hiatus.

While the offense was efficient and effective, much of it came off tough defense.

Utah connected on just 39.1% of its looks from the field, shooting just 34-for-87. The Thunder also did a fairly decent job of keeping Donovan Mitchell and company off the free throw line, as the team shot 18-for-22 from the charity stripe. Oklahoma City also limited the Jazz in the halfcourt game and transition. They bodied up, kept their hands up and closed out very well.

They also had some nice blocks and steals.

Here are five top defensive highlights from the Thunder against the Jazz.

Oklahoma City showed the definition of team defense — they rotated well and closed out without over-running or being forced into a foul. This can be seen in the plays below:

Nerlens Noel had a pair of very nice post plays that led to offense on the other end of the court:

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Danilo Gallinari finished the play on offense multiple times after a defensive stop, this one courtesy of Lu Dort:

Andre Roberson’s time on the court was brief, but he still managed to get on the highlight reel:

The Thunder dominated in their opening game, taking sole possession of the Western Conference’s fifth seed.

While the Thunder did play extremely well and efficiently on the offensive end of the basketball, much of their success on Saturday came from the club’s defense.

Now, we’ll see if they can continue the effort on Monday, when they square off against the Denver Nuggets.

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