Thunder hold off late Pistons rally behind Gilgeous-Alexander’s 27 points

Shai Gilgeous-Alexander scored 27 points and Danillo Gallinari hit a late 3 to help the Oklahoma City Thunder beat the Detroit Pistons.

The Oklahoma City Thunder staved off a late Detroit Pistons comeback attempt and got a 114-107 win Wednesday.

Detroit came back from a 16-point deficit to take the lead with less than two minutes left in the fourth quarter, but the usual trio of Thunder guards stepped up.

“We got so much depth … Maybe just about against anybody we play, I think down the stretch we have the advantage because we probably played more close games than anybody,” guard Chris Paul said in a Fox Sports Oklahoma video posted to Twitter.

Trailing 104-103, point guard Chris Paul made a pass to the cutting Nerlens Noel for an easy dunk to re-take the lead.

On the next possession, Shai Gilgeous-Alexander came through. He had a career day, posting 27 points on 12-for-15 shooting, but he only had two points in the fourth quarter.

Those two points were big.

With the shot clock winding down, he started to drive, but stopped on a dime and leaned back. With some separation, he drilled the 14-foot jumper.

Gilgeous-Alexander had been showing these abrupt moves all night. His quick bursts and change of pace allowed him to get midrange looks he like and get to the rim and draw fouls.

“He’s got great touch in there and when he can get in there and do it after movement like we did tonight, that’s when we’re, he, and I think our team’s at its best,” head coach Billy Donovan said in a video posted to Fox Sports Oklahoma’s Twitter.

Those 27 points were the most by Gilgeous-Alexander since Dec. 29.

“He was really efficient, made some really, really good plays around the basket,” Donovan said. “He was really, really crafty in terms of getting in there.”

And then came Dennis Schroder. Trailing 107-106, he drove to the rim and made an athletic finish to take back the lead.

The Oklahoma City defense locked down and didn’t allow another point.

Paul took the ball up court with the one-point lead and about 30 second on the clock. Guard Brandon Knight was playing tough defense, but Paul knocked him down. No charge was called.

“That could go either way,” Paul said. “I stopped for a second, didn’t hear nothing. Saw Gallo open, and you just make the right play and I think good things are going to happen.”

Paul passed to Gallinari as help defender Jordan McRae started to rotate. Knight got up, but instead of going toward Gallinari, he went toward Gilgeous-Alexander in the corner. McRae, anticipating that Knight would go toward Gallinari, also started back to the corner.

Gallinari was left wide open. He iced the game with a 3-pointer.

Schroder made a pair of free throws and Paul made one more after a technical foul, and the Thunder got the win.

Schroder finished with 23 points and nine assists, eight of which came in the first half.

Gallinari had 19 points, seven rebounds and four steals.

The Thunder ended their two-game losing streak.

“I thought our guys came in focused and ready to play,” Donovan said. “I thought we had good bounce and good pop and I thought we were lively to start the game.”