Nobody could corral the loose ball. The buzzer sounded. Center Al Horford and guard George Hill gave elated fist pumps as Oklahoma City Thunder secured the 111-110 win over the New Orleans Pelicans.
The two veterans deserved that excitement. Despite struggles earlier, they were keys in closing out the game and eking the win over the Pelicans.
With 2:41 to play and trailing the Pelicans 101-100, Horford missed a 3-pointer with Steven Adams’ hand in his face. It was his fifth missed shot from deep in the game. He didn’t hesitate on the next possession, though, drilling the shot from beyond the arc.
“Al obviously didn’t shoot it well early in the game, but there’s not a person in our group that didn’t want him to continue to let it go,” head coach Mark Daigneault said. “He made a big one there.”
With 17 seconds left, the Thunder’s deficit was again down to one point. Guard Shai Gilgeous-Alexander took a shot from the baseline and missed. It bounced long and Horford managed to keep it alive. The ball eventually ended up with Hill, who drove and got fouled on a layup.
He hit both free throws to take the lead.
Nickeil Alexander-Walker missed a 3 on the next possession and Horford tussled with Steven Adams for the loose ball. By the time anyone came up with it, the game was over.
After a 33-point loss to the Pelicans on New Year’s Eve, a nine-point win over the Orlando Magic on Saturday and a 28-point loss to the Miami Heat on Monday, the Thunder got back into the win column and picked up their third victory of the year.
Horford and Hill combined for just 21 points on 7-for-20 shooting, but their years of playoff experience were on show as they helped close it out.
The other factor in the late offensive output was Gilgeous-Alexander.
The third-year guard hit an and-one with 1:22 to play and then drew a foul on Lonzo Ball while shooting a 3-pointer on the next possession to get six quick points.
His 21 points was a team-high. He also contributed nine assists and five steals.
Those three closed it out, but there were other parties that allowed Oklahoma City to even have a chance.
Thunder starters began the game slowly. The team trailed by eight at the end of the first quarter. It took less than five minutes in the second quarter for the bench unit to take the lead, led by five points apiece from Hamidou Diallo and Isaiah Roby during that stretch.
The bench built the lead as high as six before the starters starting trickling back into the lineup. The Thunder went into the half down five.
In the second half, it was the other way around. The starters jumped ahead.
“It was kind of a tale of two halves related to our units. In the first half, the edge of that game elevated when [the bench unit] went out there and they really set a tone for the rest of the game,” Daigneault said. “The starters did a great job coming out at halftime.”
Specifically, Darius Bazley did a great job coming out at halftime.
The second-year forward went off in the third quarter, scoring the first 11 points overall and 15 of the Thunder’s first 17.
“Baze, bringing the competitive spirit, getting steals, getting out in transition, making these 3s, gave us a little boost,” Gilgeous-Alexander said.
Third quarters have been the death sentence for Oklahoma City early in the season, but on Wednesday, the team outscored the Pelicans 34-19 in that frame.
But New Orleans quickly caught up, opening the fourth quarter with a 9-0 run.
Thunder center Mike Muscala answered with three 3-pointers in the next three possessions, extending Oklahoma City’s lead back to double-digits.
“A game of runs and we had to weather the storm tonight,” Diagneault said. “We showed great resilience through the course of 48 [minutes].”
Muscala finished with 18 points, third on the team to Gilgeous-Alexander’s 21 and Bazley’s 20.
The deciding factor in those runs may have been the 3-pointer differential overall.
Oklahoma City went 19-for-46 from deep, a clip of 41.3%. The Pelicans went 4-for-22, a paltry 18.2%.
In a game of runs, Muscala’s three 3s in three possessions nearly matched New Orleans’ over their entire game.
It ended up being vital in the one-point victory.
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